Hi everyone. I think it was back in July or Aug 08 the last time I posted something. In my last post I was talking about thinking I had a bad tire so I got a new set. Still had the problem and then found out I had a wheel bearing gone bad and center/rear differential gone bad at the same time. Man, I was out such a crap load of money on all of that. As for now. I knew that right after I had all that work done, something still wasn't feeling quite right as far as the smoothness of the ride. Constant little vibrations I guess you'd call it. I had taken my truck by toyota a couple of times and had a tech. drive it and he said he wasn't sure of the problem but there was nothing wrong with the truck itself, had to be tire related.
Since buying my michelins back in July, I've had tires balanced and / or rotated 6 times as of yesterday (new years eve). At sears I have complained and complained, telling them that the truck hasn't rode right since the new tires, wheel bearing, and differential episode. All they would do is keep balancing until yesterday, a young man who probably has very little experience, put one of my wheels/tires on the balance machine and as it was spinning, noticed my wheel was slightly bent. I appreciate this young man for finding the problem that the others who have worked there 20+ years, couldn't seem to see. Well, I was told that this slightly bent wheel is my whole problem and that it is small enough that it is not dangerous. Still, it bugs the crap out of me to have a bumpy/vibrating ride anytime and especially with new michelins. I am in the process of purchasing a used wheel that is guaranteed not to be bent. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
My 01 tacoma wheels are the ones that came out on it.16x7 alloy with 15mm offset. I don't run up on curbs, I don't hit pot holes that I haven't been hitting for the past 8 years of the tacoma's life. I don't do off road. I have been told by one person that it is possible that the wheel could be damaged when the tires were changed. I am clueless about this. Does anyone know how my wheel could have got bent? The accident I was in back in 2006, one of the wheels did get bent but was replaced and I can tell that it isn't the same wheel anyway. I just want your opinions on how this happened and if there's anything that can be done for it now to happen again. Remember, I am a woman driver and I'm not rough on my tacoma.

I had the same problem on my '96 tacoma and it turned out to be a bent rim. I repleced the suspect rim and had the same problem which turned out to be an out of balance new rim. A rule of thumb is that if the rim requires more than 3/4 ounce of weight to balance it, the rim is defective. Most tire companies will just add a ton of weights to balansce the tire because they just don't know any better or are just happy to have sold you a new set of tires and don't want to tell you that you also need to purchase a new rim. You should check to see if any of your new tires have a cluster of balancing weights on the rim, and if so, then take the vehicle back to the tire dealer and ask them to re-balance the suspected tire and ask them if any of the tires require 3/4 ounce or more weight to balance it. A good clue is to look for the long weights. If you see a long weight, and maybe a long weight and a couple of little ones in the same spot on the rim, there is a problem. You can also tell if a rim is bent if you look at it closeley while it is spinning on the balancing machine. Lemme neaux if the rim is the problemo. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />

I am in the process of getting a used wheel that is supposed to be in good shape and not bent. I'll have it mounted and see what happens from there.
Presently as my tires are mounted now, the two fronts have a small weight on each and the two rears have a long and short, side by side of each rear wheel.

I hate to bring this up, but are you sure they are using the correct adapter to mount the wheel to the balancing machine? Our wheels require the use of a lug centric adapter to balance them. If they use a cone adapter to balance the wheels they will never be correctly balanced.

I'm not saying you don't have a bent wheel, I have had a bent wheel for 4 years now and it still balances out good using lug adapter on the machine.