As some of you may know I recently purchased new tires; well I discovered a vibration that begins at around 65mph and gets worse with accleration. I can feel it in the seat and therefore suspected a rear wheel threw a weight or something. Upon visual inspection I find that the rear pssgr wheel has three huge weights on it while the rest just have one <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" /> red flags go up; and I take it into the tire shop. Before I went I armed myself with information. </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans"> Most tire shops do "static" (up & down weight plane) as well as "dynamic" (side to side weight plane)balancing and that is it. There is also an imbalance called "force variance" which is an "out-of-round" and/or irregular compound of tread and/or sidewall. Any of which will cause vibration and irregular tread wear. In order to test for "force variation" a special machine is needed. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">The Firestone shop I went to didn't have one. But they went ahead and pulled the suspicious wheel and put it on their balancing machine and I stood by and watched the results. The technition kept getting varring results but felt that the problem was a bent rim. (basically defering all guilt) They don't have the equipment to test for out-of-round or bent rims it just appeared to be bent due to a visual inspection while on the "lathe" I looked for the "hop" in the rim and couldn't see one. I suggested they swap the suspect tire with the opposite tire (front driver) and check the balance. Which they agreed to do and concluded that the front driver tire mounted on the rear passenger rim also reguired heavy weighting. They once again tried to point out the bent rim. Then they proposed new aftermarket rims; I declined and asked them to do the best they could to make the wheel balanced, mount them on my truck and let me go get a second opinion. They did and that's where I'm at now. On the test drive home I found that the vibe isn't nearly as bad but still noticeable.
What do you guys/gals think?
Again sorry so long.
-Jared

<small>[ July 09, 2003, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: UteTroop ]</small>

Find a shop that can do a lug-centric balancing. Most shops won't the machine to do it, keep searching.

Instead of putting the wheel on a cone of the balancing machine and tightening it, this type of balancer will hold the wheel through the lug nut holes.

Take a look through these links:web page web page web page

I did a quick search on the web and found this link. Hunter Balancers
I've heard this is the one of the best methods of balancing. Also a bit more expensive than average. This web site also has a locator to find one near you.

HTH
Dave

I have been fighting a similar problem with a 2002 Rodeo for about a month. This is with the stock tires and rims. I get the same vibration you describe, begining at about 65 mph. It began when I had my tires rotated for the first time. Balancing all 4 tires did not cure the problem. Replacing the weak stock shocks with Monroe-Matic Plus shocks helped a little, but not much. At times, for no aparrent reason, it smooths out for a short while. The dealer blames the tires. The tire shop says there is no problem with the tires or rims. Oh, joy.... I guess the next step will be to swap each tire/rim with the spare, to see if the problem is with one tire/rim, or something else.

We are not the first to have a problem like this on an Isuzu. I have read threads over on Club VMag on the same topic.

Go here:
http://club.vmag.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000945.html

And here:
http://club.vmag.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000962.html

Makes me wonder if they do "on the vehicle" balancing or some such at the factory.

John_Galt

I have had difficulty getting my tires balanced since I got them...I have had Sears do the "lifetime" re-balancing every few months for 40,000 miles now, without ever truly being vibration free.

So, last week I had a buddy of mine drive next to me on the freeway...he was able to visually spot one tire hopping. I swapped it with the spare and suddenly I have a vibration-free ride...it's almost eerie, I am so used to the vibe. Now I just gotta take the spare in to get rebalanced, they won't be touching the others!

So give the visual method a try, if your vibration is a bad as you say it should be easy to see which ones are bouncing...

BigSwede; When you take your "bad wheel" in to get balanced make sure you have them perform a "road force" balance or test for "force variation" if they don't have the machine needed to test for it at sears, then call around and find one that does. It should only cost $8-$12 per wheel. Take in the wheel and have them "match mount" the wheel to the rim and re balance. If your wheel "hops" then it is likely out-of-round tire or rim and could be compensated if mounted properly and then balanced. Again if sears can only do a "static and/or Dynamic" balance you'll never get rid of the vibe.
-Jared

I have an appointment tomorrow morning to have my suspect wheel balance and tested for "force variation". I'll post the results when I get them.
-Jared

I wasted 5 years of my life in a tire shop, but one thing I learned was to get the bigger/heavier tires to balance it took some effort on my part; many times I broke-down and spun a tire on the wheel say 120 to 180 degrees then re-inflated and re-balanced until the max. weight per side was 3oz.
These bigger tires and rims have "heavy spots", if you donÆt believe me try taking one that has say 9 oz. (3- 3oz.) of weight on one side and spin the tire on the rim 180. Most times you'll love the results. The problem is finding a shop that will care about your problem.
Once these tires are balanced correctly, youÆre done for life with a good 5k to 8k rotation.
Good Luck

I believe that's the key knockman "spining" the tire on the wheel so that the heavy spot on the wheel and tire oppose each-other. That is precisely what the "road force" balancer will tell the technician.
-Jared

I have 9 golf balls per tire to highway balance my tires. Does that count? <img border="0" alt="[Hillbilly]" title="" src="graemlins/notooth.gif" />

Seriously I do! And that is because of reality and the bigger tires. I tried EQUAL a powder that is put inside the tires with minimal success. My next option was to have the tires rounded, thinned and basically a $100 bucks a tire I wasn't going to spend.

A "dual sport" vehicle highway/off road is a compromise of both ends of the performance spectrum. I like my redneck solution and it suits my needs since my vehicle sees 70/30 with 70% of the time being off road. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />