need help on rims/tires.

[mushi]

Yesterday, I remove my summer tires and rims from my p5 and put the factory wheel back on because it start snowing in my area already. The summer rims is 17 and has size of 205/40/17.
This morning when I was driving to work, the car start to shake on the steering wheel at speed over 50km/h and cars pulls right.
So, I assume it was a balancing problem. So, I took car in to balance and thee tech say the rims/tires was balance already. maybe of by 0.5 or something like that, but he did the balancing anways. So, I assume the problem was fixed. I drove and notice the same thing happen, so I took the car back. This time they suggest a alignment, so that what we are going to do. When we were about to do the aligment, he see that one of my tires/rim on the RF of the car is spinning funny, so he rotate the LF and RF, and took it for a test drive. But now the cars pulls left instead of right. The tech told me that there is something wrong with the tire/rim. I inspected the rims and there seems to be nothing wrong with it. I din't hit or run over anything. Anyone know what the problem can be?

 

[girth]

What kind of weights did he use to balance them -- tape weights or clip on? Does the rim have a lip that a clip-on weight could go on?

What I've found is that tire shops will NOT spend the time needed to get the tire balanced well enough if they have to use tape weights. Trust me - I wasted $200 before I finally found a place to get mine balanced.

 

[mushi]

well one thing is the it is the stock rims and tires and they are already balance.. when I ask him The tire tech he say it was only off by .5 or something like that, but he did rebalance it. Last time I uses the rims and tires(they were fine and din't do what they did today) before I put on the summer tires.

 

[mushi]

Any also, the weight is put on the lip of the rim. Would switching from a 17" summer tires back to 16" stock can cause this? The funny thing is when I put the tire/rim on LF than it pulls left, and I put on the RF and than it pulls right.. It also shake a bit, and that is what I more worry about. Anyone?

 

[GOTZOOM?]

Could be one of the tires is out of round. Have you tried putting those two tires on the back, and the ones on the back up to the front. See if it goes away.

 

[mushi]

I din't do that.. but what do you mean by out of round?

 

[GOTZOOM?]

I din't do that.. but what do you mean by out of round?

Expression used when a tire has not worn evenly, either by manufacture defect or bad alignment. Out of round tires cannot be balanced and need replacing.

Try moving the rear to the front and vise versa.

 

[mushi]

cool.. okay.. let me go check that out right now.. hopefully it works..

 

[girth]

Hmm, yeah, if you say they didn't shake and were balanced when you originally had them on then I'm kind of stumped. I'd try swapping front to back like "gotzoom" said. Especially since the wheel weight is a "clip-on" style on the lip -- tire shops have an easier time with those and usuallly do a better job.

If swapping them front to back doesn't work then it must be an "out-of-round" tire or just 1 tire that isn't balanced properly -- trust me -- NO tire shops could balance my tires for the longest time (they each said the same thing-- they're already balanced) and the tire shops balancing job is only as good as their balancing machine - which needs recalibrating every now and again.

My tires shook until I found a guy that spent 1 hour per tire to balance them. Since then they are butter smooth. The "out-of-round" problem is also something that many tire shops can measure so before you throw the tire out I'd recommend asking them to determine if any of them really are out-of-round. My stock MSP ones are slightly out of round (every tire ever made is to some degree) but not enough to be a problem.

 

[mushi]

You guys are the greatest.. It work.. I just switch all of the tires from back to front and car no longer go really left or right. And most of all it does not shake.. You guys ought to work for a auto store. Thanks a million.. Stupid tech told me to buy new rims/tires. OOh, guys I will never go back there. Anyway, have to thanks you guys again...

 

[girth]

Very glad to hear that Mushi! Excellent suggestion by Gotzoom. Now you know too that 1 of those tires on the back is F-ed up in some way -- you should try to mark that one so you remember which it is.

 

[mushi]

thanks girth.. Yup, that idea from Gotzoon was excellent , that save me soo much money and headache.. was soo worried about my mp5. Yup, I mark that tire pretty good, funny thing is when I inspect the tire, that tire has the best tread...:wtf: Hopefully the marking will stay there next time and I will remember..