Out of Balance off the lot...or normal shake?

[awood]

Thanks JD. I hope it works out! Let us know

I'm going to stop by Toyota today and see if it has been a common problem. I have no problem telling them I want Michelins!! I had them on my Tundra and they were great tires!!

[DEWFPO]

More reading...

Tire Balance Vibration Fix!

DEWFPO

[jkjet]

Mine shook when I first got the FJ. I think it took two attempts at the dealer but they have been great at all speeds for about 10 months.

[fubar]

I have had to balance my BFG AT KOs every 5k miles to prevent the exact behavior. Nitto Terra Grapplers are in line as soon as I can wear these out. Nearly 30k miles on them now.

[jdhargrave]

Went to dealer this morning to pick up TT, 1. they left the BFG spare on and put four Michelin LTX M/S on 2. were suppose to put LTX A/T2 on 3. Manager has now taken the reins and will have parts order (5) new Michelin LTX A/T2 and install. It will be my 5th visit to the dealer in ten days counting the first one when I bought it. This whole thing has turned me on the truck, I hope we can make up after this F>>>>>>>>>>>> tire thing is done with.

[BoBoNel]

awesome truck and dont get discouraged.......keep up with the dealer (or discount tires stores) to get the shimmy out. thats not normal and in 1.5 years i've never had a problem...smooth at all speeds.

[awood]

Went to Americas Tire (Discount Tire) in Mission Viejo, CA today. Brought my own plastic wrapped socket for them to use since rims are in perfect shape (250 miles). They found 3 of the 4 were 1 ounce off and said that was enough to feel. Maybe the wheel locks were put on after the original line balance?

Of course they left my socket in the bag and used their air gun and put nicks in all four rims. When removing/moving once of the weights they put a 1 inch long (and wide) gouge and cut out three big chunks in one of my rims. I was told this was standard and "can't be prevented!" When I asked why the other three were fine the GM said "good question." Duh.....yes it is, idiot! Then one guy behind me made the comment under his breath in the background "then you shouldn't have brought it in for re-balance," after my comment about being pissed since it's less than a week old and already f'd up! HELLO... did you not just get telling me they were all off... and therefore needed re-balance... maybe that's why I brought it in... not just another fun Sat activity smart guy!

So frustrating that no matter where you go or how much you pay, people just DO NOT CARE about taking care of things the right way. Wish I had room for a full hydraulic lift in my garage because I would buy one. I would love to hear just one story where a shop/tech actually did a job without screwing up anything!!!!!

If anyone knows a good shop in Orange County, CA.... maybe one that is actually cool with you being able to watch and one that will honor requests like "use a torque wrench," and not just say they did!

OCD is kicking in hard tonight!

[jayman]

awood previously said:

Went to Americas Tire (Discount Tire) in Mission Viejo, CA today. Brought my own plastic wrapped socket for them to use since rims are in perfect shape (250 miles). <snip> Of course they left my socket in the bag and used their air gun and put nicks in all four rims. When removing/moving once of the weights they put a 1 inch long (and wide) gouge and cut out three big chunks in one of my rims. I was told this was standard and "can't be prevented!"

Hate to say it, but what do you expect? I've also had bad experiences with discount tire chains. Look at what you deal with to get that "great" price:

Incredible pressure from Corporate to trim costs at all levels. That means, very high employee turnover due to offering minimum wages, fast paced work environment, so only knuckle draggers apply, and they're gone next week anyway

Unless you're built like a gorilla like I am, they'll rape you blind. I can almost guarantee you're driving a much nicer ride than whatever the knuckledragger checking the tire balance is driving, so there is naturally that lack of respect for your property and probably jealousy too

Hell, even being built like a gorilla is no guarantee nothing bad will happen. Used to drive daily a '84 Ford F-150. In '89 I was driving across Canada and had to perform a panic stop due to a deer jumping across the road, just east of Dryden, Ontario

Ford's of that vintage had single piston front calipers. Hit the brakes nice and hard, the piston tended to go ****eyed in the bore and the brake would drag. In hindsight, every Ford of that vintage should have been shipped with a large C clamp in addition to the factory jack, to squeeze the caliper tight to force the piston back in

So I limped into Dryden with the front brake smoking. Found a Canadian Tire and they immediately took me in, oh they were so nice about it too. Very cheery, then the "mechanic" working on it was going on an on how he used to be a Ford tech, could work on them blindfolded. Which is probably what he did to my truck

After a new caliper, and around $150 if I recall, drove off. Came to a red light and stepped on the brake. Heard a "clink" then a scraping sound. The doofus put the caliper key in UPSIDE DOWN so when I went to firmly apply the brake, it popped right the f*** out and the caliper swung out and started scraping against the wheel

So limped back to the Canadian Tire store and ripped them a new one. The store manager came out and really didn't like me ripping the doofus a new one. Claimed it wasn't their fault, my truck had a defect blahblahblah. The brand new caliper key was still floating around on the inside of the wheel

Wrote a letter to the Complaints department of Canadian Tire. Received a reply stating - more or less: TFB read the fine print our evil lawyers thought of you're SOL so KMA we're not responsible for S**T but we WILL gladly take your money and run

So if you wonder why to this day I have a hatred of Canadian Tire and hope all their employees suffer, that is why

Sure, if I was independently wealthy, I'd have a shop with a Hunter GSP9700 and all the toys. Since I'm not, I have to pick a shop I think I can trust, watch them like a hawk, and hope for the best. A couple of times I've had to physically threaten the punk who f***ed up my vehicle, just to tune him up

When I work on my vehicle and break something, it's with the very best of intentions. I accept full responsibility and pay for it, that's called "responsibility," something now lacking in our culture. Go to a shop, especially those cheap ones, and they go out of their way to screw you and damage your ride.

Sorry about the rant, but this is a sore spot with me. I think you got off "lucky" with scratches and gouges.

[k44]

When working as a mechanic back in the mid '90's, I had an opportunity to experiment with wheel weights to see how much "out of balance" was needed to develop a shimmy in an otherwise smooth riding tire.

It's a LOT!

Me and a friend used his K-car as the victim vehicle. We first took off his rear wheel, and added about 5 oz of weights to both sides of the wheel, about what we figured would make it shimmy at highway speeds. A 5 ounce weight is about 4 inches long, it was the largest weight in the wheel weights inventory we had at the time. Put the wheel back on and went for a drive. Nothing. No shimmy.

So we went doubled up, and went for another test drive. Still nothing. Maybe a little, but we couldn't really tell. Went higher, and higher, until finally we had lead weights a full half circle, on both the inside and outside of the tire. Probably 30 or 40 ounces on each side.

Then it shimmied. But only about as much as is commony felt in cars that "need their wheels balanced."

Yeah, right.

I think most tire purchases are a crap shoot. Either you get a set of round tires, or you don't. When you don't, the tire dealer responds to every vibration complaint the same way, rebalancing, and claiming that the previous balance job was all wrong. When it gets to this stage, tire rebalancing is just a racket to send you on your way with out-of-round tires that will always shimmy regardless of the rebalancing. You may think the vibration problem is fixed, but it'll come back, again and again, rebalance after rebalance, until you just give up.

[NorCalCruiser]

I had the same problem, so I 86'd the dunlops and got some MTR's.