What makes tires not hold balance?

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Jun 5, 2003
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Apple Valley, California
A few weeks ago I bought some Dextero tires for my jeep. They will only stay balanced a few days.

I have had them rebalanced 2x now.

First when I bought them. Then 2x at americas tire.They are ok a few days then start bouncing again.
 
I don't think tires themselves will change their balance much. Once formed, assuming the wear is even with time, they will stay very similar in their balance. As others have said, it's the external things like weights, etc that might change. But even those shouldn't be changing by the week.

I cannot say for sure, but I can think of another potential cause of perceived "out of balance" could be the tire is getting "set" from sitting overnight and goes slightly out of round when cold as you first drive it. This is often referred to as flat-spots, but they really are just forming to the loaded side of the tire on the ground as they cool from the last drive cycle. But the way you describe it, they are OK for a few days, and then misbehave. So my question would be: how often are you driving the vehicle, and how far between uses? This happens to me at times as my vehicles often sit for random lengths of time between drive cycles. I have to drive them for about 10 min for them to smooth out.
 
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I agree with @dnewton3's perspective. If they appear to get unbalanced after sitting parked overnight, it is likely the tires are "flat spotting". Tires that flat spot usually smooth out when warmed up after driving several miles.

When they were re-balanced twice at America's Tire, did they indicate that the tires were unbalanced when you brought them in? Did they check for out-of-roundness due to flat spotting before removing the previous weights?
 
We had a tire delivery during a storm. Just enough water was in several of those tires to cause this issue. From that point on we wouldn’t accept a shipment during a downpour.
 
I agree with @dnewton3's perspective. If they appear to get unbalanced after sitting parked overnight, it is likely the tires are "flat spotting". Tires that flat spot usually smooth out when warmed up after driving several miles.

When they were re-balanced twice at America's Tire, did they indicate that the tires were unbalanced when you brought them in? Did they check for out-of-roundness due to flat spotting before removing the previous weights?
They did say they were out of balance. Wouldnt they unflat spot in my 11 mile drive? I dont know if they checked them for out of round.
 
I don't think tires themselves will change their balance much. Once formed, assuming the wear is even with time, they will stay very similar in their balance. As others have said, it's the external things like weights, etc that might change. But even those shouldn't be changing by the week.

I cannot say for sure, but I can think of another potential cause of perceived "out of balance" could be the tire is getting "set" from sitting overnight and goes slightly out of round when cold as you first drive it. This is often referred to as flat-spots, but they really are just forming to the loaded side of the tire on the ground as they cool from the last drive cycle. But the way you describe it, they are OK for a few days, and then misbehave. So my question would be: how often are you driving the vehicle, and how far between uses? This happens to me at times as my vehicles often sit for random lengths of time between drive cycles. I have to drive them for about 10 min for them to smooth out.
I drive it every day. I work 8-5 and its a 20-30 min drive
 
Tires not fitting rim perfectly and possibly being offset to the rim, thinking is sidewall is higher on one side of the rim vs other side.
 
I don't think tires themselves will change their balance much. Once formed, assuming the wear is even with time, they will stay very similar in their balance. As others have said, it's the external things like weights, etc that might change. But even though shouldn't be changing by the week.

I cannot say for sure, but I can think of another potential cause of perceived "out of balance" could be the tire is getting "set" from sitting overnight and goes slightly out of round when cold as you first drive it. This is often referred to as flat-spots, but they really are just forming to the loaded side of the tire on the ground as they cool from the last drive cycle. But the way you describe it, they are OK for a few days, and then misbehave. So my question would be: how often are you driving the vehicle, and how far between uses? This happens to me at times as my vehicles often sit for random lengths of time between drive cycles. I have to drive them for about 10 min for them to smooth out.
Back when I drove a school bus (80's), they had nylon type tires. They would seem to flat spot overnight, especially in cold weather.
It would take 5 miles or more for them to warm up, then they would ride smooth.
 
Have you tried a road force balance at a place that actually does it correctly? I've had tires that were good after balance and then shortly after shook again. I've had tires slip on the rim due to too much tire lube (that sucked on a trip during Covid). I also had tires where they "rebalanced" them but didn't start fresh. Kept adding more weights, then a couple days later = shake.

I had that on some Nokians on my Corolla. Shop had smooth, started shaking, re-balanced smooth, started shaking. Friend at BMW dealer said bring it to me Saturday. It called for more weights to be added as it was driven in. He yanked all the weights, road forced, starting fresh. 2 needed no weights, 2 needed about 1/4 ounce, RF all in spec and even. I don't think I ever balanced them after that in like 40k miles.

Shop by me has a road force balancer but drum roller was messed up last time so they were just doing regular high speed balance with it. Sam's Club that used too much lube also had machines that hadn't been calibrated recently to add to issues.

Factory wheels? Hub centric? Lug centric? EVENLY torqued to correct spec? I've also seen as mentioned, water but induced from compressor without a drier. Quick Check by me on their "free air" I actually saw water mist when I tried it once. I stopped using them after that.
 
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