Pittsburgh Portable Static "Bubble" Wheel / Tire Balancer?

I forgot to mention that Discount Tire has always done my right. But I imagine it all depends on how it’s managed and who they hire and training.

The main thing is to shop around, find someone good who guarantees a perfect balance and stay with them.

Or go the DIY route and learn to use a static balancer.
 
I have never had a good experience with Discount tire here in AZ or WA. The one thing I will say is they never give up. I mean I can take it back 100 times and they will just continue to do a bad job over and over and be happy to do it. There customer service is great but their work is bad. You guys that have had good luck are lucky.

I finally got all of my tire woes fixed at 4wheel parts, but even then when I got the tires back the air pressures were from 24psi to 48 psi. and they did not torque the wheel nuts. I know this because I promplty removed the tires afterwards to put on a lift and some of the lugs were finger tight and took some cranking with the air, but they were balanced good so that was at least good. They were 31's I tried 6 times at DT and they could never get it right, but 4wheel parts got it the first time.

Here is what I do now because balancing seems to be so hard for people. I use old skool type rims where they can pound the weights on the front and rear bead lips. My Dodge has newer wheels that have to use tape weights and as you can guess they have been in over 7 times and replaced the wheels completely twice and still couldn't get it right. It still shimmies at 70, but I am tired of messing with them and I only use the RAM really to tow my quad toy hauler and rarely reaches 70 anyway so I live with it, but next time it comes time for tires i will probably by some new old skool wheels where it won't be so hard for the guys to get the balance right.

I don't know what changed, but many years ago when I balanced tires, was told on any tire that takes more than 1 ounce of weight to unbead the tire and spin it 180 out and try again. That worked in most cases and if it didn't we got another tire and sent that one back. but I have had discount tire put 6oz of weight on my 31x10.5. In my day that wouldn't have been acceptable.

I am not sure if the tires are just more junk now or we just don't train our guys like we used too.

I too am interested in more info on the bubble balancer, but they really went away with the days of the dinosaur. My guess would be that they work good for small cars, but the bigger mud tires might have to have some serious skill to do. But if you decide to try it and it works good for you, I will probably give it a shot too, as I am really out of options.

I have heard good things about bigO tires shops here, but not from anybody that has big tires, so they are still on my next to try list. Also just learned of some offroad shops not too close to me but worth while if they do good balancing.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
ac_ said:
I have never had a good experience with Discount tire here in AZ or WA. The one thing I will say is they never give up. I mean I can take it back 100 times and they will just continue to do a bad job over and over and be happy to do it. There customer service is great but their work is bad. You guys that have had good luck are lucky.

I finally got all of my tire woes fixed at 4wheel parts, but even then when I got the tires back the air pressures were from 24psi to 48 psi. and they did not torque the wheel nuts. I know this because I promplty removed the tires afterwards to put on a lift and some of the lugs were finger tight and took some cranking with the air, but they were balanced good so that was at least good. They were 31's I tried 6 times at DT and they could never get it right, but 4wheel parts got it the first time.

Here is what I do now because balancing seems to be so hard for people. I use old skool type rims where they can pound the weights on the front and rear bead lips. My Dodge has newer wheels that have to use tape weights and as you can guess they have been in over 7 times and replaced the wheels completely twice and still couldn't get it right. It still shimmies at 70, but I am tired of messing with them and I only use the RAM really to tow my quad toy hauler and rarely reaches 70 anyway so I live with it, but next time it comes time for tires i will probably by some new old skool wheels where it won't be so hard for the guys to get the balance right.

I don't know what changed, but many years ago when I balanced tires, was told on any tire that takes more than 1 ounce of weight to unbead the tire and spin it 180 out and try again. That worked in most cases and if it didn't we got another tire and sent that one back. but I have had discount tire put 6oz of weight on my 31x10.5. In my day that wouldn't have been acceptable.

I am not sure if the tires are just more junk now or we just don't train our guys like we used too.

I too am interested in more info on the bubble balancer, but they really went away with the days of the dinosaur. My guess would be that they work good for small cars, but the bigger mud tires might have to have some serious skill to do. But if you decide to try it and it works good for you, I will probably give it a shot too, as I am really out of options.

I have heard good things about bigO tires shops here, but not from anybody that has big tires, so they are still on my next to try list. Also just learned of some offroad shops not too close to me but worth while if they do good balancing.

