- Joined
- May 12, 2017
- Posts
- 335
- Reaction score
- 311
- Location
- Abbeville, AL
- Ram Year
- 2014
- Engine
- 5.7L Hemi 4X4 Crew White/Chrome
Been doing extensive research and running all over town talking to different tire shops.
Firstly, if you are experiencing vibration at highway speeds everyone typically defaults to balancing their tires, but after the last two days of visiting nearly a dozen tire shops, I discovered that a large majority of techs are clueless as to how important and finicky balancing a wheel really is, particularly clad wheels.
IF you have chrome clad wheels, there is a particular pin plate to mount the wheel for balancing. Shops should not be using the cone in the hub hole but instead, should use the pin plate and should backcone the wheel with a low taper collet. Doing this simulates exactly how the wheel is mounted on the vehicle. The chrome cladding in the center of the hub can throw off the balance since its not actually part of the substrate and is not how the wheel is mounted on the hub.
Secondly, if the shop is using a a hunter machine, the tech needs to disable the smartweight option, balance the tire in dynamic mode, then shift to static and balance it using weights in the CENTER of the wheel, then spin again to verify.
Most Coats balancers display dynamic and static side by side and makes it easier for the tech to properly balance the wheel.
I just had new tires put on Thursday, vibration was worse than my old SRA's after the shop balanced and mounted them. No one in town had the pin plates and proper collet until I drove all over southeastern Alabama before stopping at a Walmart tire center and asked to talk to their lead tech. They had a Coats machine and an entire rack of pin plates for this specific application. They gave me safety glasses and let me watch them balance each tire.
EVERY TIRE WAS OVER 3OZ OUT OF BALANCE!
They balanced them, and on my brand new right rear tire they discovered the tire itself is excessively out of round and is likely hopping, and was actually visually noticeable on the machine, so my truck is still vibrating but i will get my replacement tire Monday and I am relatively confident that this will solve my issue.
May also swap my girlfriend's tire out with my bad tire and test drive it since she has a 2011 and I have a 14 and we both just got new tires...I'm itching to know for sure
Anyways, good luck, I hope this helps anyone who has been bamboozled by lazy or uninformed tech's. Below are pics of the pin plate that they should be using.
Firstly, if you are experiencing vibration at highway speeds everyone typically defaults to balancing their tires, but after the last two days of visiting nearly a dozen tire shops, I discovered that a large majority of techs are clueless as to how important and finicky balancing a wheel really is, particularly clad wheels.
IF you have chrome clad wheels, there is a particular pin plate to mount the wheel for balancing. Shops should not be using the cone in the hub hole but instead, should use the pin plate and should backcone the wheel with a low taper collet. Doing this simulates exactly how the wheel is mounted on the vehicle. The chrome cladding in the center of the hub can throw off the balance since its not actually part of the substrate and is not how the wheel is mounted on the hub.
Secondly, if the shop is using a a hunter machine, the tech needs to disable the smartweight option, balance the tire in dynamic mode, then shift to static and balance it using weights in the CENTER of the wheel, then spin again to verify.
Most Coats balancers display dynamic and static side by side and makes it easier for the tech to properly balance the wheel.
I just had new tires put on Thursday, vibration was worse than my old SRA's after the shop balanced and mounted them. No one in town had the pin plates and proper collet until I drove all over southeastern Alabama before stopping at a Walmart tire center and asked to talk to their lead tech. They had a Coats machine and an entire rack of pin plates for this specific application. They gave me safety glasses and let me watch them balance each tire.
EVERY TIRE WAS OVER 3OZ OUT OF BALANCE!
They balanced them, and on my brand new right rear tire they discovered the tire itself is excessively out of round and is likely hopping, and was actually visually noticeable on the machine, so my truck is still vibrating but i will get my replacement tire Monday and I am relatively confident that this will solve my issue.
May also swap my girlfriend's tire out with my bad tire and test drive it since she has a 2011 and I have a 14 and we both just got new tires...I'm itching to know for sure
Anyways, good luck, I hope this helps anyone who has been bamboozled by lazy or uninformed tech's. Below are pics of the pin plate that they should be using.
