How much weight is too much to Balance Tires

[RHelms]

I just purchased new Nitto Ridgegrapplers, 265/75/16, and they’re on Fuel Vector rims. Three of the wheels took 8 ounces to balance dynamically, and the 4th wheel was balanced statically with 12 ounces. This seems excessive to me. Any thoughts?

 

[4runnerteq]

Have them done on a road force balancer. You may need to break the tire down and turn it on the wheel so it doesn't take so much weight.

 

[MattLew]

That sounds like a bad balance job. I got a set of tires from amazon and took them to the local walmart to get balanced... I soon had trouble with slow leaks... I finally took them to a local tire dealer expecting to have to replace them. turns out the guys at walmart had just failed to clean the rims before mounting the new tires, but the tire shop also reballanced the same tires after cleaning the rim and remounting them, and did so with less than half the weights.

 

[RHelms]

Have them done on a road force balancer. You may need to break the tire down and turn it on the wheel so it doesn't take so much weight.

I believe they were done on a road force balancer. But I will have them spin them on the rim and redo. Thank you.

 

[RHelms]

That sounds like a bad balance job. I got a set of tires from amazon and took them to the local walmart to get balanced... I soon had trouble with slow leaks... I finally took them to a local tire dealer expecting to have to replace them. turns out the guys at walmart had just failed to clean the rims before mounting the new tires, but the tire shop also reballanced the same tires after cleaning the rim and remounting them, and did so with less than half the weights.

Had it done at America’s Tire. I’ll have them rechecked and go from there. Thanks.

 

[The other Sean]

Are the wheels new as well?

Before you have them break the tires down and spin them, ask to see if this was done or not. That does seem like a lot of weight, but, anytime you are dealing with aftermarket wheels, you never know. BUT, my short time many years ago working at a tire shop, this was S.O.P. with tires, especially larger ones to check this if it was requiring anything more than a few ounces of weight.

 

[Billiebob]

How much weight it takes is immaterial once they are balanced but I'd never do a static balance today, every tire shop has dynamic balancers which do a much better job.

Static balance if you put the first weight in the wrong spot you will need more weight to correct it. Dynamic tells the tech exactly how much weight and where to put it. Respinning tells him if he got it right.

But haw do they drive? If there are no vibrations just be happy.

 

[ryanorr280]

My experience with aftermarket wheels and heavy tires is that sometimes they take a lot of weight to get down to 0.00oz on each side. But as long as it gets there, and has no vibration there’s typically not a lot else you can do.

road force matching helps, but only if the tire has a stiff spot in it that you can match up with a low spot in the wheel. Typically if that’s the issue, you simply have a bad tire. However, it won’t show up on balance. They’re 2 different measurements.

 

[RHelms]

How much weight it takes is immaterial once they are balanced but I'd never do a static balance today, every tire shop has dynamic balancers which do a much better job.

Static balance if you put the first weight in the wrong spot you will need more weight to correct it. Dynamic tells the tech exactly how much weight and where to put it. Respinning tells him if he got it right.

But haw do they drive? If there are no vibrations just be happy.

Went back today. They rebalanced all dynamically and all 4 tires took approx 4 oz ea. for balance. So then I took it for a test drive and the steering wheel still shakes, a lot less though but still present, at approx 60 mph range. I’m thinking of having the suspension inspected at a dealership or shop. Any other input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[RHelms]

My experience with aftermarket wheels and heavy tires is that sometimes they take a lot of weight to get down to 0.00oz on each side. But as long as it gets there, and has no vibration there’s typically not a lot else you can do.

road force matching helps, but only if the tire has a stiff spot in it that you can match up with a low spot in the wheel. Typically if that’s the issue, you simply have a bad tire. However, it won’t show up on balance. They’re 2 different measurements.

Took my vehicle back in, they balanced again and it’s better but still a vibration/shaking of steering wheel at freeway speeds. If tires and rims balance out what would be the next step? Suspension inspection? Thanks.

 

[RHelms]

Are the wheels new as well?

Before you have them break the tires down and spin them, ask to see if this was done or not. That does seem like a lot of weight, but, anytime you are dealing with aftermarket wheels, you never know. BUT, my short time many years ago working at a tire shop, this was S.O.P. with tires, especially larger ones to check this if it was requiring anything more than a few ounces of weight.

Thanks

 

[ryanorr280]

Took my vehicle back in, they balanced again and it’s better but still a vibration/shaking of steering wheel at freeway speeds. If tires and rims balance out what would be the next step? Suspension inspection? Thanks.

