04zjimc

Has anyone done this? and is it worth $50 per tire?

ArtClassShank

Yes, its worth it. Cheaper then having to get them re-balanced when they start vibrating.

Definitely worth it if you're putting on reproduction wheels.

TrackAire

It depends on why you're asking. If you just had new tires installed and balanced and everything feels great, then no, don't do it.

If you have tires that have been "balanced" and you still feel a vibration, slight shimmy, your passenger side seatback vibrates at highway speeds, then you may have other issues. I think the main machine that does road force testing is made my Hunter....it will tell you if the wheel is bent, true or round and it will also tell you if your tire is round, has internal high spots, etc. I don't recall the number, but what the machine does is put a roller against the tire as it spins and measures the "road force". If the road force energy is above a specific number then the tire and or rim is defective IMO. No amount of weight is going to fix it long term.

Here is what most people don't understand....if the tire is molded in a way that the rim hole is off center, then it is sort of oblong. You can balance it so it spins perfectly "balanced" on a tire balancer. But I can also balance a tire in shape of a triangle to be perfectly balanced on a machine. But how is a triangle going to feel against the road....pretty rough, right?

The two most common issues that make a tire not "round" is the wheel hole is not centered in the tire and/or the belt plies were overlapped too much so you have a thick spot which would create a hump under the tread. No matter how much weight you use, you can't make something not round ride smooth. The tire is defective and needs to be replaced.

Same goes for rims....if the rim is bent side to side or bent to affect its roundness, balancing will not get you far.

If they are telling you that you need to have your tires "road forced" balanced on a new tire purchase, then go somewhere else as the are lying to make a couple extra hundred dollars from you. Road force testing is there to help you find why you can't get a smooth, vibration free ride after installing a new set of tires or rims. And if new tires or rims need to be road forced balanced and are above the acceptable road force number, I would not accept them.

Hope that helps.

Velocity_Vette

I agree with Art and was going to say if you're running reproduction or similarly cast wheels a road force balance is paramount and can correct a lot of issues owners deal with running those type wheels.

One thing you may consider though is life of the tires relative to your driving habits. If you're not reaching the maximum wear life of the tires or not using the tires up within six years or so then you might not need to both with a road force balance. You'd be replacing tires anyways because of how old they are.

04zjimc

Tires and wheels are brand new.i purchased forgedstar wheels...when they balanced the wheels they have just a couple of little square weights.. i havent driven the car yet... it made sense when the guy explained it to me..but wasnt sure i really needed that...i will see how it drives this weekend...

Pounder

had Discount Tire do mine !!! FREE of charge !!!!!!!!!!! (bought tires there)

TrackAire

Save your money....either the tire and wheel are round or they are defective. If they are round it only takes minimal weights (sometimes none) to balance out the valve stem or slight imperfections. Sometimes spinning the tire 180 degrees on the wheel can make the tire balance perfect or require much less weight. The road force machine is going to help you determine which is at fault (a test you shouldn't have to pay for IMO if buying rims and tires from the place that is installing them), the wheel or the tire.

One of the biggest challenges is the equipment is only as good as the kid installing and balance the rims......if he doesn't know what he is doing it can be a PIA.

I've seen reproduction rims that were better quality than the "name brand" wheels......lets face it, 98% of them are made in China, even the big name brand rims.

Fcar 98

Road force has a place when it comes to problems. I had a tire that was a bit off. Had road force done at Firestone, made it right. I have all my tire work done at Costco. They told me their equipment was just as good as road force, and it was. The more I used the tire it continued to change. Every time I had the tires rotated Costco balances the tires. That tire was good till I replaced it. They were not my corvette tires but they were 20 inch

Mr. Black

Like Pounder said, almost all Discount Tire stores use the Hunter road force balance as standard these days and don't charge extra for it.

I think it should be the new standard.

cvm

I do this every day. Its better yes;
but PLEASE don't waste $ 200 on a balance job.

Esp if done by idiot millennial who got a snap-on hat & calls him a tech,
& doesn't know the machine

04zjimc

yeah im going to wait it out...i bought the tires online..

