"Road-force balancing"

[Paul Workman]

I had an "Ah HA!" moment a couple weeks ago.

For some time - ever since I bought the last set of tires (Nitto 555/555Rs) I had a slight, just perceptible vibration that would happen between 80 and 90 or so mph that seemed to be at the front. This was in spite of several trips to the tire shop to verify balancing.

I'm familiar with the process (I used to "do tires" in a previous life), and they allowed me to look over their shoulders as they checked the balance. But, still the vibration persisted. (Alignment and bushings were checked too in the inteim.) The only thing out of spec was we found a 1/8" wobble on the LR A-mold wheel.

Discount Tire offers road force balancing at no charge, perhaps since I was buying new tires? It did take longer to do so, but all 4 were right-on when finished. And NO vibration!!

The take-off (old) tires were not checked for road force compliance, as were the new tires. So, I can only assume the persistent vibration went undetected in spite of balancing which may have been caught had the tire(s) been road force balanced in the beginning? I'm going to guess on the affirmative. AND,from now on...

[scottskill]

What is the process of road force balancing?

[mike100]

I took off some old tires on my truck and it was amazing that the vehicle no longer pulled to the right after the new set was installed. Also the last set of tires on my c6 was unbalanceable- it was cheaper to buy a pair of new continentals than it was to keep spending on balancing (I think they were slipping on the rim).

I think the more premium priced tires are not all because of a good rubber compound, but a higher degree of quality control or a lower yield - or another words- they will scrap a tire rather than sell it if it isn't perfect.

[WARP TEN]

Paul, I had the same problem on Warp Ten. It had Sumis on it and when I first went down to BG in 2013 with it I noticed some minor imbalance. Jim Van Dorn was kind enough to try balancing the tires but he lacked some needed weights. So I ended up at a local shop --S&R Tires on Lover's Lane in BG -- which had a Road Force balancer. They were great and professional. A couple of tires needed to be rotated on the rims to get them smooth but one tire could not be properly balanced at all as it was so far out of spec. Much improved after their work but I still had to live with a little imbalance. Maybe this is why. in part, Sumis are so cheap. Anyway, once I installed Michelins (Costco) I did not have any balance issues. And Costco did not have a Road Force balancer. --Bob

[Racinfan83]

Most of YaAll know all the fun I've had trying to diagnose a vibration in mine for the last 3 years. RF balances, regular balances, new tires, different wheels, shimming wheels to make them hub centric, yada yada yada..
I haven't had the car out much since I R&R'ed the trans/clutch/pilot bushing and I need to drive it for 50 miles or so to confirm - but I still had my winter tires on it (Which failed the Road Force Balance) when I made my maiden test run after I got it back together. Vibration was significantly reduced if not mostly gone. Took those tires/wheels off and put on my newer set with the 5 spoke wheels and took it out for another 10 mile romp - same deal. Almost no vibration. It's been sitting since due to no friggin time to get it out - so I need to run it some more to confirm - but right now it appears that something I did when I took the driveline/C Beam out (Used Bill's C-Beam Plates when I reinstalled) may have fixed it. I cleaned/polished all the mounting points and flanges, and used the recommended Window Weld on the C Beam, and it sat a couple days setting up before I drove it. So who knows what happened but fingers crossed the vibration is mostly gone...

[8cam]

Regular balancing is typically done at a very low rpm, probably about 20mph equivalent. I've never heard of it called "road force balancing" and my local Discount Tire just balances tires the normal way. However high end tire/wheel shops will do on-car, high-speed balancing. Butler Tire here in the Atlanta area offers it. They have a machine that spins the wheels mounted to the car at 80mph, and then do a fine balance. That works amazingly well, and will remove all vibration issues that are due to the wheels. I do that with my performance cars and love the results.

[Mystic ZR-1]

Read all about road force balancing
at www.Hunter.com
They even have a listing of who
has their equipment so you can find
someone local

[Hog]

Originally Posted by 8cam

Regular balancing is typically done at a very low rpm, probably about 20mph equivalent. I've never heard of it called "road force balancing" and my local Discount Tire just balances tires the normal way. However high end tire/wheel shops will do on-car, high-speed balancing. Butler Tire here in the Atlanta area offers it. They have a machine that spins the wheels mounted to the car at 80mph, and then do a fine balance. That works amazingly well, and will remove all vibration issues that are due to the wheels. I do that with my performance cars and love the results.

I have a machine that will spin up the wheel/tire to speed whilst the assembly is mounted on the car. Dad always said that his way of balancing was better than the off car machines because ALL of the rotating parts are balanced, not just the wheel/tire.




Here is a Motortrend video that explains "road Force" balancing.
http://www.motorweek.org/features/go...rce_balancing/

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by Mystic ZR-1

Read all about road force balancing
at www.Hunter.com
They even have a listing of who
has their equipment so you can find
someone local

That's how I found S&R in Bowling Green --Bbo

[efnfast]

We used to have a guy that would shave the tires on the car to balance them. Like said earlier, this would balance all the rotating parts. i heard this worked wonders, but the company no longer exists.