Wheel Balancing

[GaryC]

I cannot understand why tyre shops produce so many different results with wheel balancing.

I used to be in a different tyre shop every week..."Please can you cure the vibration in the steering at 75mph. I can drive through it" I said.

One shop would say it's the front wheels that need balacncing, some would say the rear.

Another would say it's the bushes, another the brakes, another a buckled alloy.

Ok this may be the case in some situations but if you can drive through the vibration in the steering it's the wheels that need balancing.

However we are in a pathetic situation that no two tyre shops will balance the wheels the same.

Every time I had my front wheels balanced I had a different weight on them and the vibration remained.

What's so f**** hard about balancing a wheel ?

I say to a shop "look mate you can either balance a wheel or not - you are a tyre shop for f*** sake".

A number of times I have returned to a shop and said it's not cured the problem to be told "oh the chap who did it has only just started here and didn't do it properly" - then they balance it different again.

Why don't the shops just balance all four wheels PROPERLY and be done with it.

The tyre place that eventually cured my year long problem was Wilmslow Tyres in Cheshire and they said "Look - we can balance Ferarris so we can balance your car. I'm going to balance all

four wheels". He also explained what balancing was and why it made the car wobble.

Ten minutes later I was cruising down the motorway with supreme smoothness !

I cannot understand how people can put up with driving a high class car with this vibration.

They may as well get a 1995 Ford Escort !!!!

Why this wheel balancing is such a black art is beyond me. It's not rocket science.

[Zee007]

bit peeved off are we...........? :shutit:

glad you got it sorted mate....... :D

[ColinBarber]

Why this wheel balancing is such a black art is beyond me. It's not rocket science

I think it's mainly down to the fitters. Many don't know how to use the equipment properly and most don't give a monkey about your car. If you watch them balancing they never put on the weights exactly where the machine tells them. I would also imagine that a lot of the machines don't accurately balance wheels anymore due to the amount of abuse they have received over the years.

[javadude]

It's not just me then - I've had similar experiences. Ditto wheel alignment.

[mudzs]

Someone once told me the only way to get your wheels balanced properly is to have them balanced while still on the car .Anyone had this done or was this bloke talking rubbish as i have never found a garage that can do it

[AMH]

I used to always get this done (had an '87 XR2 that was very balance sensitive) - Collins tyres in Portsmouth used to have the kit - seat units with big chrome drive wheel that rubbed on edge of wheel and axle stands with sensors in (load cells ?) - always worked a treat as takes into account drive shaft balance etc.

They no longer do it - everywhere now seems to do the off-car method - perhaps it is now more reliable - it used to be that they could set the sensitivity on these units - unsure if it is still the case but worth asking ...

[Glyn C]

I was told by the Lexus technical chap that the wheels need to be balanced on a "stud locating" machine rather than those that use the centre spigot. This should then be attached using the actual wheel nuts -lock nuts and this gives a true reading for balancing. Some of the more specialised wheel places have them.

Hope this helps

:duh:

[randyreindeer]

I have been told something along those lines glyn. I believe something as small as a locking wheel nut can also throw out the balance. My balancing headaches turned out to be caused by nothing more than a sticky brake piston. It took a long time to find it but when I did, my wheels didn't wobble any more right up to 120 MPH on the runway at an airshow last weekend.

[SteJ]

So that was you chasing the little planes at Woodvale then Paul?

Here's me thinking all that banging was fireworks!

Was that 120mph at 1:72 scale?

[randyreindeer]

ste

I had 2 cars at woodvale. Wifey took the lexter and I took the TR. She was supossed to follow me in case of breakdown as it was its first run out.. The 120 MPH was done by her, not me. I poodled along at about 80 ish while she hammered the nuts of the TR along side. A great weekend out and the TR was faultless..... apart from having a MG badges on its wheels.