Brunello

Careful what you say. The millennials are listening!!!!!! Remember, they’re going to be taking care of our old asses in a bit so let’s not write any euthanasia legislation for them. I often feel the same way but then our parents thought we were idiots too. Now we spend our time obsessing about a car we don’t really need and don’t drive. Guess they were wrong😜

Mr. Black

I have bought two full sets of tires in the last two years one of which are currently on the Vette.

Discount Tire installed both sets even though they weren't purchased from them. I think I paid right around 80-90 bucks out the door on them and that was with Road Force.

It may or may not help that I've spent 10s of thousands of dollars with them over the years. I don't know.

Mr. Black

millennial or not there is so much truth to this.

K-Spaz

If you want to make a road trip to Central PA I'll throw them in the lathe with a tool post grinder and grind them round. Much better than the road force balance.

And for the record, $50 per tire for that is Ludacris. They are robbing people at that rate. All they're doing is mounting the tire and balancing it then breaking it back down and rotating the tire to the wheel in order to find a better match for the imperfections of both. If the rim is truly round, then the process is fairly pointless. I'm not sure if they can independently balance the wheel and then the tire and have it tell them the difference between the two but I do not believe that's how it works and I have seen it and had it done.

Around here I want to say it an extra $10 a wheel on top of the regular balancing.

Gordy M

While I do not know if it is still true, I was told years ago when running Hoosier/Goodyear tires there was a red dot on the tire and they were to align that dot with the valve stem. Today I am running 200 UTOG street tires and I still have them mounted with the red dot at the valve stem. Since I go through 1 or 2 sets a year I have them balanced, they use very little weight, and I feel no vibrations at up to 150 mph

Mr. Black

The Road Force balancer will tell you where to put the tire on the wheel if a drastic enough change is required to get he best results. Also remember road force is just that, it's a drum simulating road force so there are other factors in play than just dynamic out of balance.

K-Spaz

They call it a road Force balancer but it's not really applying pressure to the tire, they're just looking for an out of round condition that they can match up with an imperfection in the wheel. You have dynamic balance and you have out of round. If you have an out of round condition, no amount of balancing can fix it. This is why companies will shave tires to make them round on the outside. They grind them to get rid of the high spots. You can dynamically balance a square Tire. That doesn't mean it's going to run smooth.

Mr. Black

Sir, you need to brush up on Road Force balancers. They do in fact put over a thousand pounds of force on the tire and the computer does WAY more than just check for out of round.

Google search and read for hours, or not.

TrackAire

For those that have not seen a tire shaving process, this is what I've had done to my giant 37" off road tires that had about 20k miles on them and where having high and low spots on the big knobby lugs. No amount of balancing can fix a tire that is out of round. I went to AIM tire service at Sonoma Raceway and although they had never done a big off road tire, there were willing to try. It cost me about $50.00 per tire, but I ended up with a tire that is so round and smooth, you'd think my lifted Excursion was a Lexus. The difference in ride quality and noise was huge. Definitely worth it as it would extend the life of not only the tires but other drive train parts like bearings, shocks, etc so they don't have to endure the bumpy ride and constant vibrations.

An obvious use for the tire shaver is race tires, but one other market segment is vehicles with permanent all wheel drive. So if a Range Rover that has 20k miles on a set of tires has blow out, sometimes putting a new full depth tread tire can effect the drivetrain and or stability control due to the different diameter of the old verses new tire. By taking the brand new tire and shaving it down to be within specs diameter-wise, you don't have to replace all 4 tires if you don't want to. It is just another option that a tire store can offer the customer. Some of the high end SUV tires like Michelins can be $250.00 or more per tire....some over $400.00 if it is unique tire size or style for that vehicle.

Here is what the machine and blade looks like in use. They even make templates to help bring an old tire back to its original shape....some tires are more squared off, some are more round across the tread. The templates allow the operator to make sure the tire shape across the thread and carcass stay consistent.

If I had just bought a new set of expensive wheels and tires, I would be suspect of them if they need to be road force balanced to make them "balance out" and could not be balance on a standard tire balancer......in my opinion that is a tire and wheel combo that will always give you issues with balance and ride. Remember, as soon as the tire starts to get some wear and or the tire spins a little on the rim and moves from its original mounted spot (happens on track tires all the time), everything changes. If a tire and wheel combination is already on the edge of being round and balanced, any minor change will be multiplied compared to a correctly manufactured tire and rim.