Wheel balance woes

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Wed 10 Aug 2005 01:10
Wheel balance woes - Cheeky
Well would you believe it? Two weeks after having two front tyres (£128.00 each) fitted, I have only just had the wheels balanced correctly. The first fast fit firm seemed completely incapable of getting the balance correct, leaving me with horrible steering wheel judder at town speeds. When I went back, they tried again, and cured the low speed wobble leaving me with more problems at motorway speeds.
Never mind, I thought, I'll just go somewhere else. Second fast fit place (different firm). Problem slighlty better but not cured completely after two visits there.

By this stage I was concerned there may be another problem with the car's front end. So went to an established garage, not fast fit but still while-u-wait. They took me over to the blancing machine and showed me that the wheels were incorrectly balnced, wieghts were placed in the wrong place, and now, finally, all appears to be well.

Sorry for the long, rambling post, but has anyone else had such terrible trouble trying to get wheels tracked or blanaced. I found the incompetence of the first two tyre centres astonishing. The car in question is a 2001 BMW 5 series.
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Wed 10 Aug 2005 09:38
Wheel balance woes - holly1
I've had problems in the past, but its been due to the fact the weights have (supposedly) fallen off after only a short drive from the fast fit centre. Not to mention the fact they put the wheel nuts back on so damm tight you need an elephant to sit on the wheel brace to get the off again!

I've also experienced problems getting exhausts fitted at fast fit centres, on one occassion I took my car back 4 times because the back box kept knocking the underneath of the car.

I now go to a local while u wait place who don't just try to sell you their brand of tyre or cheap and nasty exhaust - they give you a choice and will order a specific brand/item if you request it, usually comes the same day.
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Wed 10 Aug 2005 11:02
Wheel balance woes - sierraman
I have had a fast fit place try to fit the wrong exhaust,for a completely different car.They were so determined to make it fit they cracked the cast iron exhaust manifold,which they then denied,although the crack was obviously fresh.
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