Ummmm... what does balancing have to do with anything?
You can balance a bent rim and it's still bent.
Plus, for all you know, it could be the tire and not the rim.
You're not any closer than you were before.
--scott
You need to go to a different shop. You have either a bad tire or a bad rim. Balancing does NOTHING for either one. You proved that when you say you still feel a "strong pounding vibration through my seat"
Go to a different shop OR pull that tire off and look it over. Either the rim id damaged or the tire itself is the problem. The machine may balance out the tire but if it has a bad belt or is out of round it won't matter if it's balanced. You can balance an egg but it's not going to make it round.
Steve W.:
So just start fresh, go to the dealer or another shop and tell them I have a pounding vibration from the back?
The funny thing is: Monday(and for the previous 3 years, no matter what was thrown at this car, the steering wheel shimmied at 60mph & up. No vibration in the body.
Tuesday before work, I had a rotation done, front to back, and subsequently my drive to work there was no steering wheel jiggle or body vibration.
Wednesday(yesterday) I went back and the asst manager performed a free balance on both back wheels, now the car is vibrating like a jackhammer at anything over 60mph - read: AFTER said rear balance.
So what next? Just forget about Town Fair?
What kind of wheels - alloy? If they use the wrong weights, they can come off pretty easily. If you're sure it wasn't vibrating at all right after the front to back move, then they either f***ed up the balance, or the weights came off. There seems to be something very wrong with that shop.
Yep.
Maybe. If they claim that the tire is balanced but you can feel it shake, there is something wrong.
Either the tire has a problem or the rim has an issue. You have a donut spare correct? How about a test, Stick the spare on the right rear and see if the problem goes away. If not switch to the left side. If it goes away either time that tire/rim is the problem.
Steve, Bill:
I'm through with experimenting. By the way the rims are steel.
I'll just go some where I haven't been to yet, or in a long time.
The problem is, how does one diagnose an out-of-round wheel or tire? A thousand shops could put it on their machines and get all zeros back(it was just balanced). By sight? Even at high speed on the balancer it's hard to see some eggs.
I might be repeating myself, but I've had road force balancing done on my tires for the past 10 or more years. Haven't had any issues. The machine will tell if the rim or tire is bad. Hunter makes the machine and most Just Tires shops use it. You've probably been dealing with "not too sharp" shops.
_____________ What is road force balancing?
I'm at my wits end right about now. I'm about to go to another tire place, purchase four new tires, and order three additional OEM rims from Kia, and just get it the hell over with!!
But you've already ruled out two of the four tires, now you have two to check the last two. Put a doughnut on, and drive around the block a few times. I don't understand why this is so difficult.
--scott
Scott D:
Can't drive around my block, safely at least, at the speeds I stated throughout this thread at which the vibrations are occurring. It's at least 10 minutes to either of two high speed motorways, assuming light traffic.
I'll just replace the two remaining older tires and the rims, and get this behind me.
So put the doughnut on. There's a 50% chance it'll be perfectly fine. If it isn't, stop it, put the old tire back on, then put the doughnut on the other side. Voila, you found it.
--scott
And if it's the rim you accomplish nothing.
Toss the donut on either rear side. Now head out and see if it's still there or gone. If it's still there then bad tire is the one still on the car. If it's gone the tire that's off is the bad one.
As for how to find out, You put it on the machine and rotate it by hand You watch for wobble in the rim, sidewall or tread. It really isn't hard.
throwing away the bad rim sounds like a good idea to me! GW
A friend spotted me today alongside and said both rear tires were hopping visibly up & down. Speeds were 60-65, recently repaved highway.
Can a hopping tire on one side translate to another? And exactly what kind of balancing job did Town Fair do on the rear wheels on this thing??
If there is a Kia dealership where you live, this can't be too small of a town. I have to assume that there are many places to take a car for wheel balancing. If you are willing to buy two new tires and rims, just take it another shop to balance the rears first. Don't you have Sears, or tire franchise shops, or competent independents? It can't be that hard. If you go to a bigger place, they're also more likely to have a road force balancer. You might as well have it done right, although this sounds more like a straight balance problem.
I had a problem at one dealership - the tire guy was using the wrong weights, and they were flying off at high speeds. And is this front or rear drive? There have been issues where the tires were slipping on the rims, and that would throw the balance off. But that happens on the drive wheels, and usually, if not always, on certain types of alloy or chrome rims, not steel.
And one last thing, does the current shake always happen at the same speed, or only on certain roads?
George Welsh wrote: "
throwing away the bad rim sounds like a good idea to me! GW "
And my local Town Fair will never admit they discarded and replaced the wrong rim!
As far as the dealer goes, yes there is a Kia in my town, but the service guy says it's my alignment. Wrong! My car tracks straight, and steering effort to either side is the same.
So it looks like I might do the donut tests, and then call around to see who has a road force balancer once I've isolated the bad corner.
George Welsh wrote: "
throwing away the bad rim sounds like a good idea to me! GW "
And my local Town Fair will never admit they discarded and replaced the wrong rim!
As far as the dealer goes, yes there is a Kia in my town, but the service guy says it's my alignment. Wrong! My car tracks straight, and steering effort to either side is the same.
So it looks like I might do the donut tests, and then call around to see who has a road force balancer once I've isolated the bad corner.
George Welsh wrote: "
throwing away the bad rim sounds like a good idea to me! GW "
And my local Town Fair will never admit they discarded and replaced the wrong rim!
As far as the dealer goes, yes there is a Kia in my town, but the service guy says it's my alignment. Wrong! My car tracks straight, and steering effort to either side is the same.
So it looks like I might do the donut tests, and then call around to see who has a road force balancer once I've isolated the bad corner.
George Welsh:
And the local Town Fair will never admit they discarded and replaced the wrong rim!
So I guess I'll perform the donut tests, then call around to see who has Road Force once I've isolated the trouble corner in the rear of my car.
NO road force brand balancing machines in my town. :(
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