Zook i find this interesting, is this actually done on the car ??
additionally i was always under the impression road force was used as it takes the whole hub/axle assembly into account when balancing. Is this all thrown out the window if you rotate tires ? ( i get Most Porsches don't allow this anyway, but i was just thinking in general. )

Thanks Zook

 

I suspect my Zed's problem is due to a shoddy brake job rather than a tire or rim issue so I'm hoping the Roadforce unit will pick this up.

 

Roadforce doesn't look at brakes. visual inspection of brakes only. Ronnie, brakes are simple-what do you think is going on? if rubbing should see it on the pads.

 

Might be an intermittently stuck piston. I get vibration felt through the steering wheel at 65mph and up. Could be a bad tire. Couple of Nissan dealers with old school mechanics have not figured it out.

 

Gents - both the "mechanical" roadforce and the laser balancers only balance the wheel and tire... they do not have anything to do with the brakes and/or hub / axle assembly.

 

I'll have to have the brakes checked separately then.

 

What year Z car?

 

its a 74 as per his signature. if it happens only above 65 mph and always, it is not a sticky caliper. if possible try swapping out wheels and tires if have a set to try.

 

Good thought. Rotated wheels and vibration stays in the front. Reason I thought it might be brakes is because it started after a brake service and on an old set of tires. Got a new set of tires and problem continues. Car sees mostly highway miles soooo...though it might be steering rack centre wear but vibration does not disappear on curves. Bit of a mystery.

 

check this

 

Very fancy Zook. Who's got one?

 

this is not how i understand it ... I thought this was done with wheel still on the car so entire rotating mass is balanced as a unit , including axle hub wheel and tyre..

Is this not true ?

 

While on-vehicle balancing machines do exist, they are considerably less accurate than off-vehicle balancers and are primarily used for large commercial trucks (and truck fleets) where the hub and drum weight is significant and more importantly, the down time required to take off, balance and reassemble everything on the the dual wheel axles is an issue. Off-vehicle wheel and tire balancing is always preferred, even for commercial applications.

Besides, on a passenger car the only other thing that can contribute to a wheel imbalance is the brake rotor, and most if not all brake rotors are balanced by the manufacturer before they leave the factory. The only rotors that I've ever seen out of balance were some cross drilled rotors that someone had bought on eBay that had started life as solid (vented) rotors and were then cross drilled for looks by the seller or some other third party and resold on eBay for 4x the price of the solid rotors.

 

they leave the wheels on on a 4 post lift and put electronic sensors on the wheels stationary (wheels don`t turn). Markham aligment will check it for free and adjust for $140. very clean organized shop.

 

That would be alignment job... not balancing.