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Wheel Balance


marcus wright
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Hi there,

I recently found a nail in my tyre and the puncture was repaired by the local Kwik-fit. However, there was then a vibration between 75 and 85 mph. I took the car back and for some bizarre reason they rebalanced all of the wheels, but there was still a bad vibration at the same speeds. It went back a third time yesterday, firstly they rebalanced the tyre they originally repaired - no luck, and then the other rear. (When the fitter checked he said the job hadn't been done properly by Kwik-fit before as it required a 10gm weight when tested straight off the car). Anyway, when I tested the car at speed today, same problem, actually slightly worse through a greater speed range 75+mph.

Obviously, as a result I don't have a great deal of confidence in Kwik-fit.

The car is a 2005 GS430 with the 18" alloys, they were refurbished and have only been on the car 2000 miles.

Does anyone know a really good specialist that will do a proper job in the Bedford area. I would rather pay than take it back to Kwik-fit for the 5th time! They do not seem to take enough care in doing a good job, and I don't want the unmarked alloys to be manhandled any more.

Any advice much appreciated.

Best regards,

Marcus.

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Hi Marcus.

Sounds a familiar problem i had with my old LS400,the wheel balancing has to be spot on or you the same sort of problems.Might be worth putting the spare on and switching the spare in turn with the two wheels that are playing up to rule out wheel damage.

Good luck

chips.

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Hi Marcus.

Sounds a familiar problem i had with my old LS400,the wheel balancing has to be spot on or you the same sort of problems.Might be worth putting the spare on and switching the spare in turn with the two wheels that are playing up to rule out wheel damage.

Good luck

chips.

Hi Chips,

Thanks for the tip, but the new GS doesn't come with a full size spare, so that is not possible. I'm really looking for a recommendation of someone I can trust to balance the wheels properly within a few miles of Bedford. If no luck, then I'll just have to take it back to Kwik-fit but they've already had four tries and I don't want them to make a mess of the wheels (every time they remove / add the stick-on weights, they never really clean the wheel down and remove the residue - which means the weights are more likely to fall off over time). Oh well....any tips much appreciated.

Marcus.

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Simple question are the 18" wheels 'aftermarket'? and do they use a 'spigot ring'..... by chance could this have fallen off when the puncture was done?...... you can balance a wheel forever but if it's not central the vibration will never disappear.

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Hi All,

The car went back to Kwikfit yesterday, all four wheel rebalaned under duress.

The manager said that the offside front required 115g of weight and that he felt this was a lot and there was either a problem with the wheel or tyre. They actually had to double layer the stick on weights.

Is this normal, what can cause it?

Best regards,

Marcus.

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Hi All,

The car went back to Kwikfit yesterday, all four wheel rebalaned under duress.

The manager said that the offside front required 115g of weight and that he felt this was a lot and there was either a problem with the wheel or tyre. They actually had to double layer the stick on weights.

Is this normal, what can cause it?

Best regards,

Marcus.

Is this the same tyre that had the repair?.... if not then since the problem never existed before don't worry about the weights...... but i must add if the shop was any good then they should have rotated the tyre 180 degrees on the rim and checked the balance again!

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Do they have the latest balancing machine?? Kwik Fit's machinery varies alot from garage to garage, depending on how profit making the place is.

Ask them if it can do solid center wheels, if so, it'll be one of the more modern ones.

115g of weights, says buckled wheel to me.

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Hi,

It wasn't the wheel with the repair. That was rear offside. This is front offside.

The wheels were replaced by Lexus Ipswich as part of putting right problems when I bought the car last November. I bought the car over the phone and they told me the wheels were unmarked and they weren't so they had the car back. First time they painted the wheels normal alloy colour rather than the smoke alloy the new GS430 wheels are plus you could take the paint off with your fingernail the job was so totally crap. They then had it back again said they had replaced all wheels with what they said is a refurbished set and these seem to be the smoke colour.

Looks to me as if it is either a) something that could be sorted by replacing the tyre, b ) I got given a bent front refurb wheel by Lexus Ipswich (assuming Kwikfit rebalanced properly - they must have done after three tries eh?) or c) Kwikfit had a problem balancing it properly. Mind you, I do remember it had a lot of weights on that wheel when it came back from Ipswich, so I may have slagged off Kwikfit unreasonably when they have been trying to balance a knackered wheel (sorry!).

I'm going to replace the tyres in a couple of weeks, if after that I find the wheel is bent I'm going to post it to the MD of Lexus Ipswich with an invoice for a new one. If a new one doesn't match colour, I'll invoice him for the whole set. Anyone know where I can get new wheels cheap?

Best regards,

Marcus.

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Hi,

It wasn't the wheel with the repair. That was rear offside. This is front offside.

Marcus.

Oh right, that wasn't mentioned in your first post, but not overly important.

115g out sounds like a buckled wheel, very much doubt a new tyre will make any difference, unless the tyre is deformed.

If you brought the car and it wasn't as advertised, I'd ask for a NEW set of wheels, not settle for refurbed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

Car still vibrating so decided to take it to a local tyre fitter. He checked the front right wheel. There is a very very slight deformation of the wheel rim, not too bad he said. The 115gms added by Kwikfit were removed and 90gms added. Result: no vibration.

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