New Tires And The Balance Is Off

[stcist2]

I just bought a new set of cooper touring tires and the wheels will not allow wieghts to be put on the outside. I informed the guys at the tire shop that they would have to use tape wieghts but thats all they did, now I have a shake at 70 and up. Although it is minor, it shouldn't be there.I noticed the balancing on the spare tire included a regular weight on the inside of the rim AND a tape weight toward the outer side but still on the inside... can they do this at a regular tire shop or will I have to drive the 200 miles to the dealer? I mean whats the use of having a tire that will safely go 130mph but starts shaking at 70? I have installed hudreds of tires and was wondering if the settings on the tire balancer could be changed, like the rim width to reflect the location of the " outer wieght "??.. any experienced tire people out there? any help or comments would be appreciated..

[1990LS400]

Verify that the heaviest part of the tire is opposite of the heaviest part of the wheel which is usually where the valve stem is. The heaviest part of the tire should be marked with a paint dot. It is possible that a tire has defects that balancing can not overcome -- I once had that happen with a defective Dunlop 5000 tire.

From my experience the skill levels of people who balance tires varies a lot -- the guy who last did it for me at the Lexus dealer was like an artist/scientist and went to great lengths to explain how his machine worked and how he determined exactly where to place the weights. One memorable comment he made was about "road force" balancing being oversold and rarely needed.

By the way, my snow tires are mounted on wheels that are not compatible with hammer on rim weights and there is not enough clearance between the break calipers and the rim to do a dynamic balance with even the thinnest stick-on weights. They are statically balanced with stick-on weights on the inner section of the rim and there is absolutely no vibration from them at highway speeds -- and I'm ultra sensitive to vibration and noise.

[stcist2]

just an update, I went back too the tire shop and with little hesitation they were willing to listen to me complain about the balance issue along with what I thought to be a rough ride. Come to find out the "V" rated tires are a perfomance tire and ride quality was not what they were desiged for so they offered me a "T" rated tire (130 MPH VS.115 MPH) stating that the ride would be far more comfortable. I agreed to the change and explaind that a dynamic balance would be nessesary as the static balance "sucked" . After they charged me for a restocking fee, a mount and balance fee the lower price of the "T" rated tire paid the difference...Well it does ride better(a little) but those butt holes scratched three of the rims one of them very deep w/ impact gun, It seems like i have the worst luck w/ shops... just have to stick to doing most of my own work... anyone know what silver color touch-up paint best matches my rims?? 02 es300 stock 9 spoke alloys...