SoCalDMAX
09-08-2002, 01:00
I bought Dunlop Radial Rover A/T tires from Discount Tire back in January, IIRC. At first, they rode smooth as silk, but gradually they started to ride rough and the truck seemed to shake a little.
I took the truck in to get the tires rotated, and the shake was worse. They rebalanced the tires, but it didn't seem to help and there was a LOT of weight on 2 of the tires. I went back in and asked them to Ride Match them using the Hunter GSP-9700. The Hunter checks the rim's radial and lateral runout down to .001" and the tire's runout as well. The tire is then measured under load at speed. The tire gets rotated on the rim to minimize runout and then balanced, usually with very little weight.
They discovered that 3 out of my 5 tires were too far out of round to be balanced properly and the machine indicated they needed to be replaced, 2 had obvious belt separation. The manager decided to order 4 new tires and replace 4 out of 5 and place the 5th in the spare location.
The new tires arrived today and they installed and Ride Matched them for free, roughly $700 value. Not too bad, considering I got about 10,000 bumpy miles out of them. The only drawback is the new tires are Rover RVs instead of A/Ts. The RVs have a little bigger tread blocks and appear to have deeper tread, so they may last longer. They do have a barely detectable hum at fwy speeds, the A/Ts didn't.
So if you're trying to track down an elusive shimmy or shake (no, I'm not talkin' about Dmax Diva, you perverts!) don't rule out your tires, even though they may appear to be balanced.
Rides like a Caddy again... :D
Regards, Steve
I took the truck in to get the tires rotated, and the shake was worse. They rebalanced the tires, but it didn't seem to help and there was a LOT of weight on 2 of the tires. I went back in and asked them to Ride Match them using the Hunter GSP-9700. The Hunter checks the rim's radial and lateral runout down to .001" and the tire's runout as well. The tire is then measured under load at speed. The tire gets rotated on the rim to minimize runout and then balanced, usually with very little weight.
They discovered that 3 out of my 5 tires were too far out of round to be balanced properly and the machine indicated they needed to be replaced, 2 had obvious belt separation. The manager decided to order 4 new tires and replace 4 out of 5 and place the 5th in the spare location.
The new tires arrived today and they installed and Ride Matched them for free, roughly $700 value. Not too bad, considering I got about 10,000 bumpy miles out of them. The only drawback is the new tires are Rover RVs instead of A/Ts. The RVs have a little bigger tread blocks and appear to have deeper tread, so they may last longer. They do have a barely detectable hum at fwy speeds, the A/Ts didn't.
So if you're trying to track down an elusive shimmy or shake (no, I'm not talkin' about Dmax Diva, you perverts!) don't rule out your tires, even though they may appear to be balanced.
Rides like a Caddy again... :D
Regards, Steve