Just had 4 new cheapie Nexem tyres - had to take back for rebalancing but still a very slight judder at motorway speeds. Took front wheels off to have a look at weights...60g on O/S and a massive 80g on N/S - a 25g weight banged onto edge of rim and 55g of flat weights stuck on at same point of circumference.
It's not the [alloy] wheel as there was no judder before and only small weights needed for perfect smoothness. I don't think I've ever needed more than 30g weights to balance a wheel recently even on bigger sizes as tyres are much rounder than they used to be.
Do any experts here know what the tolerance should be? Should I ask for a replacement?
I would be grateful for any advice.
Edited by Pugugly on 14/03/2009 at 20:36
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Do you mean Nexen tyres?
I see that these are made in Korea. They don't seem to be as cheap and nasty as Chinese tyres so I think that you deserve better than you have had so far.
Why not take the tyre fitter out for a test drive and demonstrate the problem?
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Fitted cheap tyres years ago and had nowt but the same problems your having.
Replaced with a better tyre dunlop back then no problem.
Try blackcircle tyres.com there in scotland.
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Before you go down the line of rejecting the tyres, get the tyre fitter to deflate the tyres on the rims, have the rims and the tyres coated weel in soap. Partially inflate and check the tyres for run-out or lift. Turn the tyres on the rim if required. Then balance, fine balancing again if required.
I take it there are no tubes involved?
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Thanks for advice re Nexen ......no inner tubes as far as i know. Will probably put up with it as wife doesn't notice and I hardly ever drive it! I just wondered if there was a quantifiable degree of distortion expressed in terms of balance weights that would be considered to be unacceptable.
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When they fitted them, I take it they lined up the yellow painted dot on the sidewall with the valve?
www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html
"Typically the yellow dot should end up aligned to the valve stem on your wheel and tyre combo. This is because you can help minimize the amount of weight needed to balance the tyre and wheel combo by mounting the tyre so that its light point is matched up with the wheel's heavy balance point."
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When they fitted them I take it they lined up the yellow painted dot on the sidewall with the valve?
Aha - thanks DD. I did wonder about those tiny yellow circles - thought they were some sort of manufacturing code. Just been out to have a look - they are nowhere near the valves. I shall take it back again!
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Never understood the logic of cheap tyres, they dont last anywhere near as long and handling and ride is always a compromise plus you get the sort of problems you describe.
My Merc came with Continentals, so I replace with Continentals, My van's the same with Klebers. If the manufacturer could get away with rubbish Korean or Chinese tyres dont you think they would fit them?
Still, of course, if the pound still in your pocket is worth more than your life......
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That coloure dot is supposed to make a better ballance with the wheel but to be honest it really does not matter, i fit my own tyres have done for 20yrs if you buy good/top quality there fine.
Have seen cheap imports twist, the steel ply twisted and the same with remoulds.
Not trying to scare you but agree with andrew above.
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My car came with some *very* cheap tyres from the dealer (Full Runs I think). It was nothing but aggravation.
One wheel was impossible to balance, no matter what I tried. The road noise was awful and the grip was suspect. They were wearing at the rate of about 1mm per 6-700 miles!
After a few months I changed to some half decent Khumo tyres and I've never looked back, it's been great. I didn't spend a fortune, the price was around half the top premium brands, but around 3x the price of the Chinese tyres...
There's a lesson in there somewhere.
Edited by TheOilBurner on 13/03/2009 at 13:21
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I strongly agree with the last 3 posts, cheap tyres are not worth your life.
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I wonder how many of us know what make their tyres are? I don't.
I have had cheap tyres that were harsh and had no grip to speak of in the wet, and I have had cheap tyres that wore out in 10,000 miles.
But there are sort of budget makes that are all right. There are some like that on my car now. There isn't much point in having 160mph rated rubber on a 90bhp Escort.
And what makes people think that if it says Dunlop or Michelin the tyres are lovingly constructed by European craftsmen? Would you want to work in a tyre factory?
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And what makes people think that if it says Dunlop or Michelin the tyres are
lovingly constructed by European craftsmen? >>
The fact that I have just looked round the 4 Conti's on my merc and overall there is less thn 190g in balance weights.
Agree with some budgets being ok, Kumho seem to be ok and one or two budgets are actually made by mainstream tyre companies so its by no means a blanket criticism.
Its just a sad fact that some people believe that a tyre is just an annoying round black thing that has the audacity to wear out and make tyre fitters fabulously wealthy....
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If the garage selling you the tyres doesn't know about the yellow dot alignment issue then they won't have a clue about safety and tyres either, don't trust them.
Do yourself a favour (and for everyone elses safety) and fit new quality tyres purchased from someone who understands tyres.
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Cheap tyres are often prone to balance problems and the more balance weights that are stuck on the rims, the worse they are generally in terms of quality. Matching the yellow or red dots up with the valve is ideal in theory, but in practice makes very little difference and not many people adhere to it.
If you buy a top brand tyre you will almost certainly find that it will need hardly any balance weights to balance it up (assuming that a decent quality rim is being used). A cheap tyre will most likely need a bit more weight. There is a fine line between what weight is acceptable and what is too much, but if you are still having balance problems with new tyres after they have been balanced properly then they are bordering on being faulty.
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Many years ago when i was a tyre lad most Michelins i fitted needed very little in the way of balancing.
Not all makes were the same.
I'd go with the general feeling here, i wouldn't have cheap Chinese ditchfinders on my cars at any price.
Also should i look at a car to purchase and find similar rubbish fitted i walk away assuming all maintenance and repairs/replacements to have been equally poor.
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