Good luck and keep us posted.
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I’m shocked that you would resort to buying a some old school rim just so some tire guys can get your wheels balanced right. I would be talking to the manager and getting it done correctly the first time. I’ve never had this happen to me, and it shouldn’t happen to anybody. That’s some scary shit
 
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Starrs said:
I’m shocked that you would resort to buying a some old school rim just so some tire guys can get your wheels balanced right. I would be talking to the manager and getting it done correctly the first time. I’ve never had this happen to me, and it shouldn’t happen to anybody. That’s some scary shit
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Do you think that by the 6th time I wasn't talking to the managers? They weren't trained very well either. They are not much different than phone support. They have memorized responses and if you don't fit the criteria they are lost. I even wrote the corporate office a letter, and they responded by "Take it back!" They just kept telling me to take it back.

At the last time at discount tire, they told me they were going to road force balance it for me. When the tech was finished he pulled it up and I said what did you find, and he responded with it was out of balance. I said you guys were the last one to balance it a week ago. I then asked him about the road force and he said he didn't road force it because it costs extra. I was pretty done with them by this time. On my when home, as I was entering the freeway once I hit about 60 the steering wheel started shaking back and forth. Not scary but more annoying when I got home all of the weight on the right front tire was missing.

I get that that could happen, but after the 6th try? I figured on the 6th try they would have done anything to make me happy and they would have gorrila glued on the weights or something, but I was pretty done with them at that point. That is when I went to 4 wheel parts and paid to get it done. They didn't do much better but at least they got it balanced. It is pretty smooth now, but I am scared to have anybody touch my tires now. I am even afraid to rotate them at this point.

I have heard that BigO tires actually hires real mechanics and they make pretty good money, so I am going to give them a go next time. It will cost more but if they do it right the first time it will be worth it. I am hoping they will be better trained since they are actual mechanics and they sell tires.
 
ac_ said:
Do you think that by the 6th time I wasn't talking to the managers? They weren't trained very well either. They are not much different than phone support. They have memorized responses and if you don't fit the criteria they are lost. I even wrote the corporate office a letter, and they responded by "Take it back!" They just kept telling me to take it back.

At the last time at discount tire, they told me they were going to road force balance it for me. When the tech was finished he pulled it up and I said what did you find, and he responded with it was out of balance. I said you guys were the last one to balance it a week ago. I then asked him about the road force and he said he didn't road force it because it costs extra. I was pretty done with them by this time. On my when home, as I was entering the freeway once I hit about 60 the steering wheel started shaking back and forth. Not scary but more annoying when I got home all of the weight on the right front tire was missing.

I get that that could happen, but after the 6th try? I figured on the 6th try they would have done anything to make me happy and they would have gorrila glued on the weights or something, but I was pretty done with them at that point. That is when I went to 4 wheel parts and paid to get it done. They didn't do much better but at least they got it balanced. It is pretty smooth now, but I am scared to have anybody touch my tires now. I am even afraid to rotate them at this point.

I have heard that BigO tires actually hires real mechanics and they make pretty good money, so I am going to give them a go next time. It will cost more but if they do it right the first time it will be worth it. I am hoping they will be better trained since they are actual mechanics and they sell tires.
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I had an experience with Big O that stopped me from using them again. I took my '01 Protégé in for an alignment. When I got it back, the steering wheel was off-center substantially. I asked them to correct it, whereupon the manager informed me that his technician (his term, not mine) had tried three times, already, and couldn't get it to center. I told him to try again. Centering the steering wheel is not rocket science. He said they would refund the full amount for the alignment. I said no, just center the wheel. He turned around, refunded the charge, and said he was done discussing it. I left, and went home and centered the wheel myself, having no adverse affect on my alignment (I got the toe-in correct).

Take this for what it's worth, Chief. ;)
 
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ac_ said:
Do you think that by the 6th time I wasn't talking to the managers? They weren't trained very well either. They are not much different than phone support. They have memorized responses and if you don't fit the criteria they are lost. I even wrote the corporate office a letter, and they responded by "Take it back!" They just kept telling me to take it back.

At the last time at discount tire, they told me they were going to road force balance it for me. When the tech was finished he pulled it up and I said what did you find, and he responded with it was out of balance. I said you guys were the last one to balance it a week ago. I then asked him about the road force and he said he didn't road force it because it costs extra. I was pretty done with them by this time. On my when home, as I was entering the freeway once I hit about 60 the steering wheel started shaking back and forth. Not scary but more annoying when I got home all of the weight on the right front tire was missing.

I get that that could happen, but after the 6th try? I figured on the 6th try they would have done anything to make me happy and they would have gorrila glued on the weights or something, but I was pretty done with them at that point. That is when I went to 4 wheel parts and paid to get it done. They didn't do much better but at least they got it balanced. It is pretty smooth now, but I am scared to have anybody touch my tires now. I am even afraid to rotate them at this point.

