Road Force Balancing question

[2003_MM_FYRE49]

I was quoted $50.00 to balance my four tires. Is this in line or too expensive? Thanks in advance.

[MM03MOK]

Tim - $25 per tire at our local Ford dealer. Just had the fronts done. What a difference!!!! Do it! No vibration at 70 mph.

[MENINBLK]

I was quoted $50.00 to balance my four tires. Is this in line or too expensive? Thanks in advance.

That's the CHEAPEST balance for 4 tires that I've heard of.
Especially for Road Force Balancing !!!
My dealer gets 1hr labor to balance 4 tires...

[BillyGman]

It cost me well over $50 per tire!!! But it was worth it, because I had three standard balances before that, and nothing would take away that wheel shake that my car had on the highway until I had the roadforce balance done on all four corners. My hat's off to "FordNut" who posted about it on this board how for practically a whole year his car shaked all over the place until he also had the roadforce balance done. it was because of his posts about that, which lead me to break down and spend the $$ for that. And it worked great!!! (thanks again FordNut:2thumbs: ).....

[Petrograde]

...It cost me well over $50 per tire!!!...

Was that for the lifetime balance Billy?

[Mike Poore]

I was quoted $50.00 to balance my four tires. Is this in line or too expensive? Thanks in advance.
Road Force, with printout? Go for it. Such a deal!:)

[Mike Poore]

Was that for the lifetime balance Billy?
From the video evidence I've seen, lifetime, when it comes to tires, isn't all that long, for Billy. :rofl:

[BillyGman]

From the video evidence I've seen, lifetime, when it comes to tires, isn't all that long, for Billy. :rofl:LOL...u can say that again!!! There was only a few places that I found in my entire homestate that have the equipment for the roadforce balance, and I had to drive clear across the other side of the state just to have it done. So there aren't very many choices I have to shop for a better price. So it was either going to be expensive, or live with the sterring wheel shaking all over the place at 70 MPH.

[CRUZTAKER]

I'm taken aback...

That has to be the lowest price I have EVER heard for Road Force balance.

Do you realize I could actually save money by driving r/t Chicago and having it done over going 8 miles up the road?

:shake:

[BillyGman]

I'm taken aback...

That has to be the lowest price I have EVER heard for Road Force balance.

Do you realize I could actually save money by driving r/t Chicago and having it done over going 8 miles up the road?

:shake:Such a low price makes me wonder if it's really an acutal "roadforce" balance, or if some places simply call it that to suck you in. if it's really roadforce equipment they use, then it will include a hydrualicly operated roller which exerts pressure on the treads of the tire while it's being balanced which simulates the weight of the car on top of the tire. ;)

[SergntMac]

Such a low price makes me wonder if it's really an acutal "roadforce" balance, or if some places simply call it that to suck you in. if it's really roadforce equipment they use, then it will include a hydrualicly operated roller which exerts pressure on the treads of the tire while it's being balanced which simulates the weight of the car on top of the tire. ;)This is true, and it could be happening. So, look for the name Hunter.

You may not see the road force device, it comes from the back of the machine and it's hidden under the safety cover while applied. But, if you ask, I'm sure they will show it to you.

I'm seeing the cost of RFB coming down in Chicagoland. About a year ago, I had all four RFB at Discount Tires. They did a good job, charged me 25 buck per wheel, and the car felt great on the highway.

Yesterday, I return to Discount to have some new front wheels installed, and decided to road force balance all four again. Charged me 15 bucks per, and I was surprised to see the weights change on my back tires.

Maybe someone woke up and figured out that if they sold the road force balance a bit cheaper, they could sell more?

[2003_MM_FYRE49]

Sure enough, the total bill for the roadforce balance on the Mountaineer was $50.00. Now to get on an open highway to see how smooth the car is now :)

[SergntMac]

On my trip to Barry's this past weekend, smooth as glass. Hope your's turned out as well, Tim.

[Logan]

There are a number of Discount Tire locations in DFW with the Roadforce machines, they charge the average schmo about $20/tire, for those with club hookups, it's $10-15/tire.

[BillyGman]

There are a number of Discount Tire locations in DFW with the Roadforce machines, they charge the average schmo about $20/tire, for those with club hookups, it's $10-15/tire. I only wish there were some of those places in my state. Unfortunately that isn't the case. :(

[jefferson-mo]

I just called my buddy that manges a Discount Tire in Oceanside, CA(by Camp Pendelton) and he sez he charges $15 a tire for the Roadforce whether or not you buy tires from him. Regular balance is $10 per so why wouldn't you do it?

[Mikeenh]

I had all 4 tires RFB on my 04 Jeep Wrangler. He broke the bead on each tire after running them on the machine. It tells you where the tire & wheel are heaviest. He made slight changes to the position and spun them again with the pressure wheel forcing down. It took 1 hour and cost $100.
I dropped four tires & wheels off at another place last fall to be RFB. Cost was $50 for four. I didn't get to watch......guess balaning on a machine called Road Force Balance is what I got.....not the full treatment.

[jayro]

Again, new to this forum. I hope picking up an old **on topic** thread is OK:

Just had new BFG's mounted up, GoodYear had them in stock. But the outer wheel weights are taped on BETWEEN the wheel spokes, and it looks like crap.

I'm looking for confirmation: a wheel should balance with the weights BEHIND the spokes, correct? (Though I'd suspect a bit extra work).

