Question: How many of you guys have roadforce balanced their tires?

[FiSTerMr]

Just wondering if you guys specifically get your tires roadforce balanced on our car or not...

I'm going to be putting two tires on in the back and it would save me a lot of trouble and time to not get them roadforce balanced.

This is for the back tires only. OEM stock size, Gmax all seasons.

The times that I've swapped tires on my car, I've always had the service done, but that was because I can bring it to a local specialty shop with tires in hand.
My situation is different this time, because I don't have the tires on hand. So for me to get it done I would need to find a shop in Massachusetts where I'm going for the holidays. Needless to say, it would be a tremendous hassle.

So is it worth it on our cars, or overkill?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ford ST]

I personally prefer it but it is not necessary. When I was in automotive School we got a brand new tire balancer and we road forced balanced everything because why the hell not.



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[FiSTerMr]

I personally prefer it but it is not necessary. When I was in automotive School we got a brand new tire balancer and we road forced balanced everything because why the hell not.



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Thanks for the reply. I do prefer it as well. And usually opt for it.
But a few things I will point out.
More often than not, the tech doesn't even need to do any matching, the tires seem pretty well balanced on the first try....
Which leads me to my second point, I tend to think a lot of the techs are bullshitting when they do it. They either bypass it all together, or just don't adjust if needed.
Also I read that the machine really has to be recalibrated on a monthly basis, and most shops don't do that.

I have been researching tonight that people say it's really only needed if you're trying to chase a vibration issue. In other words, not necessary unless it is [emoji6]

 

[Ford ST]

Yeah we didn't take it that far the best part about it was it told us if a tire was shit.

The whole recalibration thing you are totally correct they're not getting that done, but it is still better than a old school tire balancer it doesn't get recalibrated either.



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[FiSTerMr]

Yeah we didn't take it that far the best part about it was it told us if a tire was shit.

The whole recalibration thing you are totally correct they're not getting that done, but it is still better than a old school tire balancer it doesn't get recalibrated either.



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Excellent point, I didn't think about that. I guess all things being equal, I'd rather have an uncalibrated road Force machine than an uncalibrated old school balancer.

But anyways I'm buying two brand new tires, so the tires should not be an issue in regards to that.
For convenience sake I will probably not get it done and when I get back from Massachusetts I will shell out the extra few bucks to get them done if needed. I'll have a lot of time behind the wheel in the interim to assess if I'll need it.

Thank you!

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Everytime i get them balanced!

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[FiSTerMr]

Everytime i get them balanced!

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Figures you would. Same here.
I'm trying to get people to tell me it's a waste of money, lol.

 

[FiSTerMr]

Question @TyphoonFiST when you get it done how often do they have to shift the tire around? I noticed a majority of the time they don't even have to do anything after the first initial mount

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I have them do it usually every other year. Unless I'm getting new tires. I get it done @ discount tire. Always had good experiences with them....They even offered a warranty on my snow tires I bought off a member a couple years back. They have moved two around when doing my Firestone to get then perfect.

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[FiSTerMr]

I have them do it usually every other year. Unless I'm getting new tires. I get it done @ discount tire. Always had good experiences with them....They even offered a warranty on my snow tires I bought off a member a couple years back.

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What I mean is, when they're actually doing the road Force balancing, do they have to shift the tire around or is it not necessary? From what I can tell a lot of the times they don't need to pop the bead and shift the tire around. Of course they charge you anyway to check if it needs it, along with the regular balance.

 

[Ford ST]

I understand what you mean though about match mounting.
And that is definitely not necessary.


I was anal as hell about balancing my tires to zero when acceptable is within a quarter ounce.
Some say you can't even detect vibration at a quarter ounce I say bullshit.

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[FiSTerMr]

I understand what you mean though about match mounting.
And that is definitely not necessary.


I was anal as hell about balancing my tires to zero when acceptable is within a quarter ounce.
Some say you can't even detect vibration at a quarter ounce I say bullshit.

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Wow, I'm going to head to your shop. You are meticulous. But of course that was your own car, LOL. [emoji6]

 

[Ford ST]

Wow, I'm going to head to your shop. You are meticulous. But of course that was your own car, LOL. [emoji6]

Unfortunately I never had the privilege of using a tire balancer as good as that one after school.
We had some awesome equipment in school.

Discount tire has great shit but you are correct it needs to be recalibrated, and their stuff gets beat to hell.

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[FiSTerMr]

Unfortunately I never had the privilege of using a tire balancer as good as that one after school.
We had some awesome equipment in school.

Discount tire has great shit but you are correct it needs to be recalibrated, and their stuff gets beat to hell.

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Discount tire is nowhere near me, I'm just going to head over to Mavis tomorrow morning. Close by and they can get our specific size tire by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to the shop. Not easy locally finding a gmax in 205 40 17.
I'll actually be passing by the tire rack distribution center in Connecticut, but that would be a whole back and forth on Monday just to get them mounted. I would save 30 bucks but waste the whole day.

 

[FiSTerMr]

Ok, decided on my plan. Found the shop near where I'm staying that has gmax in stock and does roadforce for free. Excellent deal $105 a tire plus tax. That's $10 a tire for insulation and balance. They give you a much better deal if you buy the tire from them, and they don't upcharge on the tire. The cheapest I can find gmax are $95 per.

But now I have another choice if I make that decision. Do I drive two and a half hours from New York to Massachusetts with the spare on the car? Meaning if I blow another tire out on the way, I'm screwed.

I thought to switch on one of my Summers (use that to put one of the gmax on it) and put the spare back in the trunk. Since I will be putting new Summers on next spring my old Summers are going to be thrown out anyways.

 

[Fish Freak]

YES!!

Haven't done it on the Fiesta yet, HOWEVER, I always will be doing Hunter Elite road force balancing, because with two other cars that had a perpetual 68 mph shake that'd stay to like 74 mph! Esp with aftermarket rims...

 

[SteveS]

Never. In 45 years of driving and owning cars. And never had problems with vibration either.

 

[haste]

Never. In 45 years of driving and owning cars. And never had problems with vibration either.

I agree. Waste of money unless you are trying to track down a vibration issue, imo.

 

[FiSTerMr]

I agree. Waste of money unless you are trying to track down a vibration issue, imo.

In my specific case, it was actually cheaper. The issue was location. In the end, I decided to drive to Massachusetts with 2 crapped out summers and get the tires out here. This enables me to save $43 and get the roadforce.

I personally haven't had an issue not getting road Force but then again, I've been getting it since I bought (and sold) a brand new WRX in 2017. Before that I didn't even know it existed.