chuckb

a good tech can tell by watching the tire when it's on the balancer. you can see it hop up and down a little if it's not round.

some of what you're feeling may be more road feel from switching to the 18s too.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Just to make clear to people:
This is an out-of-round condition, called run out.

NOT to be confused with an out-of balance condition which means excessive rubber weight on one end of the tire.

Such a tire can be considered defective and some manufacturers will warantee and replace it if discovered when the tire is new and balanced using a Hunter 9700.

Both these balance conditions can be verified on a Hunter 9700 Road Force balancer.

I previously gave an explanation on why this balancer is the ONLY one that can identify difficult balance issues such as these. Most shops DO NOT use this type of balancing method and CANNOT identify OR fix vibration issues caused by severe tire imbalance.

Do a search if you want to more about the "Hunter 9700".

I see the potential for a lot of people fixing all sorts of other parts of their car that are not "Checking road force balance first". Even brake rotor warpage and other related issues have been mis-diagnosed wrong when the problem is that they NEVER Road Force Balanced the tires using the Hunter 9700.

I have seen posts where people bought all new tires and rims to get rid of their problem.

Most likely it was just a tire that was not Road Force Balanced.

STONER

Shimmy is still there but nearly undetectable. I was on the open road and spent most of the time well above the 60-65 mph range so I guess the CA bushings are sometime in my future. Not as pressing as it was a week ago. I did have some discomfort with the loose steering over 100 mph. Not that I plan on spending too much time up there, but I think my old Maxima was more confidence inspiring over 100. I may try the pretensioner adjustment. Any thoughts from those whove done that or know about results from tightening the pretensioner?

STONER

I'm getting two new rear tires sent from TireRack to replace mine. There was "excessive road force" which means they balance fine but don't ride fine I guess. I will have them mounted and balanced and report back when I get anything new.

BTW TireRack customer service kicks butt. They are going to give me $20 towards the mount and balance of the new tires.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Ed hit it right on the button, COld tire warm up is terrible... IF the car sits longer than like 3 days or so cold tire is present.. Therefore i drive just about everyother day to work.. I also found out that tighten the the lug nuts to 76 ft. lbs in a star pattern is helpful as well.. Most mechanics tend to overtighten everything with there damn air gun you really don't know what the ft. lbs will be..

T

chuckb

good luck.
this is the same exact thing that Discount Tire Direct did for me with my 18 inch tires.

it worked for me.

DruMnBaSS

iTrader: (1)

hear all this talk about daizen this daizen that. i have bags and realy need to get like aLLLL my busings replaced.. even the ones in my head so theres like a ton of them as I can see sway control steering... is ther like a diagram of whats what... and whats the best place to get these bad boys.... and whats up about replacing them as a DIY .... any special wrenches needed or anything or easy job????

STONER

So here's another thing I've started feeling. When I go over rough pavement and small bumps I hear a slight clunk in the front suspension. I can feel it in the gas pedal. I've read threads all about strut mounts and sway bar bolts and ball joints. I replaced the OEM sway bar bushings with the Daizen and replaced the ball joints in the last 10K. I've only had the L-Tuned suspension for around 6K.

Anyone have this before and manage to fix it?

STONER

I got the tires from TireRack today. That was really fast. So, I go out to look at the car and what do you know, the idiots at the "high end" shop I've been going to have put my left rear wheel on the front. At least they put the wider tire up there. I was beginning to wonder why I was pulling to the right when I was braking. this may also explain the clunking I was hearing. I had a meeting today away from the office and had a few miles on the road to be continually reminded that there was something wrong with my car and that got me to thinking... The third time I took the car back to this place for a road force balance, I got a print out of the before and after specs. The before specs on two of the wheels were in the 80s with a corrected number of 40. This is the same shop that told me that a value of 19 or higher could be felt on the road. Now, not only did I have to take it back to them 3 times, but basically they sent me out the door the 2nd time with values in the 80s as if the job was done right. In addition, I've got TireRack involved because the values that were shown to me as incorrect were the rear values (so I ordered 2 new rear tires) I'm so pissed right now that I have been giving them all this credit because of the cars they had in their shop. I feel sorry for those folks. The question is... do I get a refund and take it to another shop or stand over the guys shoulder and watch him do the work to my satisfaction?

Please advise me. I can't afford to tell them to go to hell and start over somewhere else, and now I don't even know if the tires that were sent to me will fix whatever problem I have.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

I'll call my local High End Alignment Shop and ask them what they have to say about your numbers.

They are Authorized TireRack installers. If your shop is also TireRack authorized, then they should be sending them back to TireRack if the tires won't meet spec.

They are super hard to catch on the phone for technical questions and I have to talk to the owner, since he is most knowledgable.

I'll try to give a call tomorrow and will respond if I get a hold of them.

STONER

Thanks. The more I think about it, I have to just ask them for a refund. I don't have any more patience and trust in this place. I will try to contact TireRack and find an authorized installer and Continental dealer in one.

In the off chance that all four are out of round, I need to have an authorized dealer dianose that...

chuckb

that sucks. 40 lb road force would be awful. I had 24lbs at one time and it was noticable.maybe if you get your $ back, you could try the Lex dealer. my Lex dealer charges $100 for all 4 road force with a Hunter.

luciano

My car is currently in the shop getting the Daizen bushings installed, but my mechanic had a question about the Lower control arm inner bushing.. he said that the original part holds the camber bolt with ridges and the new daizen has no ridges in the metal pipe piece provided... is this normal?

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Just got back from talking to my local shop. They said 26 is the maximum they would deem acceptable. Anything more than that, the tire should be returned to the manufacturer as a defect.

On the Hunter print out, it would also indicate whether the tire could be "match mounted", which involves balancing the tire and wheel weight offsets so that you could get a better balance.

The report will say whether this is possible for that particular tire/wheel to get it within spec. If the report says match mounting will not help, then the problem cannot be resolved by balancing the tire.

TireRack will honor such a report coming from an authorized tire installer that uses the Hunter9700 for road force balancing.

I think it's time for you to go to an authorized TireRack Installer, who knows how to "Properly" use the 9700.

STONER

Unfortunately and unbelieveably this place IS a TireRack recommended installer. I talked to the manager today and he said "we'll do whatever it takes to get this thing right." I'm not sure if I trust this plasce though. I would have thought that it was right each time they told me my car was finished...
I'm dropping it back off there tomorrow and giving them one final chance to make it right but we will have to see.