e-man

I'm not a cheap person, but my friendly neighborhood Lexus dealer quoted me $89.99 plus tax to rotate and balance my winter rims/tires. Are you kidding me? So, today I went over to the local NTB and had it done for $19.99. I just put them on the car last week, but I wanted to make sure that everything was on straight, and I was feeling a little vibration so I figured they could stand to be balanced.

I was a little uneasy about turning her over to them, but they had a window in the waiting area so I could watch their every move. They were courteous and did a very nice job. I'm not sure whether they used a Hunter Road Force machine (although there were quite a few "Hunter" signs posted around the garage). They also fixed one of my leaky 17s for $19.99 (they removed the tire from the rim, sanded down the inner edge, remounted and rebalanced the tire -- Lexus quoted me $69.99 for this). I was out the door for around $40 with tax. Just thought I'd share.

e

Dx3

iTrader: (13)

Sounds like it turned out to be a smart investment I hate bringing my car anywhere - hate other people touching it. So now I just park it in the garage and never drive it JK!!

Jonny

e-man

Why is that? I completely agree with you, but why do we all feel that way? Are GS's just magnets for bad things? I mean, my mom has an 02 LS and she gives that car to valets, parks it on the street, takes it to Lexus for service or a car wash, and nothing ever gets damaged, not even a scratch. With the GS, on the other hand, you turn your head for one minute and disaster strikes.

Dx3

iTrader: (13)

LOL - so true!! Thankfully I have been lucky thus far. Not wanting to risk it though by playing with fire - so this biiatch is staying in the garage!!

Jonny

GWELEX

Interesting, my experiences here have been just the opposite when I haven't used the dealership. No major repairs but general maintenance stuff, winter tires mounted an oil change, etc. The mechanics took one look and said "Whoa a Lexus, we'd better get this one done right". They were courteous, cautious and explained every little thing they performed. It was almost like they were grateful for the oppurtunity.

chuckb

hey e-$19.99 to balance all 4? if that was road force, that's super cheap. the only local tire shop that I will let touch my GS charges $15 per wheel for load force balance. the dealer uses load force balance and mine charges $99.

so does it ride better now?

e-man

Hey Chuck. Like I said, I don't know if it was a Road Force machine. I did see it, and it was a machine where the wheel was mounted on it from the side (as if it was being mounted on a car), then a cover came down over the wheel and the wheel was set in motion. There was some sort of computer hooked up to the machine and it was displaying all sorts of numbers. It was $19.99 for all 4 wheels with a coupon, and I believe they charged $12.50 per wheel without the coupon. It looked like the same machine they have at Costco, so I doubt it was the Road Force machine everyone always talks about, but maybe.

I haven't had the chance to get on the highway yet, so I don't know if the balancing got rid of the rotation. The main vibration seemed to be coming from the front right wheel, and when I asked they guy whether any of the wheels seemed out of balance, he immediately said that the front right one was off a bit. We'll see, maybe they got it right.

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

Hey E-MAN you got to love the Lexus Dealer

Johnny Rad

I did the lifetime alignment through Firestone this week along with a rotation and balancing. Much smoother now. Firestone's ~$150 lifetime deal is a losing proposition for them that I highly recommend for you! How many alignments do you need to break even ... 2 or 3?

STONER

Is the name Johnny Rad from the old Powell videos.

Johnny Rad

Yes, been using it for years and you're the first to call me on it.

Might just be time for me to get another blast from the past login.

STONER

I grew up on the powell vids, and wheels of fire. Actually I stopped skating professionally about 5 years ago. Right before there was big money in it. Always good to see a fellow skater on here.

Japan air, on it all the time, this kid's hot...

Don't change the name.

e-man

Update -- it's been a few weeks since the leaky rim was repaired. As of today, the rim has not lost any air -- not an ounce. If you've got a tire that's losing a pound or two a week, and there's no puncture involved, I highly recommend doing this.