Para82

What were you quoted for Road Force? I would probably ditch the tires if Pirelli offered a refund and go with Michelins....

Trust me I understand your pain, the 997 is EXREMELY sensitive to tire selection and alignment - really does change the entire driving experience.

j beede

$150 for Road Force by a shop that specializes in minivans and Chrysler 200--not Italian sports cars like my 997 I am not keen to leave my car there.

I bought Pirelli because 20" Michelin were not available. I had a sidewall failure that forced me to go with what I could get... P-Zero.

Wolfk

As an operator of the road force balancer in the shop I work at, I can tell you the process is fairly involved.
First, the tire is dismounted from the wheel on the mounting machine (not an easy task with low profile tires). The bare wheel is installed on the balancer, placing the built in digital dial indicator on the bead area, the radial low spot is found and marked on the wheel.
The tire is then remounted to the wheel on the mounting machine. Wheel/ tire is then re-installed on the balancer. Road force feature is then initiated. This applies force to the tire tread to find the stiffest area of the sidewall. This spot is then marked on the tire.
The wheel/tire is then placed back on the mounting machine and the tire beads are broken from the wheel, the tire is rotated on the wheel so that the two marks are aligned (stiffest part of the sidewall matched to the lowest part of the wheel). Tire is re-inflated and the tire beads are massaged (this is an extra technique that we use to fully seat the tire beads, you would be surprised how much this helps).
The wheel/tire is then placed on the balancing machine and a traditional spin balancing is performed.
So yes, the operator has a huge impact on the success of a proper balance.

Just to clarify, this process is called road force matching. Simple road force balancing does not reposition the tire on the wheel for optimum balance. Road force matching is much more time consuming and we charge more. Have not had a return yet.

A tire and wheel may balance perfectly dynamically, but if there is a stiff spot in the sidewall you will feel it as you drive, hence the benefit of road force balance. The stiff spot is compensated with extra weights.

NAM VET

Not long ago, I put four Michelin AS Sport tires on an my X Jag, and immediately noted a vibration, so after re-balance tries, they took them off, and put on the Super Sports, and the perfect ride was back. One of the tires was just defective, and they sent all four back to Michelin for them to figure out.

All the best...

Petza914

+1
The on-car high-speed balance is the absolute best as it compensates for any differences not just in the wheels and tires, but lug bolts, hubs, rotors, etc - pretty much anything that spins while you're driving. I have this done on all my vehicles, not just the P-cars because the highway ride at 85 MPH is just so much better than any other balance method. Is it expensive compared to the other dynamic and RF balance methods - yes, but IMHO very worth it. If you have to remove a wheel for any reason, just mark the lug bolts, wheel position on the hub with blue tape and a marker using the valve stem for reference and put everything back together the same way and you won't have any issues.

OKB

Ive seen rf jobs $25 to $50 each

j beede

Thanks for the detailed description Wolfk.

Unfortunately your description does not precisely match what my local Road Force service provider told me. They said that the tire is not removed from the rim--so I gather I would be getting a less comprehensive service than what you described.

mjsporsche

Our cars are super sensitive to wheel and tire balance.

My Porsche dealer installed new PS2s and had a vibration. Blamed a wheel being not true, etc. Their Audi shop next door had a road force balancing machine and after insisting that the tires be re balanced on that, it was smooth with no vibrations.

Find a good tire shop with Road Force equipment and you will be happy.

Bruce In Philly

May be a bad control arm.

Just a few weeks ago, I took my friend's '09 for a drive; had wheel vibration....... and was a bit out of alignment.... I suggested balancing and an alignment..... they found a front control arm was leaking goo from a bushing.

Replaced control arm and alignment... no balancing.... now now vibration.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

OKB

of course most shops will want to take shortcuts, maybe in a pinch to get down to an exact cause of a symptom they will start at a and go all the way to z,
does anybody really want to do a good job anymore

lurchphil

You may not believe this but I went to a Firestone shop in Sacramento to mount and balance PS2s. For $100, they did the Road Force balance which includes free rotation and re-balance. To my surprise, they got it right the first time! Same experience with my wife's Cayenne. The second time in, I had them rotate and rebalance my wife's tires. I specified the front and rear tire pressures. Of course, they got the pressures backward. I have compressor at home which quickly remedied that problem. They were one of the TireRack recommended shops.

Another good option is Les Schwab. They typically do quality work

lurchphil

Porsche dealer in Sacramento wants $185 to mount and balance my new Michelin PSS tires. Seems fairly reasonable to me. Your thoughts?

Philster

If you drive with an out of balance condition for too long, you could get a world-class balancing with a world-class tech and cutting edge technology and hit the road with a vibration, because you've slight distorted the tire. And if you've flat spotted a tire, you'll likely have the same problem.

Sure, the balancing can still improve things, but if your tires are slightly screwed up now, you're ride will never be fully smooth on that rubber.

.

Philster

It's reasonable until someone in a different, slower, less-urban area chimes in to tell you that you shouldn't pay more than 90, just as they did.

But yeah... reasonable.

.

Rikky001

I bought my front tires at the Porsche dealer as I got a 35% discount on it, and I asked them to replace all 4 TPMS sensors. Charged me 1 hour for fitting and balancing but no regret as no vibrations at all, perfectly balanced.