Balancing question

Strokin&Smokin · Oct 25, 2012

I'll start off with stating that I know nothing about balancing tires or types of machines.

I have 35's on 20x10's. It is a custom package truck. The ford dealer put the tires, wheels and lift on and was like that when I bought it off the lot.

Apparently they do not own a balancing machine for 20's. when I left the dealer the tires were so bad out of balance I couldn't drive over 40mph. Brought it back, they rebalanced them and left. Then I couldn't drive over 50mph. Brought it back again and they tell me "we don't have a ROAD FORCE BALANCER" and we have to send the tires to a tire shop that has one. Wow thanks for telling me after the 3rd trip. So they bring the tires back and the guy from the tire shop says the idiots at ford had 26 pounds of lead weights on my wheels.

So now the truck has just over 5k on the clock. Obviously I'm not bringing it back to the dealer for balance and rotate even though it would get done for free but it won't be done right.

Question is do I look for a shop with a road force balancer? Is this the only type of balancer for 20's? Are the guys that are telling me this full of sh*t and just don't know how to balance a tire?

Sorry for the long post just wanted to have all the facts there.

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

BigAlsPSD · Oct 25, 2012

It's not the 20's it basically just adds pressure to more finely balance the combo, simulating driving conditions with the force applied to the combo.

That said, any good tire shop should be able to balance that combo, they just need to know what they are doing.

Strokin&Smokin · Oct 25, 2012

BigAlsPSD said:
It's not the 20's it basically just adds pressure to more finely balance the combo, simulating driving conditions with the force applied to the combo.

That said, any good tire shop should be able to balance that combo, they just need to know what they are doing.

So you agree that the idiots at the dealer have as much knowledge as I do about balancing and I should Definitely find a reputable shop to bring it to ex- Firestone, good year or any large chain tire shop?

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

BigAlsPSD · Oct 25, 2012

That's my personal thoughts.

Big tires can start to get difficult to balance and on tires 37" and up I'm a balance bead believer.

Biggreen96 · Oct 25, 2012

:whs: I run 37s and they balanced out no problem. Any decent tire shop can balance those out for you.

Strokin&Smokin · Oct 25, 2012

BigAlsPSD said:
That's my personal thoughts.

Big tires can start to get difficult to balance and on tires 37" and up I'm a balance bead believer.

Wow I really don't know sh*t about balancing. Can you explain balance bead lol?

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

Strokin&Smokin · Oct 25, 2012

Biggreen96 said:
:whs: I run 37s and they balanced out no problem. Any decent tire shop can balance those out for you.

Yeah apparently so. I found that out when the guy brought them back with only 1/4 of the weights that the dealer had on them.

It amazes me how some people can get a job in a field knowing less than the customer that buys the product.

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

BigAlsPSD · Oct 25, 2012

Balance beads are small, usually polystyrene or ceramic of some kind, balls(beads) that actually go inside of the tire(through the valve stem. Due to the centrifugal force, they hold in the out of balance area of the tire and there is no need for wheel weights or balancing further down the road.

BigAlsPSD · Oct 25, 2012

Look up centramics they are what I have in my fj with 44's.

Some people even use soft bb pellets.

Strokin&Smokin · Oct 25, 2012

BigAlsPSD said:
Balance beads are small, usually polystyrene or ceramic of some kind, balls(beads) that actually go inside of the tire(through the valve stem. Due to the centrifugal force, they hold in the out of balance area of the tire and there is no need for wheel weights or balancing further down the road.

That's very informative thanks. Do you suggest I try that or just find the right tire shop to do the traditional balance being that they are 35's? The next set however will be 37's.

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

BigAlsPSD · Oct 25, 2012

Strokinandlovinit said:
That's very informative thanks. Do you suggest I try that or just find the right tire shop to do the traditional balance being that they are 35's? The next set however will be 37's.

Sent from a crack house somewhere in the hood!

A good shop that knows what they are doing can/should balance them fine. Also cheaper than installing balance beads in most cases. But if there is difficulty in balancing or having to rebalance often I would consider beads.