Thanks

---Jay R O

[jgc61sr2002]

Jay - Welcome aboard.:welcome1:

As far as the weights go, the location is determined by the computer balancing machine.

[carfixer]

Again, new to this forum. I hope picking up an old **on topic** thread is OK:

Just had new BFG's mounted up, GoodYear had them in stock. But the outer wheel weights are taped on BETWEEN the wheel spokes, and it looks like crap.

I'm looking for confirmation: a wheel should balance with the weights BEHIND the spokes, correct? (Though I'd suspect a bit extra work).

Thanks

---Jay R O
All of the newer Hunter balancers can be set up to put the weights behind the spoke. They either used an older machine or the tech didn't take the time to set up for "behind the spoke balancing".

[sdacbob]

I can remember when it was only $1.00 a tire at the gas station I worked at when I was in High School back in the late 60's early 70's

[David Morton]

Thanks Claude for the heads up about the set-up for behind the spoke balancing. It means (in some cases) putting weights behind two spokes for when the actual "light spot" is directly between them. This could be done by an experienced technician making a "best guess" when the old-style balancers called for such a location, and then spinning it again to check and refine the balance. Glad to see Hunter rose to the occasion and made a program that could do this without the guesswork.

I know this has been a subject for discussion before but I'm gonna reprise my remarks about "roadforce balancing" and what's different about it, "vector mounting" and why it's necessary and the cases where the RFB machine is and isn't needed.

The time to go get a cold one is now. This'll be a long post. :D

Roadforce balancing is a bit of a misnomer. The problem that the "roadforce balancing" machine is designed to detect is a relatively rare problem in some tires. Some faulty tires can have a "hard spot" in the belts. The RF balancer has a drum that extends onto the tread of the tire and the machine then rolls the tire and detects if there are any hard spots. If there are, the tire must be discarded. It cannot be "balanced out". Some shops have had some limited success grinding off tread to smooth out the hard spot but this isn't done very often because it makes no sense. If the tire is bad, send it back. The manufacturers haven't made much fuss about this problem and most will take them back and send out replacements, post haste.

The Hunter "roadforce" machine also has a vector mounting capability. Vector mounting is where the high spot of the tire is matched to the low spot of the rim. This insures the rim/tire assembly (AKA, WHEEL) is as round as possible. The Hunter RF machine detects these and directs the technician how to adjust the tire on the rim to achieve best fitment. This will require the technician to remove the tire from the balancer, break the beads of the tire away from the rim using the mounting equipment, make the adjustment and then reinflate the tire, put it back on the balancer and then balance the tire. This is why most shops using this equipment want to charge so much for the service. That and to pay for the new balancer. Myths like being able to "balance out" a bad tire, one with a hard spot, help them sustain the illusion that the service is essential and justifies the added expense. In my opinion, the machines' added capability is a plus to customer satiafaction and the extra time it may entail in vectoring tires isn't so much to justify the extra expense. I consider charging customers double for roadforce balancing to be gouging. A small charge, 10%, is justified.

My experience has been that the service is not necessary, unless a problem exists that balancing hasn't fixed. For the type of performance tires we buy, hard spots in the tread are rare, and vectoring is also rarely a problem because our rims (and most modern forged aluminum rims) are near perfect and usually have no "low spot" of any consequence. So, my best judgement is that, if anybody had a vibration problem that this RFB service fixed, and they didn't have to replace the tire, then they probably had one of those rare rims that was off a bit, and that the vectoring cured the problem.

However you look at it though, whether it's gouging or not, once it has been done to a wheel, it never needs to be done again. Further checking for roadforce resistance is unnecessary as is vectoring. As long as the other rules are obeyed, like not switching the locations of the tires (that's right, we cannot rotate the factory originals) then a tire that won't balance is junk and should be replaced.

RF balancing and vectoring only needs to be done once; when a new tire is mounted on a rim.

[Bluerauder]

So, look for the name Hunter.
Yep, the Hunter 9100. Your service tech may have the brochure on his equipment available to look at. My dealer did. :D

[STLR FN]

I found my "new" dealer has the "road force" machine and I have the dreaded shimmy in the steering wheel. They showed me and explained it to me, which I already knew, but the fact they did made me "feel good" about them. Haven't asked on price yet.

[MENINBLK]

I had an old tire guy tell me that Road Force balancing is no good for tires.
He said it actually chews up the inside of the tire.
I don't know if there is any truth to this.
Maybe on older tire types ?

He says, If you want to match the tire to the wheel,
the tires are already marked with their high spot.
It is a spot of paint on the tire's sidewall.
Match this with the tire valve (low spot of most wheels)
and the wheel and tire are set.

[David Morton]

I had an old tire guy tell me that Road Force balancing is no good for tires.
He said it actually chews up the inside of the tire.
I don't know if there is any truth to this.
Maybe on older tire types ?

He says, If you want to match the tire to the wheel,
the tires are already marked with their high spot.
It is a spot of paint on the tire's sidewall.
Match this with the tire valve (low spot of most wheels)
and the wheel and tire are set.Don't know how it could chew up the sidewalls. I've seen it done and it can't tear anything up, if done properly.

Aluminum wheels don't have the low spot at the valve stem. If they have any indicator, it can be an arrow on the flange area pointing to it, or some kind of mark on the inside of the rim. Most don't have any as they meet a specification so accurate that vector mounting isn't necessary.