[next_milenium]

I've been having nightmares with balancing my wheels. I bought my wheels/tires from America's Tires and they have been really good with customer service but they can't seem to balance my wheels properly.

I rotate and balance my tires every 5-6k miles and every time they had to balance couple of times to get it right. This time though, they've balanced 4 times and I still have vibration! :headbash:

Each time they balance, each wheels are off by from 1/2 oz to 1-1/2 oz. Every time. I'm getting vibration between 60-65MPH.

The only thing I can see they are doing differently this time around is they are using a "finger" plate when they mount my wheel to the machine. It's a round plate with 5 studs coming out that they stick in the bolt holes of the wheel. They claim it's simulating how the wheel is actually mounted on a car.

I'm going back to them today and I'm going to ask them NOT to use the "finger" plate and go back to the old method.

Has anyone experienced this much trouble balancing their 20" wheels? BTW, I have not hit any potholes and the wheels do not look bent or damaged otherwise.

 

[Danielc409]

So this is the first time you've had issues with it? If they can't fix it, I'd see if they have another location nearby and see if they can do it for no cost, unless you want to spend money elsewhere.

 

[RinconVTR]

Wait a minute...

You're saying the wheels get balenced, removed from the machine, and if they put the wheel back on the machine they are out??? If true, you need to find a new shop or a new tech who knows how to fixture the wheel on their machine properly.

 

[Kbreese]

Yeah, and if the wheels won't balance then they are too far out of round and should be exchanged for new ones.

 

[GoLowDrew]

It looks like your nuts are covered. I once had some "big 15"" wheels for my old Civic. America's Tire could not balance them. It was because they could not balance the wheel with the cover on.

I got the same vibes at those speeds. So I drive without the covers. It was much better, but looked incomplete.

After the next time around to balance (new tires), I just decided to get new wheels with open nuts.

Good luck.

 

[Danielc409]

It looks like your nuts are covered. I once had some "big 15"" wheels for my old Civic. America's Tire could not balance them. It was because they could not balance the wheel with the cover on.

I got the same vibes at those speeds. So I drive without the covers. It was much better, but looked incomplete.

After the next time around to balance (new tires), I just decided to get new wheels with open nuts.

Good luck.

It's only a center cap, no nut covers:

 

[BPearl2010]

That's weird man...

Try taking it to a different shop.. Because i haven't had any issue with balancing me wheels.

 

[GoLowDrew]

It's only a center cap, no nut covers:

Try taking it to a different shop.. Because i haven't had any issue with balancing me wheels.

Then I would try another America's Tire (since it's free for you). Maybe the machine just $uck. Or the guy is just not that good.

 

[next_milenium]

I've actually tried 2 different stores (3 different machines) and each time the machine says the wheels are balanced. So, I'm at a loss. I'm gonna head out to another store right now to see if they can fix this. I've had these wheels/tires for over a year so I don't think they will exchange them if one of the wheel is out of round (which I doubt because they don't look like it when I see them spinning on the machine).

Wish me luck guys.

 

[GoLowDrew]

Another thing to thow out there. Are your tires ok? Maybe the steel belts inside are damanged somehow. Can (are they willing) America's tire warranty out the tires?

 

[gunmetal]

Sears auto FTW!

 

[Danielc409]

Do you have hub centric rings? Maybe make sure you didn't lose one or something?

 

[RTexasF]

I went through this with a Mazda 626 and aftermarket wheels. Hubcentric rings were installed but should not have been. A different store said the hubcentric rings were not required and the wrong lug nuts were installed for the wheels. Rings off, correct lugs on, and they never went out of balance again.

 

[next_milenium]

Ok, so I went to THIRD America's store and they too said my wheels were OFF balance by as much as 1-1/2 oz. They used what they call "pinpoint" method to get it down to tenth of oz on all wheels. The manager balanced them personally and said couple of my tires have slight cupping on ourside tread. He said that could contribute to the vibration.

