Arizona Rock Crawling Daily Driver

Was getting a rear shimmy on the way to Blaine’s at high speed. Took it in to discount today for a rotation and balance and now I have a front shimmy. At least I know there is a bad tire somewhere in the front now. I may have them mount my spare tire on the worst front and see what happens.

Please define “high speed.” 🤣
 
Was getting a rear shimmy on the way to Blaine’s at high speed. Took it in to discount today for a rotation and balance and now I have a front shimmy. At least I know there is a bad tire somewhere in the front now. I may have them mount my spare tire on the worst front and see what happens.
Had them swap my spare tire for the worst front tire and rebalance and I still have a bad front shimmy. I thought okay well I’ll just put the rears back forward where they were before the balance/rotation. Still a big front wobble at 50mph. If I had no front wobble before going to discount, and now a wobble regardless of which tires are up front, then discount tire is fucking my shit up. I told them the first balance was bad and they said “All we do is put the tire on the machine, the machine says where to put weights and we do it. There can’t be a mistake in the balancing.” My dads Jeep has had his MTRs just as long as me and has only had them re balanced once and his feel perfect. I’ll try the shop he took his to next. Why is this so hard?
 
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Had them swap my spare tire for the worst front tire and rebalance and I still have a bad front shimmy. I thought okay well I’ll just put the rears back forward where they were before the balance/rotation. Still a big front wobble at 50mph. If I had no front wobble before going to discount, and now a wobble regardless of which tires are up front, then discount tire is fucking my shit up. I told them the first balance was bad and they said “All we do is put the tire on the machine, the machine says where to put weights and we do it. There can’t be a mistake in the balancing.” My dads Jeep has had his MTRs just as long as me and has only had them re balanced once and his feel perfect. I’ll try the shop he took his to next. Why is this so hard?

Try his
 
The Big O locally has always been spot on balancing my Jeep tires. They use almost no weights and even comment sometimes in the excessive weights they find from POs. Idk if it’s a national thing or just our local franchise but they could be worth checking out.

Discount has always been about turn and burn IMO.
 
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The Big O locally has always been spot on balancing my Jeep tires. They use almost no weights and even comment sometimes in the excessive weights they find from POs. Idk if it’s a national thing or just our local franchise but they could be worth checking out.

Discount has always been about turn and burn IMO.

My current 35" are doing well being balanced by Discount with only being on the street. Garrett has wheeled his much harder than mine. I believe it has been discussed that the tyres may be shifting on the rims without beadlocks.

I can only with time, see if it happens with my tyres.
 
My current 35" are doing well being balanced by Discount with only being on the street. Garrett has wheeled his much harder than mine. I believe it has been discussed that the tyres may be shifting on the rims without beadlocks.

I can only with time, see if it happens with my tyres.
A valid point.
 
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All we do is put the tire on the machine, the machine says where to put weights and we do it. There can’t be a mistake in the balancing.”

That is completely wrong. It is not that simple. I watched the novices do that at Bison Tire. Then I drove it and it was crap. Went back and I watched as a real tire guy asked the novices what they did. See your quote above. He then proceeded to tell them it doesn’t really work that way, to which they replied, “well, that’s what they told us.” He spent the next hour and a half re-mounting some of them balancing all of them.

P.s. I had trouble balancing my MTR’s toward the end. I finally gave up. Something was wrong with the tires by that point even though I was told they were round. The day I got new tires they rode perfect.
 
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Discount has gone downhill in the last couple of years. I have been told "it's just too big of a tire". Well you've balanced them correctly before, do it again 🙄
 
Discount has gone downhill in the last couple of years. I have been told "it's just too big of a tire". Well you've balanced them correctly before, do it again 🙄

unfortunately 1/2 ass is the new standard and it ain't just tires n wheels.

can it be done at home? how'd they do it b4 computers?
 
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Had them swap my spare tire for the worst front tire and rebalance and I still have a bad front shimmy. I thought okay well I’ll just put the rears back forward where they were before the balance/rotation. Still a big front wobble at 50mph. If I had no front wobble before going to discount, and now a wobble regardless of which tires are up front, then discount tire is fucking my shit up. I told them the first balance was bad and they said “All we do is put the tire on the machine, the machine says where to put weights and we do it. There can’t be a mistake in the balancing.” My dads Jeep has had his MTRs just as long as me and has only had them re balanced once and his feel perfect. I’ll try the shop he took his to next. Why is this so hard?

If the machine isn't calibrated, it won't balance the tires. Went through that with them before. Had them balance, worse than before it went in. Stopped right there and had them take the tires off without touching the weights and put them on the other balancer. All 5 tires were way off. Got the manager involved and he fixed it. You have to stand there and make them do it right. FYI, this was not a set of MTR's.
 
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could the MTR's issue be the thicker/denser appearing tread band or the difference in center tread bands? if that even makes sense.
 
They have an assymetrical tread pattern IIRC. It shouldn't matter though. They balance fine most of the time. I think you just have to find a shop that knows what they are doing and specializes in mounting and balancing larger off-road tires. It can take time to get them right. The chain stores typically have people in a 30 minute time slot. In and out.

MT tires will often cup or do odd things by the time the mileage is around 20k. It's one reason I always sell mine when I'm at 10/32's for about $400 and get a new set.
 
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cupping and odd things are due to running pressure most times, no?

IDK how 1 might expect 2 different center patterns to wear exactly alike. if there is any difference in contact surface area and lug spacing it'll have a different end result and highway RPM's might/will bring this issue up quicker, no?. there has to be a culprit to keep them topping this balance issue list every time.

does 1 expect the same mileage from an MT as they would an AT? that tire is both , no?
 
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unfortunately 1/2 ass is the new standard and it ain't just tires n wheels.

can it be done at home? how'd they do it b4 computers?

Ive had instances where I watch them balance it on the machine to 0, give it back to me and not even a block away it shakes. I take it back, they balance it on the same machine and then its off several ounces. I would think some sort of calibration is needed and they're not smart or allowed to calibrate it themselves. Just a theory.
 
Ive had instances where I watch them balance it on the machine to 0, give it back to me and not even a block away it shakes. I take it back, they balance it on the same machine and then its off several ounces. I would think some sort of calibration is needed and they're not smart or allowed to calibrate it themselves. Just a theory.

Yeah, there’s definitely an art to it, especially with larger tires. I’ve seen the same thing. I think with smaller tires (less rolling mass) it is usually “good enough,” but with larger tires the percent error is amplified and not “good enough.”
 
I’ve gotten a few recommendations for Big O now. I have one right down the street from me so I gave them a call and asked if they have any guys available that are used to balancing big tires. He said tomorrow they have a guy working that’s really good at it and that I can schedule with him, so that’s what I’m doing. Discount tire is just way too busy and hectic to deal with them. Plus when I talk to those teenagers working there they just get the goldfish look in their eyes.