Where To Get Tires Balanced

[amanda]

this is also posted in the wheels forum, but just in case you guys have any advice...

i just got new tires and i have vibrations now. i think the balancing is the problem. any of you guys know of a non-dealer place that does a good job with an es300?

i think i should just be resigned to spending a lot of money on maintaining this car at the dealer.

maybe i should just ride a bike everywhere i go.

[amf1932]

My suggestion is to go to a tire shop that has the newest type of wheel balancing equipment. There they'll do what is called, Dynamic balancing of your tires. It's not necessary to go to a Lexus dealer to do this type of job.

When you got your new tires didn't the shop that mounted the tires do the wheel balancing? If they did then ask them to recheck the balancing because of this vibration. Any responsible company would be happy to do it.

[m2pc]

Amanda,

quick question. You mentioned that you just got new tires. Did you not have them balance them when they installed them? If you did, bring it back to them and have them re-balance. Did you buy the tires from the dealership?

[amf1932]

m2pc,

Funny, I thought I asked the exact same question in the post above yours. :chairshot:

[m2pc]

whoops, yer right! I read her message and just posted.

I deserve to get :chairshot:

[amanda]

no, i got these tires at sears but i did get them balanced. i am going to take it back today for rebalancing, but i just don't think it's going ot be ok. i am pretty sure they are going to give me some baloney about not getting my wheels aligned and buying H rated tires instead of V's.

i am getting kind of tired of all the effort going into the car.

[amf1932]

The tire speed rating "H" or "V" has absolutely nothing to do with balancing a tire. Don't let them con you into that BS story. I think the problem might be the quality of the mechanics who are doing this balancing job.

[amanda]

i hear you, alan. but what can i do if they insist they've done everything and only a wheel alignment and V rated tires will do the trick.

[SW03ES]

If they say that tell them to take the new tires off, and put a set of trash tires on and you'll take your business elsewhere. If they dont want to do that, inform them that you will be contacting corporate Sears, the Better Business Bureau, and your personal lawyer.

Be tough with these guys!

When you walk in, tell the guy at the counter:

"You mounted new tires on my Lexus yesterday (or whenever), and now I am experiencing a vibration that I did not experience before, may I talk to the manager."

When the manager comes out

"Hello sir, I am (insert your name here and shake his hand), your shop put new tires on my Lexus and now I'm experiencing a vibration problem that I had not experienced before. Here are the keys and the wheel lock, its parked out front, I'd appreciate if you could make it ride like it did before I brought it here, I'll be in the waiting room"

Then, walk off and go wait in the waiting room. Stay in control, these guys only get you when THEY gain control, which they never should do.

For what its worth, I believe that Sears offers lifetime rotation and balancing on the tires they sell. I only bought tires from Sears once for my dad's LS400 and I'll never do it again. Every week he or I had to take it back over for a balance, they never did do it right. Maybe they'll clear it up though.

And about the alignment. While its probably not causing the vibration, I do reccomend that you let them do a full 4 wheel alignment whenever they install new tires. Just because tires are a big investment, the alignment is most likely off at least a little and an alignment helps promote good tire wear.

If the guy comes out and says some bleep about it being the alignment inform him

"The only way it could be the alignment is if you all caused it to be misaligned when you installed the tires, because when I brought it in here it was straight, so if you want to do an alignment its going to have to either be free, or we're going to have to split it" If he doesn't want to do an alignment, inform him that you'll take your car and your keys and the rest of your business elsewhere. Also inform him that he'll be contacted by his regional manager and the Better Business Bureau for the purpose of greivance mediation.

Stay firm, dont buy their crap. Don't get angry but dont get happy either. Be indifferent, you dont care what they say or think, you just want them to do the work right.

As for the Lexus dealer, no you dont have to service it at the Lexus dealer, but you dont want to service it at a place like Sears either. You want to find a GOOD independent shop somewhere with an owner and mechanics that care about you and their work. Easy to find.

[m2pc]

Amanda,

A 4-wheel alignment would not solve vibrations, to the best of my knowledge. What it may show, besides being out of alignment, and I am not saying this is your case, any front end issues.

1. Another possibility, which happened to me, is that a rim may be out of round, this happened to me, because someone probably hit a pothole very hard. When they balance, if you can get them to do it for free, rotate the front to the rear and rear to the front. If they let you watch them spin the wheels, observe if you can see if the rims aren't perfectlly round.

2. It is possible that a new tire may be defective.

3. or as AMF stated, poor job of balancing ( see AMF, I read your post this time! )

4. I don't think its your rotors being warped, otherwise you would feel vibration only when you apply the brakes.

[SW03ES]

It could be plenty of things that THEY caused.

It could be the rim out of round like m2pc says. This would show up on the balancing machine though. They can also compensate for it with balancing weights, not a big deal. My Explorer has had a bent rim for 100,000 miles, when its balanced right its not a problem. When the previous owner had the wheels balanced he may have compensated for this, and Sears wasn't sharp enough to see. You also should have a full sized spare, you can use that instead of the out of round wheel.

It could be that they overtorqued the lug nuts, or torqued them unevenly. This can cause warpage of the wheel seat and a vibration.

Like m2pc says, they could have mounted the tires wrong, or a tire itself may be out of round. This would mean they'd be liable for replacements.

But its THEIR job to find out what they did.

[amanda]

i guess i'll have to ask the neighbors for a good mechanic. we have pretty restrictive zoning laws in westchester and there just aren't a whole lot of commercial anything here. i don't even have a good gorcery store around.

i bought the car at a non-lexus dealer that sells other higher-end cars like bmw, mercedes, audi, jaguar etc. i don't have a ton of great things to say about the dealer, though they weren't bad in the final analysis. but the car hasn't had any real mechanical problems and i am guessing that no dealer would doggedly pursue these minor noise issues to my satisfaction anyway. the new vibration, of course, is entirely sears's doing.

as far as sears goes, i figured they do a ton of tires, they've got to know what they're doing. i guess not. the only other company i can even begin to think about around here is mavis which might just be a ny chain.

it's just very tiring to me because i had bought the car mostly because it is supposed to be quiet. but it is possible that i am expecting too much from my es300 as it is my first car purchase.

but next time, i would really think about getting it brand spanking new and let lexus worry about making me happy.

thanks for your help, everybody.

[steviej]

amanda, do you have an NTB store near you. (National Tire and Battery).. Big blue and yellow sign. This national tire store is in partnership with Sears. You might try taking there and see if they will correct the work misperformed at Sears.

just a thought.

steviej