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road force balancing?

C

codypka

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
May 31, 2006
Messages
657
Location
Magnolia, NJ
After putting on my new wheels that i purchased from aircougar i noticed a pretty bad vibration between the speeds of 60 an 70. So no big deal right? I take it in to our local Tires Plus to see what I need, a new allignment or balance or something. But no, they tell me i need a special "road force" balance due to having aftermarket wheels and suspension (BAT Kit). Not only does it cost $60 PER WHEEL but they can't even do it at their location, i woul have to bring it to their location a couple of towns over.

So I'm thinking this is total bull$hit. Am I right?

Should I need a special balancing? and if I do, is $240 a rip off?
 
you should not need special balancing just because you have aftermarket rims and suspension and it should most deffinitly not cost you anything extra. a road force balancer is nothing more than a regular tire balancer with a piece that applies road force. most shops that have one only have the road force and every tire they balance gets "road force balanced".

take the car somewhere else (I actually use my local GM dealership because i worked there and i know the guys) and have them balance them. BTW, most shops have a road force balancer these days.
 
striker2 said:
you should not need special balancing just because you have aftermarket rims and suspension and it should most deffinitly not cost you anything extra. a road force balancer is nothing more than a regular tire balancer with a piece that applies road force. most shops that have one only have the road force and every tire they balance gets "road force balanced".

take the car somewhere else (I actually use my local GM dealership because i worked there and i know the guys) and have them balance them. BTW, most shops have a road force balancer these days.
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thats what i thought was the case. I'll call some other places tomorrow
 
yea tires plus has always been a total :censored::censored::censored: rip off. I took one of my cars in there back a couple a years ago for an alignment. So I pay the 60 bucks and leave. Driving my car i notice no difference. So I checked the bolt they loosen to align the steering and the rust isn't even broke off the bolt. Which means they didn't do :censored::censored::censored::censored: and charged me for it! I went and got my money back without any hassle from them and have been talking people away from there ever since.
 
if your looking for a place to get an alignment done in CT try Fetzer Tire in Southport. Family has been going there for years and they can actually align these cars.
 
BrApple said:
if your looking for a place to get an alignment done in CT try Fetzer Tire in Southport. Family has been going there for years and they can actually align these cars.
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CT would be a little far. I'm in central NJ. But thanks for the tip
 
They're full of crap BUT, the Hunter Road force balancer does a far better job than most spin balancers....AND it shouldn't be much, if any, more than conventional balancing. All it does is spin your wheel and then apply a rolling drum to the tire as it spins...and it spins much faster than most balancers. It gives a much more accurate idea of how unbalanced the wheel/tire is.

I used to build expedition trucks for a living and we almost always had to use the Hunter Roadforce when balancing because of the sheer size of our tire and wheel combos...for a car, even with dubs, it should be a moot point. The tire quality on street and highway tires is far better than the beefy rubber we ran on the Rovers and Land Cruisers.
 
I work at discount tire and we have a road force balancer along with regular balancers... The road force doesn't cost that much at our shop.. Basically all road force does is smoothes out the tire a little more. Just for example, say the tire is a square. Road force just rounds edges so it will roll better. It's not necessary for aftermarket wheels. But it will give a better balance. Not necessarily worth $240 at that shop.
 
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