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Tire Road Forcing required all new tires?


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So I am currently having issues with a vibration in my 15' 2500 hd and have been going back and forth with the dealer about this and hoping someone with some good knowledge on tires and half tons can help me out. My truck has 2600 miles on it now and has had FOUR sets of goodyears installed due to the vibration. each time they have been roadforced well within GM's specs and they send me on my way. Couple hundred miles later each time the vibration is back and when then assess roadforce, something has shifted out of whack. My service tech tells me hes never seen this before, has anyone else? Ive also questioned them saying, in the future once you "resolve" the vibration, whoses going to pay the added road force costs each time I have to buy a set of tires down the line. His response is oh this is now required by GM for all tires on these trucks including half tons. I have had late model half and 3/4 ton trucks and have never ever had to roadforce any tires as part of normal replacement procedures. Any thoughts?

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I bought some Goodyear Duratracs to replace the crappy Goodyear Wranglers SR-As and had the same problem. Had them balanced three times and the vibration kept coming back. Never had vibration with the SR-As.. Ended up returning the Duratracks to Amazon and had bought some Bridgestone Dueler Revo 2 instead. Rides perfect now!

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I had the similar issue with the factory tires.

When I first got my truck it was smooth.

I went in for a rotate and balance and the vibration's began...

 

The dealer road force balanced them twice and couldn't get rid of the vibration at 77mph.

I changed to Michelin's and had the same vibration. Not as bad, but still there.

Since the dealer was busy, I found a local Firestone car care center that had recently got the RF balancing machine.

They said the tires were way off and they fixed them. I now have a smooth ride at all speeds.

 

I believe the dealer wasn't doing the road force balancing good enough.

They take just a little while to do it, about 30 - 45 minutes where as the Firestone guy took 1 1/2 - 2 hours to do it.

I watched him so I know he was working the whole time.

 

This leads me to believe that all road force balancing isn't alike. Maybe it is the technician or maybe its the machine.

I bet the factory tires would have been ok if the balance had been tight enough.

 

P.S. I had discount tire balance them 3 or 4 times and no joy...

 

 

Thanks

 

Randall

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It's really not that hard to do a road force balance, it's almost exactly the same as a non road force. A roller is pushed up against the tire as it spins and the machine tells you where to put the weights based on the measurements it just took.

 

Either the techs needs to pay more attention to where they are putting the weights or the machine needs to be recalibrated.

 

Maybe try somewhere that doesn't road force balance, or somewhere that is more competent with a road force balancer.

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Road Force can be far more involved than that. If it's out of spec, you will need to break down the tire and rotate it on the rim. Also, at least in 2004-07 the machines were notoriously difficult to keep in calibration. The Hunter guy could come and do his thing and less than a month later you'd be pulling your hair out because they would ride like crap despite the machine showing low numbers.

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Then again hammering weights on a garbage tire won't change the fact that it's garbage. Although i'm not a goodyear fan, after 4 sets you should have gotten good tires by sheer luck by now.

 

Has to boil down to their balancing technique.

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Lots of discussion about this issue on the diesel/duramax forums.

 

Some have not trouble and others have stories like yours.

 

Doesn't seem like there is a 'best practice' solution out there. Good luck.

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i worked at discount tire for 5 1/2 years and balancing machines have really gotten a lot better since when I started in 06. Luckily for me I am still good friends with my old boss so he takes care of me but if I were to go to a random tire shop the first thing I would look at is their balancing machines. If they look like the are pre-historic then don't expect much from them. You want a shop that has a balancing machine(s) that is probably no more than 6-8 years old.

 

When we first got our road force balance machine it was a hunter machine and it is very simple to use I mean all you do is put the tire on the spindle and lower the hood and the machine does the rest. I will attempt to give y'all a run down of how to balance a tire and what to look for when they are doing it and after they are done.

 

Each wheel is different and the hubs on the each wheel varies. The most common way to balance a wheel is by placing a "cone" on the spindle then the wheel assembly and then the wing nut. Doing it that way works 90% of the time and will satisfy most customers.

 

When you road force a tire you basically do the same thing but tell the machine to road force the tire. All you have to do is hold the two measuring tools on the machine to the lip of the wheel both on the inside and outside. Once this is done the machine will tell you where the high and low (or heavy and light) spots of the tire and wheel are and make a mark on the wheel and the tire. Once you have marked the wheel and tire you have to break down the tire and spin the tire on the wheel and line up your marks. It's very simple but it is definitely time consuming when done correctly.

 

While I was working there I had a few customers only wanting me to work on their vehicles as they thought I had some magic power when it came to balancing their tires. There was one guy that had a 06 2500 Duramax and he was always coming back for a vibration. So when he came in I had to use a balancing plate on his wheel. The plates center was the exact diameter of spindle of the machine and the wheel was centered on the plate buy using the bolt holes on he wheel and then the wing nut held the plate on the machine. So basically you were bolting the wheel to the balancing machine. Once I started doing that to his tires he stopped having to come back for vibration issues but only wanted me working on it. I did not have to road force his tires.

 

I am not engineer or physicist but, unless the wheel and tire is calling for a lot of weight like 4 oz. or more then road forcing a tire is not really necessary. The main things to make sure is correct when it comes to balancing is calibrate the machine everyday, make sure the wheel is installed the proper / best way, and whoever is balancing the tires is using the correct types of balancing and is not a complete 'tard or new.

 

For all of the 14 and 15 ALUMINUM wheels that I have seen (could be wrong) should have the hammer on weights on the inner lip of the wheel and they should be right next to each other. If they are not then that will cause vibration, that is called counter balancing. Then it should also have sticky weights directly behind the spokes (basically as far to the outside of the wheel as physically and aesthetically possible. Again the weights should be right next to each other, if not then they are counter balancing the wheel. Also if the weights are like 3" - 4" away from the spoke you need to have them rebalance it. It's hard to explain and they will probably fight you tooth and nail because they do not want to rebalance it but in order to get the best balance this needs to be done.

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I have had a similar issue with my wife's car. I have had the tires balanced twice and the vibration is still there. I am thinking that your tire is breaking down to a point where it calls a vibration.

 

I like others have suggested would get a different tire for your truck. I have cooper zeon ltz on my gmc and I couldn't be happier.

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I've been lucky so far. I've only had common spin balancing on my tires and all has been fine. Although there are many stories about my brand of tire changing and having vibration problems as they age. I'm hoping to get thru these without problems.

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