Just read about this method of balancing. Significantly better than spin balancing according to this write-up.
Comments from those who have had it done?
Comments from those who have had it done?
Road Force Balancing
- Thread starter Donald
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They have a locator on their website. The Ford dealer here uses one. They installed some General RT43s on the Camry and I think it has an ever slight vibration after the install. The tires were installed when it was zero degrees outside so not sure if they rushed the job or what. Plus it was towards the end of the day.
http://www.gsp9700.com/
http://www.gsp9700.com/
The steel wheels I've had spin-balanced have been fine. All the tire replacements I've had done on the cars with alloys have been road-forced balanced. I haven't had an issue with either type of balancing. The road-force balancing does make more sense on alloys since there are fewer places to put weights, and road-force balancing is supposed to be able to use less weight to balance out. I hate weights on wheels for the looks, the techs hate placing lots of weights incorrectly and getting a comeback for a balance issue.
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Took a road force balancing to eliminate a steering wheel shimmy that phased in around 75mph, after I put after market rims and the Nokian WRG2's on my Forester. Spin balancing couldn't get it done after two attempts, so I took it to a shop w/ road force machine.
I would refuse any other method.
Great method...IF the tech running the machine is fully trained and smart enough to run it!
My last attempt at "road force" was not good, and I asked the tech what did it read when he was done. He said. "Read, I have no idea what you are talking about"! I asked again about the final number..you know "road force". He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.
My last attempt at "road force" was not good, and I asked the tech what did it read when he was done. He said. "Read, I have no idea what you are talking about"! I asked again about the final number..you know "road force". He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.
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Make sure to find a shop that's competent enough to use the machine properly. I had an interesting experience chasing down a vibration a while back. Paid a premium at several shops to do a "RF balance" and it turned out they weren't even using the actual RF feature of the machine! Tired, I ended up at a local custom 4X4 shop and told the manager my sob story. He did a RF balance in front of me and the machine said 2 tires needed to have the beads broken and be remounted due to high RF values. Manager said most techs aren't trained to use the machine right and halfass the job.
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The term "road force balancing" may cause a little confusion.
A road force machine is really doing two things:
-Balancing the assembly like any balancer
-Optimizing the road force numbers in the tire by positioning the tire on the wheel in a specific position
The RF machine can be used just like a normal balancer, and it's likely a lot of shops are just using it like a plain-old balancer at least some of the time. You have to have an operator that knows what he's doing and is willing the take the time to use the road force function to its full extent. That requires breaking down the tire and repositioning it, which is a step a lot of shops probably won't take the time to do unless it's necessary.
Also, RF optimization won't be needed in most cases. It's good for isolating vibration problems, but it's really not necessary in every case.
A road force machine is really doing two things:
-Balancing the assembly like any balancer
-Optimizing the road force numbers in the tire by positioning the tire on the wheel in a specific position
The RF machine can be used just like a normal balancer, and it's likely a lot of shops are just using it like a plain-old balancer at least some of the time. You have to have an operator that knows what he's doing and is willing the take the time to use the road force function to its full extent. That requires breaking down the tire and repositioning it, which is a step a lot of shops probably won't take the time to do unless it's necessary.
Also, RF optimization won't be needed in most cases. It's good for isolating vibration problems, but it's really not necessary in every case.
sometimes they don't use the rf features on the machine.
I think its a useless hype thing.
I think its a useless hype thing.
I "always thought" the RF balancer put pressure on the tire as if it was holding up a car in a shallow turn. Ergo, the tire would be pressed even a little harder that the "quarter of the car's weight".
This puts the rubber where it would be in service, not suspended in air with zero weight. It took me a while to find a close RF machine. It's 5 miles away in Saddle Brook, NJ.
This puts the rubber where it would be in service, not suspended in air with zero weight. It took me a while to find a close RF machine. It's 5 miles away in Saddle Brook, NJ.
Just so everyone understands:
The Road Force portion of a Road Force balancer is all about uniformity - think *Out of Round* and you will be close. What the machine does is measures the amount of force that the tire and wheel assembly is generating - up and down (called the radial direction) and side to side (called the lateral direction). What it reports is the radial direction - which is the most important value.
There is another direction that the machine doesn't measure, but if that is a problem, you've got way bigger problems than just the tires and wheels.
One of the nice features of the Hunter GSP9700 is that it measures both the assembly and the wheel, and can calculate where the tire needs to be oriented relative to the wheel to get the lowest force.
Please note: The machine is not perfect. It uses a small diameter wheel, while the road surface is flat. That means the machine tends to emphasize short duration *Out of Roundness*, and de-emphasize long duration *Out of Roundness*. That means you can get both false positives (Large values that are rally small values) and false negatives (small values that are really large).
And, as always, the technician operating the machine needs to know what he is doing to get good results.
The Road Force portion of a Road Force balancer is all about uniformity - think *Out of Round* and you will be close. What the machine does is measures the amount of force that the tire and wheel assembly is generating - up and down (called the radial direction) and side to side (called the lateral direction). What it reports is the radial direction - which is the most important value.
There is another direction that the machine doesn't measure, but if that is a problem, you've got way bigger problems than just the tires and wheels.
One of the nice features of the Hunter GSP9700 is that it measures both the assembly and the wheel, and can calculate where the tire needs to be oriented relative to the wheel to get the lowest force.
Please note: The machine is not perfect. It uses a small diameter wheel, while the road surface is flat. That means the machine tends to emphasize short duration *Out of Roundness*, and de-emphasize long duration *Out of Roundness*. That means you can get both false positives (Large values that are rally small values) and false negatives (small values that are really large).
And, as always, the technician operating the machine needs to know what he is doing to get good results.
What's the going price for a RF balance? Do they always start off by moving the tire around to the best location on the rim and then balance with weights?
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