[mlillywh]

Got to say that I had the same problem when I had new tyres fitted - interestingly I'd just read the GS300 buyers guide article and it even mentioned the 300s are very sensitive to wheel balance - nice wobble at about 75. Paid 11 beans at the local tyre fitter and watched the lad do the balance. Sorted after that!

I've resigned myself to having to rebalance the wheels at least twice per fitting!!

[twotone]

My last car was fine until the main dealer changed the front tyres and then 'balanced' them put big dirty weights on the outside of my nice shiny perfect alloys. I drove away and between 65mph and 70mph the steering wheel vibrated. Brought it back and told them to do it again. They did and this time the removed the huge dirty weights off the front of each alloy and put smaller ones leaving scratch marks in the wheels where the big one had been. I was fuming....the steering wheel still vibrated at 65mph. So back to dealer and told them to balance the wheels and asked can you remove the weights from the outside without damaging the alloys anymore and remove the scratches...service manager say, "yes no problem of course they just clip off". They rang me in the afternoon to say they'd balanced the wheels once and the vibration was still there and why they tried again they noticed that their balancing equipment was broken and that a major part had to be ordered in and would take 3 days.

Finally got my car back balanced only to find the alloys had chunks out of the rim from where the weights just "clipped off" I complained and they said they'd get their man to repair them.....In the end when I picked it up and drove away the service manager ran out and stopped me to tell me that they didn't repair them they just replaced them with brand new ones....want did he want and a :) .....more like a :mat:

I dread going anywhere to get wheels balanced. Next time I'm getting my neighbour to do it he seemingly owns a tyre business and does Ferraris, TVRs etc He must be good if owners of cars like that use him.

[Lexus Jim]

I am also coming to the conclusion that it is hard to find people who know how to balance wheels properly - anyone got any recomendations for manchester area for when I get them next done?

cheers

[Peter L]

Lexus Jim - Gary C (thread starter) recommends Wilmslow tyres in er ... Wilmslow ??? Got an address Gary C ? Need mine doing as it's all over the place ...

[eMJay]

Thankfully there are a couple of good tyre places near me, one of them has done all sorts of cars from regular road cars to Ferraris so I would trust them with my set of 18s. The other I've used many times, but they do the work so quick, although correct, that sometimes you wonder how much care they take.

I'm going to get my wheels aligned soon so let the fun begin!

[fil]

OK guys (and girls ?) here's something worth considering re: wheel balancing. I have a 98 GS300 - had it about 18 months now - when I bought it I had a 4-wheel alignment done and all 4 wheels balanced. However, it had a slight wheel wobble right at 65mph, so after a month or so I had the front wheels rebalanced (different shop) and yes, you guessed it, it still had wheel wobble. I resigned myself to live with it. About 2 weeks ago I decided, once again, to have the front wheels rebalanced only this time I told the guy about the problem and asked if I could watch him use the machine. Sure enough the machine showed both wheels "perfectly" balanced. It was when the guy removed the wheels from the machine that the reason for the wobble became blindingly clear - one wheel had a single small balance weight, the other had over 40 grams all in one spot. I checked my rear wheels and ,fortunately, one of them had a single small weight. I swapped wheels so both front wheels have small weights - problem solved, I now have a Lexus that drives like a Lexus should - not a hint of shimmy from zero to well into 3 figures (private road !). If you're suffering from a wobble at a specific speed you may like to check just how many balance weights have had to be fitted to your front wheels to please the dumb balancing machine.

[Tony-Bones]

I was told by the Lexus technical chap that the wheels need to be balanced on a "stud locating" machine rather than those that use the centre spigot. This should then be attached using the actual wheel nuts -lock nuts and this gives a true reading for balancing. Some of the more specialised wheel places have them.