Driving back to work, I noticed the vibration is actually slightly WORSE than before. This is ridiculous and now I'm not sure what I can do. :bawling:

I do have the hubcentric rings and I made sure I still had them. Do I try Les Schwab store and pay to get my front wheels balanced? It's worth a shot but after 3 America's store and 4 different machines, I'm not sure if Les Schwab can make a difference.

What's funny and disturbing is that my car was FINE before this rotation and balance.

 

[winglet]

Try a shop that has a roadforce ballancer. Here's a locator:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

Ok, so I went to THIRD America's store and they too said my wheels were OFF balance by as much as 1-1/2 oz. They used what they call "pinpoint" method to get it down to tenth of oz on all wheels. The manager balanced them personally and said couple of my tires have slight cupping on ourside tread. He said that could contribute to the vibration.

Driving back to work, I noticed the vibration is actually slightly WORSE than before. This is ridiculous and now I'm not sure what I can do. :bawling:

I do have the hubcentric rings and I made sure I still had them. Do I try Les Schwab store and pay to get my front wheels balanced? It's worth a shot but after 3 America's store and 4 different machines, I'm not sure if Les Schwab can make a difference.

What's funny and disturbing is that my car was FINE before this rotation and balance.

 

[next_milenium]

Try a shop that has a roadforce ballancer. Here's a locator:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

Thanks for the link. America's tires, according to the link doesn't have the Road Force balancer. I'll have to shell out $50 to have my 2 front wheels balanced at Les Schwab if I want to try that route.

 

[Kevin S.]

Ok, so I went to THIRD America's store and they too said my wheels were OFF balance by as much as 1-1/2 oz. They used what they call "pinpoint" method to get it down to tenth of oz on all wheels. The manager balanced them personally and said couple of my tires have slight cupping on ourside tread. He said that could contribute to the vibration.

Driving back to work, I noticed the vibration is actually slightly WORSE than before. This is ridiculous and now I'm not sure what I can do. :bawling:

I do have the hubcentric rings and I made sure I still had them. Do I try Les Schwab store and pay to get my front wheels balanced? It's worth a shot but after 3 America's store and 4 different machines, I'm not sure if Les Schwab can make a difference.

What's funny and disturbing is that my car was FINE before this rotation and balance.

so what's the problem? You said you have cupping on your tires, meaning you will have vibration. Get your tires checked out or replaced. Also if it is a national chain like america/discount tire/les schwab/firestone they should have a hunter road force balancing machine which will show any problem what so ever if the machine is properly setup and used correctly. I would take it somewhere else and see what they say. Could be a very slight bend in the wheel causing the vibration possibly in the barrel of the wheel, sometimes the hunter machine will not pick this up unless it is noticed by the tech. Good luck man!

Also nice wheels!

 

[next_milenium]

They finally got it right. One of the front wheel had the heavy part of the tire and wheel at the same spot. So they had to dismount the tire and do a 180. Problem gone, smooth as butter.

FYI for anyone out there who's having vibration issue after many balances.

 

[GoLowDrew]

They finally got it right. One of the front wheel had the heavy part of the tire and wheel at the same spot. So they had to dismount the tire and do a 180. Problem gone, smooth as butter.

FYI for anyone out there who's having vibration issue after many balances.

Good to hear. I read the words, but what does that mean? Exactly what the words said?

You mentioned you didn't have any problems prior to having them balance. So why is there now a need to dismount the tire? Just wondering, that's all.

 

[next_milenium]

Good to hear. I read the words, but what does that mean? Exactly what the words said?

You mentioned you didn't have any problems prior to having them balance. So why is there now a need to dismount the tire? Just wondering, that's all.

I think I didn't have problem before because the unbalanced wheel was in the back.

What I was trying to explain was that each tire and wheel have heavy spot(s). So, you should try to mount the tire so the heavy part of the tire is matched with lighter part of the wheel for better balancing. Apparently, on my one wheel, both heavy spots were matched so I had "super-heavy" spot on my wheel. Even after balancing, it won't completely remove vibration if you don't address the heavy spot issues.