Road Force Balancing is brilliant!!
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:03 am
Some of you might have seen a few posts from me about a 70mph vibration I've been chasing after changing my front bushes and then front arms and then front tyres (nearly new used, remember that) and then front bushes again and then I was ready to burn it. Well yesterday it finally stopped wobbling.
The vibration had been paining me for a few weeks now and I'd checked and double checked everything I could think of with what I could check on my drive and then on a mates ramp, even used his MOT shaker ramp to see how everything reacted under stress and all was fine.
So yesterday I decided it must be a wheel or tyre issue and booked a slot at BMTR in Birmingham to get my wheels on their Hunter Road Force Balancing machine. First they checked the rears and found they were out of balance (this was my 4th balance attempt in as many weeks) but both passed the Road Force Balance fine so a standard balance needed and then back on the car.
Fronts up next and the NSF passed the RF balance but needed a standard balance. The OSF was my issue all along and when RF balanced it went off the scale and the guy said he could try a balance as best he could but it still might cause an issue. When the roller that does all the RF pressure was up against the tyre you could see how much wobble and distortion was in the tyre and you could actually see it when it spun normally but didn't look enough to cause an issue. So a new Dunlop was fitted then balanced up and she rides like new, it's a revelation.
Having purchased used tyres in the past 1 of the 2 front Dunlops (7mm on both so nearly new) caught me out this time but the fact the car wobbled on the old Bridgstones put me on a wild goose chase for a while so lesson learnt here.
Without the RF balancing I'd still be sat here searching the web for an answer and afraid to just go out and buy new wheels or tyres because of the cost involved and not knowing if it would work.
I should have paid £25 per wheel for RF balancing and £235 for the tyre but they did the whole lot for £285 so quite pleased really.
Not many places do the RF balancing so use Balancemycar.com to find someone but BMTR in Brum were fantastic from Sean on the desk to Dweight on the RF machine, top draw.
The vibration had been paining me for a few weeks now and I'd checked and double checked everything I could think of with what I could check on my drive and then on a mates ramp, even used his MOT shaker ramp to see how everything reacted under stress and all was fine.
So yesterday I decided it must be a wheel or tyre issue and booked a slot at BMTR in Birmingham to get my wheels on their Hunter Road Force Balancing machine. First they checked the rears and found they were out of balance (this was my 4th balance attempt in as many weeks) but both passed the Road Force Balance fine so a standard balance needed and then back on the car.
Fronts up next and the NSF passed the RF balance but needed a standard balance. The OSF was my issue all along and when RF balanced it went off the scale and the guy said he could try a balance as best he could but it still might cause an issue. When the roller that does all the RF pressure was up against the tyre you could see how much wobble and distortion was in the tyre and you could actually see it when it spun normally but didn't look enough to cause an issue. So a new Dunlop was fitted then balanced up and she rides like new, it's a revelation.
Having purchased used tyres in the past 1 of the 2 front Dunlops (7mm on both so nearly new) caught me out this time but the fact the car wobbled on the old Bridgstones put me on a wild goose chase for a while so lesson learnt here.
Without the RF balancing I'd still be sat here searching the web for an answer and afraid to just go out and buy new wheels or tyres because of the cost involved and not knowing if it would work.
I should have paid £25 per wheel for RF balancing and £235 for the tyre but they did the whole lot for £285 so quite pleased really.
Not many places do the RF balancing so use Balancemycar.com to find someone but BMTR in Brum were fantastic from Sean on the desk to Dweight on the RF machine, top draw.
