Wheel balancing

[jkrubi]

Upon doing a tire rotation I discovered that I had a wheel balance problem. I took it to the dealer ( still under warranty). And had them re balance the tire. They added more weight and it got a bit better now I can do the speed limit in the city!  But it still shakes the jeep pretty bad and it annoys me to no end. They tried to re balance the tire but there machine says it's good but when you go out driving shake shake. It's a 09 rubicon with the factory wheels and tires. So who in town does good balancing is the long and short question.

[JackstandJohnny]

go in there and get them to take it for a rip preciesly where you are feeling the shakes/vibrations.  it might not be a tire.......... and thats BS on an 09' anything........

[superles]

Phone around to Fountain tire locations or Kaltire locations and ask if they have a road force balancer. Only a few locations have them

Fountain Blackfoot for sure and the 52nd location
and
Kaltire on 52nd as well

A standard balancer can do ok but it will not balance out a bet set or missmount. They just add more wait to make it better. I have seen a road force balancer that is good almost illiminate all balancing weight. I tire with a couple ounces of weight to balance it can throw 90lbs of road force at 100 k and the next thing you know you have a really bad tires and no way of fixing them.

Explanation:
A road force machine measures the weight a tire throws at speed and then recommends how much of a turn the tire should be spun (when unmounted and remounted) to minimze the weights being added to make them a matched pair. hence less road force......

As this site does not pomote single vendors etc, you may contact me through a pm if you wish and I will share my contact. A good tire guy can catch a dry mount or mismount fairly quick.


Les

[jenn1981]

I would recommend to keep trying that dealership or a different one.  With out 2008 Rubicon we had many times where we unfortunately had to take it in more than once for them to figure out what was wrong.  Being that it is a 2009 I don't think its really fair to have you going to other places to pay to fix something that more than likely should be covered by your warranty.

Definitely take it for a spin with a shop foreman and show them what it does, that will help to narrow down what is going on. 

[superles]

Or tell your dealer to take it and have the tires road force balanced and bill it under warranty. Remember it is new, you paid for it, so in the end they work for you. I suggestion that this is an option will go along way as the dealer won't want you coming back with same complaint repeatedly, and the tires probably have some warranty built in.

[w squared]

Or tell your dealer to take it and have the tires road force balanced and bill it under warranty. Remember it is new, you paid for it, so in the end they work for you. I suggestion that this is an option will go along way as the dealer won't want you coming back with same complaint repeatedly, and the tires probably have some warranty built in.

Or the dealer may just stonewall you and refuse to do anything. You may have paid for it, but until the lawyers show up the dealer won't do anything they don't HAVE to do.

[FiEND]

you got a tire warranty card with your manual and paperwork that might help

[jkrubi]

I'm gonna go and try to get them to rebalance the wheel but I am not expecting much.  Sometimes it much easier to do it by yourself.  But you guys are right I should go and try to see if they will fix it first befor i spend my cash. Thanks for the info if they cant fix the problem then off to get it done at one of the recomended shops.

[JohnB]

According to http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/FindLocations_Canada.cfm East side Dodge has a road force balancer.

[JackstandJohnny]

I'm gonna go and try to get them to rebalance the wheel but I am not expecting much.  Sometimes it much easier to do it by yourself.  But you guys are right I should go and try to see if they will fix it first befor i spend my cash. Thanks for the info if they cant fix the problem then off to get it done at one of the recomended shops.

offer to return the vehicle for a full cash refund.  they will give you an intrigued look, and simply say 'you promised a vehicle that runs great etc. blah blah blah and this is not that; i want my money back'  when they say that is not an option you can explain that the vehicle does not perform as stated and you want a refund.

warranty was actually designed to save the dealerships for faulty/crappy workmanship, so the purchaser cannot simply return it.  so instead of you returning a defaulty product, they just fix it. think of it like any other thing you buy.  if theres no warranty you can usually just return it.......... 

theres no need to get irate with them; however, there is also no reason for them not to fix the issue with a brand new 35k vehicle. explain how you'd buy a 01' TJ or something if you wanted something with a wobble

[superles]

I was talking to my buddy and he stated miss mounted and dry mounted tires on alot of the new vehicles including Jeeps is getting common. Another thing he has seen is suv units coming with a higher  ply tire from the factory. For eg, a 10 ply tire requires very high air pressure  60 -80 psi)for ride and balance, and when you run them at 35 lbs you get what they call a lope, like riding in a grader. MTR tires without the kevlar where bad and in some occasions ran better with less vibration  and shimmy at 25-27 psi, as it kind of counteracted the problem.  He had a customer that did this and was surprised at the results.  As the Jeeps are light this is possible, due to the fact that they don't go 90 mph and heat may not be a factor, and could still achieve reasonable wear.

I find if you got tire issues, talk to a qualified tire guy, as most service persons at a dealership would not be up to speed on this unfortunately. Should they be yes, but most just don't know.

By eg, my buddy has been with goodyear for over 20 years, and seen alot of weird stuff.

At the cost of replacement tires, with excessive wear and issues, one cannot afford to run long without correction. Even if you are out of pocket a few dollars. Some shops may even help you out for minimal dollars if they believe you and your friends will consider them when making your next tire purchase.

[TJ54]

seperated tire, it will still balance, but will ride like crap.

or their balancer needs calibration.

probably won't get anywhere with the dealer, unless you bought special tire warranty, or road hazard from them, which you proabably didn't, because they charge too much for it.

you could also move the tire from front to back and see if the vibration follows

[jkrubi]

i was changing it with the spare.  I narrowed it down to that tire till today.  Now when I hit 80-90 km/h the you feel a vibration from the rear, no longer from the front.  I changed the front tire with the spare, so this is a new vibe that I'm getting.   I did not notice this till I did a 5 tire rotation.  The tire that went from passenger side front to driver side rear looks ok no belts shifting or anything that I could see.   Are the BFG KM a rought riding tire? or am I just being to fussy for a mud tire?  the rotation happened 1000k ago, and when the jeep had 10000k, should I be rotation them sooner? or should I forget allabout it, I hear that you need to rotate them so that they wear even and no cupping n such, or is that just a myth.  Most car i dont even rotate cause when I do I break a belt in them.

[w squared]

A speed dependent vibration definitely sounds like a tire balance issue...especially if it subsides a little once you're moving faster than the 80-90 kph speed range.

I don't notice my KM's to ride roughly. If anything they have a slight rough feel at VERY low speed (like rolling up to stop sign) - but you have to look for that in order to notice it.

If you've paid them to balance your tire and it still vibrates, take the service manager out for a ride. If he won't fix it, ask to take the dealership manager out for a ride. If they still won't do anything, ask for a refund and find someone that will stand behind their work.

For what it's worth I rotate my tires at every oil change - 10,000 km's or so (full synthetic). No problems so far at 35,000 km.

With a brand new vehicle that is not modified there is NO excuse for this happening. The dealer should be making this right.

[w squared]

60 PSI is a LOT of pressure for a 33" tire under a 3500 pound Jeep 

That's what I used to run in load range E tires on a 1 ton.