I ask as I have just had all four of my wheel re-balanced 4 months after I had 4 new tyres wih valves and balancing.
First wheel they took off was 65g out of balance. I asked if they would rectify free of charge and he said that as it had been 4 months he couldn't. He also said that as tyres wear out the wheels become out of balance - is this true?
The other three wheels were worse.
After he found out that all 4 wheels were out of balance he didn't charge me for any of the work, but made it clear that he was doing ME a favour. Was he?, or does it sound like they hadn't balanced them properly four months ago?
Also, I had my front discs and pads replaced last week as they were warped - could the out of balance wheels cause the discs to warp?
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I have never ever had to have wheels rebalanced during the life of a tyre, unless, of course, the tyre has had to be removed to repair a puncture, when rebalancing is essential, especially if it's a front wheel.
Sounds like yours weren't particularly well balanced in the first place when the new tyres were originally fitted. Are they particularly large tyres, like 4x4 or Jaguar, for example?
As a matter of interest I've just been back to the tyre shop 2 days after having two new tyres fitted to the front. Steering wheel was shaking at 70 mph, which it certainly wasn't doing before. Interesting to note that, when first balanced, wheels came out with clip on weights, which, on the alloys will only fit onto the back rim. After rebalancing they now have stick on weights which are some distance from either wheel rim, and the balance at all speeds is perfect. So, in future, I know what sort of weights I'll be asking for!
I don't know the answer to your disc problem, again, I wonder what car it's on, but I would be very surprised if out of balance wheels would cause this problem.
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I don't know the answer to your disc problem, again, I wonder what car it's on, but I would be very surprised if out of balance wheels would cause this problem.
I don't see how it could. Either the wheels weren't balanced properly in the first place or some weights have been lost. People take the most extraordinary things off cars (I lost a sump plug once, almost unbelievable but it happened, and in a main road too).
If you have a tracking problem though it is possible that uneven wear could put tyres out of balance. Even ordinary wear can, but not in a month usually.
You haven't flat-spotted your tyres or been cruising (I think that's the misnomer) have you?
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Wheel balancing - how often?
After owning my Vectra for just over 2 yrs, the only time I've had the wheels rebalanced was when I had new tyres fitted to the front in June of this year. Rears not yet been touched, and by the looks of the weights, haven't been since it left the production line (some 2yrs 8 months ago).
My previous cars have been the same. Balanced when new tyres have been fitted, then rebalanced a week or so later (if necessary due to the tyres setting down on the rims) and then that's it until new rubber is needed.
No vibration found between tyre changes.
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Theoretically, provided the tyres do not have any manufacturing defects, tyres dont move on the rims after fitting and none of the weights fall off, you shouldn't need any re-balancing.
However as I stetd in an earlier thread, so many tyre services are so poor at balancing them in the first place.
My new fronts took 4 attempts by 3 different tyre services to get right !
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I had a similar problem, but even with alloys it is vital that the wheel be dynamically balanced on both sides of the rim, otherwise there will still be a gyroscopic effect 'across' the wheel width. Some sloppy tyre services that run out of, or can't be bothered to use the stick on weights will innevitably give you this problem.
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Well the tyres are 205/55/R15, so not huge. Made by Toyo on a Mk3 Golf VR6.
I've checked the tyres and they have all worn very evenly as expected.
For info the weights are stuck on, and the rears now have an huge number of weights, ive not counted but i'd say 8 on each wheel plus the clip on ones on the inside of the alloy.
I guess that the original balancing was done by someone who didn't know what they were doing, or they had a defective balancing machine.
As most people have said - balancing should last longer than 4 months. (as it has done on my last 2 cars).
I think i'll get them checked again in a few months to rule out problems with the tyres. Thanks for putting my mind at rest guys.
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>>8 on each wheel
8 seperate weights?, or eight sections of one large glue on weight all in a row?
There should only be one "clump" of weights on each side of a rim, i.e. one clump on the outer face of the rim, and one on the inner.
Number_Cruncher
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Sounds as if the first balancer was a PFD. Lots of them about.
Grudging admission by the garage in the form of doing it again for nothing.
Are there now 16 weights on each wheel?
Not everyone has the brains for wheel balancing. They have to understand what's going on, static and dynamic, vibration and twist.
Give me a Colombian any day before one of these arrogant little English twits who think it's gay to be able to read or count.
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A large number of weights needed on a wheel for balancing usually means crap tyres. Very cheap tyres have sometimes needed half the rim covered in clip-on weights, some may even be impossible to balance. I wouldn't put your Toyo's in either of these categories, though.
I do know that, on something like a Jaguar tyre, it's permissible to put on up to about 250gm in weights, but then these are very large tyres! That's why I asked what they were on.
Sounds like the person who balanced them didn't know what they were doing, or, indeed, their balancing machine was faulty. Sounds like a very good idea, as you say, to get them checked again in the near future.
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Well I've just counted the weights. There are an average of 12 weights in a row per wheel, plus the clip on ones on the inside of the wheel!! I think they must have run out of larger weights, or the fact that the front discs just about clear the wheel with the small weights on.
I think that they haven't taken the original weights off (which I assume were putting them more out of balance), so they needed more than usual to correct the tyres imbalance + the original weights.
Well the judder has gone and the car handles like a different (better) car, so I'm not complaining about it.
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First job before balancing is to remove any old weights, my tyre fitter takes off the tyre and then the weights, then fits the new tyre and balances. I suggest you take the car somewhere where they know what they are doing.
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