As annoying as it may be, I would try another shop to balance them. Basing that on the fact that it improved, meaning that they did something different than before. Or their machine may need calibration.


You could also have them check the road force measurement on them to see if it reads out of spec. It won’t affect how much weight it requires to balance them, but will cause a vibration for sure. That is, if the have a road force machine. Many places don’t

 

[RHelms]

As annoying as it may be, I would try another shop to balance them. Basing that on the fact that it improved, meaning that they did something different than before. Or their machine may need calibration.


You could also have them check the road force measurement on them to see if it reads out of spec. It won’t affect how much weight it requires to balance them, but will cause a vibration for sure. That is, if the have a road force machine. Many places don’t

Thanks

 

[The other Sean]

Did it shake before the new tires? You didn't answer my question about if these were new wheels or you already had them. Are the wheels Lug centric or hub centric? Did the shop verify there is no "hop" in one of the tires? Most shops don't do this, But, as the tire was spinning on the machine, I would crouch down and watch the tread of the tire to see if it was smooth or hopped. A wheel would easily balance out, but would have a wobbly shape to it.

 

[RHelms]

Did it shake before the new tires? You didn't answer my question about if these were new wheels or you already had them. Are the wheels Lug centric or hub centric? Did the shop verify there is no "hop" in one of the tires? Most shops don't do this, But, as the tire was spinning on the machine, I would crouch down and watch the tread of the tire to see if it was smooth or hopped. A wheel would easily balance out, but would have a wobbly shape to it.

Yes, it shook with the prior tires. I had BFG KO2’s and one tire became out of round so I replaced all. I had the BFG’s for 2 years with basically fire road ventures and city driving. The wheels are Hub-Centric so I will add the spacers which should help possibly. I’m also going to have an inspection done of my suspension at local dealer next week. Lastly, I contacted the dealer where I purchased the Fuel Vector rims, he will have the rims replaced if suspension checks out.

 

[Boostpowered]

Once large off-road tires get worn down to about 1/4 tread they tend to do this where they become out of round and vibrate, also alot of times you will throw or knock off a wheel weight on a trail and not even realize it then a couple weeks later you will notice once the tire is bad. Although neither of these would be the culprit if these tires are new. Its more likely you've got bad wheel bearings or need new tie rods or if its ifs 4x4 bad front half shafts or all 3 from what I'm seeing you write. If it's been happening with previous tires I'd say its almost certain it is one or all of those 3 things. An alignment and religiously rotating tires at every oil change help too.

Oh almost forgot it can be the control arm bushings and ball joints they will make you shake too.
Easy way to find out isLift the front end up and grab the top and bottom of the tire and with one hand push while with the other pull if the tire has any back and forth play it one of these problems

 

[smritte]

As was posted earlier, a road force balance is the best you can do. It will tell you if you have a tire or rim issue as well.
BUT, I have yet to see a shop do it properly that doesn't charge a couple of hundred dollars. Just because they run it on a road force doesn't mean they do it properly. Having the force wheel press against the tire is most of whats needed because it duplicates what goes on while you drive. The problem people don't realize is, you cannot let the car sit in the parking lot for more than a few minutes. Warm tires will form slight flatspots as they cool. The tires need to be driven then quickly removed and balanced. If you don't do this the machine will not properly balance. The force wheel picks up the flat spot and tries to compensate it.

I have a real nice Hunter road force at work that is used to train people how to do this. Just spinning the tire against the force wheel gives you a ton of data. The data is useless if you don't know how to access it. Just using the force wheel is only half the balance though. This is why its so expensive. Just doing half the job though, is better than spinning the tire in the air. As a demo, I have balanced a bent rim on a regular balancer. The numbers come out perfect but the vehicle would shake horribly when driven.

When I road forced the 5 Coopers on my Cruiser, one of the tires shook when the force wheel pressed against it. Looking at the data, the tire was constructed wrong. Cooper wouldn't help me and its now my spare. The other four tires took over two hours of removing and turning on the rim to properly balance. The machine tells you where to turn them to, then you re-balance and repeat as necessary.

Most shops don't want the tech spending hours balancing one set of tires. I know this to be true with the Americas Tires all around me. I have had several of my students work there and they tell me this once they see how to properly balance on one.

You said you have fuel rim's, These are very good rims, I doubt the issue is there unless you bent them. I have had issues balancing nittos in the past though.