ArabianKnight

So my local mechanic said that you cant do a RFB on new tires as they have to be driven at least 500 miles before it can be of benefit. Is there any validity to this statement, has anyone else been told this? If this is true then all the tire shops that offer RFB on new tires are wasting our money!

CarGuyNVA

RAudi Driver

I RFB with every new set installed.

Trio

Perhaps he was brushing you off, telling you to go drive it for 500 miles and unless you notice vibration, it is unlikely you would be motivated to bring it back for RFB. Just a thought. It's also true traditional balancing methods frequently work right out of the gate without RFB.

PTEC

"Road force" is a number that has nothing to do with the tires being balanced. A tire can be balanced and have a high road force number and vibrate and you can have a tire thats not balanced but has a low road force number and it will also vibrate. Frankly the road force number is worthless most times. IMO it really only serves to confirm what you can already feel even without the machine. What you're mechanic is probably trying to say is at least half of new tires when they're freshly installed will show significantly higher road force than they will after the tires "break in" after driving on them for a while. If you wanted him to "force match" them which is putting the high spot of the tire on the low spot of the wheel in an attempt to achieve the lowest possible road force reading, it would be best to wait until the tires have some miles on them.