Thanks Dave. All of that is in line with my understanding. It was
the whole front vs back question, because they "balance them
differently" that had me puzzled! Still haven't heard a good
explanation for that, other than that he doesn't know what he's
talking about. I think that's the conclusion I'm going with!
-Steve T.
At 10:18 PM 11/4/2019, David Scheidt wrote:
>On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 4:32 PM Steven Trovato via Shop-talk
><shop-talk@autox.team.net> wrote:
> >
> > Two years ago, I purchased a set of Michelin tires for my Ford
> > Expedition at BJs. It was not a great experience, and I don't think
> > I'd do it again. The tires do come with a road hazard warranty,
> > though, and free flat repair. I got a puncture in the right rear
> > yesterday, so I ventured down to BJs once again. The guy there asked
> > me if it was a front or rear tire. He said they balance them
> > differently. He said it was "statically balanced" but on a machine
> > that spins it and uses lasers. I don't know what he is talking
> > about. I told him it is a rear tire, but that shouldn't matter,
> > because it will be a front tire when I rotate them. He told me I
> > shouldn't do that. I have to bring the vehicle to them to rotate and
> > re-balance. None of this makes any sense to me. Have things changed
> > drastically or is this guy nuts? I should note that all this stuff
> > is free when you buy the tires there, so I don't really see any
> > financial motive for them to want to do this.
>
>There are a fair number of shops that balance the front wheels-to-be
>when rotating tires. Fronts cause more complaints (you tend to feel
>the wobble in the steering wheel), so making sure they're balance can
>save a come back. The fronts are probably okay, or the the customer
>would complain. I can't imagine any reason to balance the ends
>differently, and any repaired tire should be balanced. (I, of course,
>repaired hundreds of tires without balancing them, or dismounting for
>inspection, when I did this stuff for money, but I never did my own
>that way, and wouldn't put up with it today on a modern low profile
>tire.)
>
>there are wheel balancers that have lasers, but I'll the ones I've
>ever seen just use it to put a line where the weight goes. (this
>saves much time, and given most wheel techs need bibs, mistakes.)
>There are fancy machines that use sonar to detect the size of the
>wheel assembly (which it needs to know to figure out weights). again
>saves time and errors/
>
>--
>David Scheidt
>dmscheidt@gmail.com
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