Has anyone had road force balancing done? How exactly is this done? I've had my tires balanced and I can still feel quite a bit of vibration in my seat and the passenger seat. i haven't had the road force done yet, they kind of talked me out of it saying that I shouldn't need that done. I'm starting to wonder if my tires are out of round. Has anyone had that happen?

 

Get the road force balancing done ASAP. My Mercedes GL450's tires were balance twice at local indys but couldn't get rid of bad vibration. I took the SUV to my Mercedes dealer who uses road force balancing machine. Needless to say the vibration disappear and I couldn't be happier. The Mercedes tech told me they do all the Porsche from the local dealer located 1 block away.

John

 

alot of the techs dont even know how to use the RFB correctley or just dont want to take the time.

They can just use it like a standard balancer and i have seen them do this several times.

 

This is a no-brainer. It should be the industry standard. If your tire shop can't do it right, find another shop. It does make a difference. On a proper roadway, I get no vibration whatsoever.

 

Get the RF balance. I put new tires on my GTI and had the local Cadillac dealer use his new Hunter Road Force balancing machine.

Absolutly the smoothest balance I've ever had. There is no period of vibration at any speed. It is uncanny to accelerate up into triple digit speeds with out any vibration!

Be sure they put weights (if needed) at two places. Inside flange and outside or just inside the spokes. Don't fall for the single strip of weights in the center of the wheels.

Can't wait to get new tires on my 3.2 so I can get a perfect balance.

David

 

Road Force all the way. I think it is the only system out there that will match each tire to the best wheel, or even tell you that the tire needs to be rotated differently on the wheel. It can easily catch bead seating errors too.

 

A "road force" balancer does an excellent job! I'm not an expert but have watched it done. In principle, it measures vibrations by placing a spinning meausrement wheel in contact with the tire. It can detect vibrations caused by out-of-round conditions, as well as normal weight distribution problems. Consequently, a tech can even move the tire around on the rim to try and establish the smallest amount of out-of-roundness, in addition to balancing via weights. That's why road force balance can be more time consuming and expensive.

I think the reason many shops still don't believe in it is because most wheels/tires can balance reasonably well for normal highway speeds. Time is money for them, and they probably find most customers aren't willing to spend the extra $$ for the extra work.

Another issue to be aware of is if you have a significant out-of-round condition due to the wheel and/or tire, while road force balancing can achieve the best possible results, if the tire is on a high HP driven axle, it is possible under hard acceleration for the tire to slip/spin on the bead relative to wheel, which could ultimately negate the balancing work. If suspect, marking wheel & tire with a crayon line will show you if slipping is happening.

Finally, I'll mention that another potential source of vibration could be the rotating mass on the hub, particularly the rotor(or drum). If these parts are out of balance, wheel & tire balancing can never completely eliminate the problem. A very few shops have the equipment & knowledge to balance on the vehicle, where they can assess the vibrations as the entire rotating assembly is spun (either by a driven axle, or a machine with a spinning wheel that can can press against a non-driven tire, and get it rotating to around 50-60mph.

 

Are you running spacers in the rear ?

 

Mine roll smooth up to 170mph.

 

I'm not running spacers. I do have some cupping on the front tires, this may cause some of the problem. They have 15k on them but it looks like I can get at least 5k more out of them. Should I have an alignment done?

 

Cupped fronts will result in vibrations in the steering wheel. Shimmy in the seats normally suggests the rears are out.

Find a shop that uses the Hunter Road Force Balance Machine and start there before you throw $$ at an alignment.

What's the rear tire wear look like on both tires ?

 

The rears only have 3k miles on them, the wear looks fine. On my last set of rears were worn on the inside more than the outside. Also, I got the road force balance done. It seems to have the taken some of the vibration I was feeling in the seat. For some reason I am now feeling more vibration in the steering wheel than I was before. i don't know what to make of this? Maybe it's just the cupping in the front tires i'm feeling now.