I have heard that BigO tires actually hires real mechanics and they make pretty good money, so I am going to give them a go next time. It will cost more but if they do it right the first time it will be worth it. I am hoping they will be better trained since they are actual mechanics and they sell tires.
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I’m trying to wrap my head around going back anywhere 6X for unsatisfactory Work lol. I would have killed somebody.
 
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Squatch said:
I had an experience with Big O that stopped me from using them again. I took my '01 Protégé in for an alignment. When I got it back, the steering wheel was off-center substantially. I asked them to correct it, whereupon the manager informed me that his technician (his term, not mine) had tried three times, already, and couldn't get it to center. I told him to try again. Centering the steering wheel is not rocket science. He said they would refund the full amount for the alignment. I said no, just center the wheel. He turned around, refunded the charge, and said he was done discussing it. I left, and went home and centered the wheel myself, having no adverse affect on my alignment (I got the toe-in correct).

Take this for what it's worth, Chief. ;)
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Ya That is BS, perfect example of why I don't take my car in for any service. Except tires, because I don't go through enough to warrant a new machine and balancer. It is a constant struggle.
 
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Starrs said:
I’m trying to wrap my head around going back anywhere 6X for unsatisfactory Work lol. I would have killed somebody.
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Ya I was pretty pissed especially because I can only do it on Saturdays and they don't take appointments so I had to wait till my turn. After a while I knew I was beating a dead horse. Now I am just mad that I don't have anybody reliable yet.

I have a lot of those Latino shops by me that sell used tires. I was thinking about hitting one of those places up just for an option, but most of them I can't communicate with yet. I am brushing up on my Spanish.
 
After doing a bit more research on "old school" static bubble wheel/tire balancing I came across some key points. Best results are going to be with 15" wheel rims and smaller with overall tire width on the narrower side. Oversize wider truck/Jeep tires or low-profile tires on wider rims are probably best left to dynamic/spin balancing because of size and mass. I will keep ya'll posted if I decide to give one a shot cause I'm thinking it would work with my 215-75-R15 tires. I've also read the smaller tires more times than not can get by with only a good static balance.
 
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I decided to give "old school" static bubble wheel balancing a go since I like doing my own maintenance/repairs whenever possible. For the job it does the quality wasn't too bad though they could have used better quality adjust screws to center the bubble. When I was removing all the old weights from my tires I have a suspicion that at times they would counter-balance old weights instead of removing them? One tire had 4 oz. of old weights but I was able to perfectly static balance that same tire with 3 oz. Anyhow to make it short I was able to get a perfect static balance on all 4 tires 2 of which took 3 oz. and the other 2 took 2 oz...half the weight on the outside of the rim and the other half inside the rim. I'm pleased with the results and really happy about not having anymore jacked lugs. Ha!
 
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UnoBurro said:
I decided to give "old school" static bubble wheel balancing a go since I like doing my own maintenance/repairs whenever possible. For the job it does the quality wasn't too bad though they could have used better quality adjust screws to center the bubble. When I was removing all the old weights from my tires I have a suspicion that at times they would counter-balance old weights instead of removing them? One tire had 4 oz. of old weights but I was able to perfectly static balance that same tire with 3 oz. Anyhow to make it short I was able to get a perfect static balance on all 4 tires 2 of which took 3 oz. and the other 2 took 2 oz...half the weight on the outside of the rim and the other half inside the rim. I'm pleased with the results and really happy about not having anymore jacked lugs. Ha!
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That makes me happy to read. I may just go get one now. Just for a refresher can you remind me the wheels and tires you just balanced? Also maybe a quick picture?
 
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AC the tires/rims I balanced were BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires (215-75-R15) on 2001 stock steel rims (15 x 7") The Pittsburgh Portable Wheel Balancer will accept hubs that range from 1.5" - 4.0". Like you I have experienced below average results using Discount Tire here in Texas and won't use them again now.
 
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UnoBurro said:
I decided to give "old school" static bubble wheel balancing a go since I like doing my own maintenance/repairs whenever possible. For the job it does the quality wasn't too bad though they could have used better quality adjust screws to center the bubble. When I was removing all the old weights from my tires I have a suspicion that at times they would counter-balance old weights instead of removing them? One tire had 4 oz. of old weights but I was able to perfectly static balance that same tire with 3 oz. Anyhow to make it short I was able to get a perfect static balance on all 4 tires 2 of which took 3 oz. and the other 2 took 2 oz...half the weight on the outside of the rim and the other half inside the rim. I'm pleased with the results and really happy about not having anymore jacked lugs. Ha!
Click to expand...
I’m glad you did this. I almost bought the ne because I was unsatisfied with every tire shop in town. Then I found Discount in Kerrville Tx and they did everything right, I mean everything. Still impressed with your static balance. Good work
 
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