Tire balance

[Nova John]

Just put a set of 17 inch alloy wheels with 265/70/17 Goodyear SRA tires on my 2011 Ram from a 2019 classic. Tires have 500 miles on them and are factory balanced. At 55-63 mph I have a slight vibration mostly felt in seat of truck. Get better above 65 mph. Could this be the factory tire balance. I had the chrome clad 17 inch wheels since new and no vibration at all. Got tires and rims with 500 miles on them. Guy I bought them from went with the 20S. Was thinking of getting Hunter Road Force balance like my son did on his 2016 but it costs over $100. Was going to drive for a couple hundred miles and see if it gets any better. Not too bad but shouldn't have any issues with new wheels and tires. Thanks for your help.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Even new tires sometimes have defects like a broken cord or defective belt.

 

[Cwils80]

I'd say call a reputable tire place and ask them what they balance up to and how much. There's a Tire Barn here where I am and it's only $30-$40 for a Balance rated to 75 I believe. I know it's atleast 70.

 

[Nova John]

I have found that the Hunter Road balance machine is one of the best. Son had a problem with 2016 Ram and dealer rebalanced tires 2 times. Said must be a suspension problem. Took it to my guy in American Tire and it cost $100 to balance them. Tires were out of balance. My daughter had a problem with her Kia and same results. Would have to take tires off and bring them down. Don't like anyone touching my truck. Last Ram dealer was doing a recall on my 2006 and let the door hit the side of lift and had to repair door and repaint whole side of truck to get paint match, so I do everything myself. Truck is a 2011 and doesn't have a nick or ding anywhere. Going to drive for a 1000 miles and then see how they are.

 

[Travelin Ram]

Without a doubt the Hunter road force balancing is the best tech available. But if you spring for it, ask questions first because most shops take shortcuts and don’t follow the whole process. They just mount tires then spin them on it and add weights. That’s NOT the correct process for that machine.

They should first spin the wheel only, to measure runout and balance. THEN mount the tire and spin the assembly. Now the machine compares the wheel runout and imbalance to the whole assembly and recommends where the tire should be oriented on the wheel to best cancel out the various imperfections in both the tire and wheel.
Next they have to break the bead on the tire again and move it to the recommended orientation and reinflate, and repeat the spin. And if the machine is happy with the tire orientation NOW the weight is added for the final balance.

This takes a lot more time to do it right. I’ve seen a bunch of tire shops with road force balancers but a minority of them use it correctly.

 

[Quyonmob]

I have nothing but hate for P265/70/17 Goodyear SRAs. Worst tire I have ever owned.

That said, a hunter douglas road force balancer can handle just about anything, if they aren’t smooth as glass after that, tires are junk.

 

[Nova John]

Last set of sra tires I got 75,000 miles out of them. Never balanced them sinse new. Son had a lot of problems with the sra's in the 20 inch size. Worn out at 30,000 miles. He went with Toyo open country in 35 inch size and loves them. Lost a little power and a couple miles a gallon. He did tires and leveled truck at the same time. Toyo tires are expensive but a good tire.

 

[Mr Milkman]

I just put the Centramtic wheel balancers on, It had a small viberation @ 75 mph and now it gone. I have the 17 inch alloy wheels, but I don't like the tires.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

Not something anyone wants to hear or believe but when I get tires balanced by "Specialist" and the "Technical" balance machines of today and I have a vibration I take them off at home and put them on my "Old school" $50 bubble balancer and get it on the money and have solved the problem 99.9% of the time. This world of hurry up and wait not many workers are precise or **** enough to care. They just do a "good" enough job to get you out in a hurry. There shouldn't be a within range, perfect should be the only range. Just my .02 cents!