Hope this helps

:duh:

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Actually i did post a thread here in 'wheels and tyres' titled 'wheel balance, why does it go wrong, some time ago, If Lex Tech have realized solution then its not all in vain! .... good to speak again Glyn :D

[campionmichaeljj]

My last car was fine until the main dealer changed the front tyres and then 'balanced' them put big dirty weights on the outside of my nice shiny perfect alloys.  I drove away and between 65mph and 70mph the steering wheel vibrated. Brought it back and told them to do it again. They did and this time the removed the huge dirty weights off the front of each alloy and put smaller ones leaving scratch marks in the wheels where the big one had been. I was fuming....the steering wheel still vibrated at 65mph. So back to dealer and told them to balance the wheels and asked can you remove the weights from the outside without damaging the alloys anymore and remove the scratches...service manager say, "yes no problem of course they just clip off". They rang me in the afternoon to say they'd balanced the wheels once and the vibration was still there and why they tried again they noticed that their balancing equipment was broken and that a major part had to be ordered in and would take 3 days.

Finally got my car back balanced only to find the alloys had chunks out of the rim from where the weights just "clipped off" I complained and they said they'd get their man to repair them.....In the end when I picked it up and drove away the service manager ran out and stopped me to tell me that they didn't repair them they just replaced them with brand new ones....want did he want  and a  :) .....more like a  :mat:

I dread going anywhere to get wheels balanced. Next time I'm getting my  neighbour to do it he seemingly owns a tyre business and does Ferraris, TVRs etc He must be good if owners of cars like that use him.

←

Hi! I am having trouble getting my wheels balanced properly and accurately. Did you use your neighbours company? If so can I possibly have his details so I can book my Mk2 in!

Regards

MC

[Chris Skelton]

I am also coming to the conclusion that it is hard to find people who know how to balance wheels properly - anyone got any recomendations for manchester area for when I get them next done?

cheers

←

Read back up the link! (Wilmslow Tyres in Cheshire....!)SORRY...someone already SAID that!.....

[Chris Skelton]

Thankfully there are a couple of good tyre places near me, one of them has done all sorts of cars from regular road cars to Ferraris so I would trust them with my set of 18s. The other I've used many times, but they do the work so quick, although correct, that sometimes you wonder how much care they take.

I'm going to get my wheels aligned soon so let the fun begin!

←

Where is the good one?Bristol isn't TOO far away....though we MAY have someone good (Clifton tyres in Clifton)

[Tony-Bones]

I am also coming to the conclusion that it is hard to find people who know how to balance wheels properly - anyone got any recomendations for manchester area for when I get them next done?

cheers

←

Read back up the link! (Wilmslow Tyres in Cheshire....!)SORRY...someone already SAID that!.....

←

Have a read of this thread it may help.....

[Kremmen]

When mine was brand new there was absolutely no vibration at all.

Then I got a puncture (offside rear) that required a new tyre. This was done and balanced at a Lexus main dealer and I found that I had very slight vibration at about 60mph, that as others have found, you can drive through.

I have had all mine balanced by an expert which revealed that 3 out of the 4 were incorrect (including the new one) and have been re-balanced. However, I still have slight vibration at 60mph that is not vibrating the steering wheel but you can feel in the general handling of the car. This points me to the car and not the wheels themselves. Maybe wear and tear in the bearings ?

My car went into Lexus for it's 20K service a few weeks ago and I haven't a clue what they did but the vibration (very very slight and I'm being pedantic) is now at just under 70mph and again can be driven through.

Theory 2 :

I always check my pressures cold and I set to 35psi as per professional advice since 33psi was wearing the edges more than the centre.

When I had mine balanced I had to drive 15 miles and the wheels & tyres were warm/hot.

The pressures were adjusted to 35psi and the balance occurred. The following morning when the tyres were cold my pressures were down to 31psi so I upped them back to 35psi. The theory being that 33psi cold was wearing the edges so I guessed that 35psi cold must be the answer.

With the 4psi difference does this now mean that I am running hot at 39psi ?

If so will that affect the balance at those temperatures ?

Out of curiosity are F1 tyres balanced cold or hot ?

Strange !