Quote:
Originally posted by CYCLONE 123
Hi DJ-----You might have been the first guy to tell me about the balancer. Logically speaking though, I have had 2 sets of tires on this truck and the viration that I feel is VERY similar if not identical with both sets. That makes me think my problem must be somewhere else.
I mentioned the balancer to the guy at Sears and he didn't seem to give it much merit.
I've been fighting with Toyota for awile now so do I now fight with Goodyear or Sears? Will Goodyear acknowledge this balancer? Do I have a leg to stand on or will they just say that the balancer that Sears used was adequate enough?
The reason I went with Goodyear was because they own Dunlop. They gave me full credit for the Dunlops toward either Dunlop or Goodyear tires. It cost me $139.00 for the swap. I originally wanted to get Michelins but that would have cost me about $700.00.
What do you think?-------------Tom
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I responded by your PM, but here is the gist of it for everyone else.
Usually, both a wheel and a tire have "runout", meaning that the wheel is not perfectly round where the tire mates to it and the tire is not round either. The GSP9700 measures the runout of the wheel and the runout of the tire, with the tire being loaded by up to 1400 pounds by a roller that presses against it. It thus measures "how round is it while rolling under load". It then directs the operator to mate the tire to the wheel such that the highest part of the tire runout is located at the lowest part of the wheel runout. This allows the wheel runout to "compensate" somewhat for the tire runout.
This is exactly how tires and wheels are mated at the vehicle manufacturing plant, except that the machines which do it are automated and cost perhaps $250,000 each.
However, Toyota wheels, especially their alloy wheels, are VERY round. Mine measure about 0.002" of runout maximum, which isn't enough to compensate for tires with a lot of runout. It sounds a bit odd, but
the better your wheels are, the less effective a round force balance will be, given that you have very bad tires. The ONLY cure is good tires.
Over the years, I have learned to follow this maxim: "The bitterness of poor quality lasts longer than the pleasure of a low price." That's what's biting you now. Unfortunately, the only cure is more money. If I were you, I'd bite the wallet and buy some Michelins. I don't think there is any other cure for your problem.