Forester Wheel Balance

My neighbor took her '17 Forester with only 16k senior-driven miles to the local Subaru dealer for its scheduled 48 month service. They said tire wear pattern showed they needed to be balanced and she agreed to it.

To my eye, tires show no abnormal wear and there is absolutely no vibration, shaking or steering wheel shimmy even up to 75+ MPH. Smooth ride at all speeds.

Was she had?

Reply to
Wade Garrett
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Wade Garrett snipped-for-privacy@cooler.net wrote:

That depends on how expert you think you are in diagnosing tire wear patterns. Did you check for scrubbing on the edges, and it uneven? Did you rotate each tire to watch the threads to see if there was a pattern change due to bouncing (out of balance)? Did you check for toe wear, camber wear, center wear, edge wear, patchy wear, or cup wear? The shop should explain exactly how they determined improper tire wear. If they refuse, they're untrustworthy. I had a shop say I needed a new intake manifold gasket because they spotted puddles of coolant. I had already replaced a defective radiator cap. It leaked, and the coolant went onto the engine. I hadn't hosed down the engine. Despite telling them that, and asking they clean the engine to determine if there was a coolant leak from the engine, they just stuck to their guns saying that I had a leak and how much they would charge. That was at a shop not of my choosing (the owner had work on their car done there). When I took it to my car shop, they explained to clean the engine, let it dry, and then check for coolant on the engine and on the ground. There was no leak. The folks you sometimes deal with at the counter are not the mechanics. They only know how to spew off their mechanics recommendations, and some mechanics make decisions based on poor inspection. I don't know if the front desk dude even bothered to tell the mechanic what I told him about the leaking radiator cap that I replaced.

Ride varies by the car. With my car and its firmer ride, I can tell when something is amiss. When I get into my aunt's cushy Outback, there's no way in hell I can tell if the ride is good or not just by driving it around one time. I'd have to drive it a lot to know what to feel for. I'm also used to a quicker response for steering than she has. To me, her car and lots of cars have mushy steering. It'd be damn tough to feel troubles through the steering wheel of those cars. Smoothing the ride, reducing noise, making handling easy are factors that lower the ability to feel the condition of the car.

I don't know your (her) car shop. I don't know if you really have the expertise to feel tire wear, know for what to inspect for tire wear, and to feel improper balance. Out of balance doesn't mandate car shake that you can feel, especially if ride is normally spongy. You've driven the car once, and you think you are experienced in its ride to know what vibrations to feel for? You'll never detect by eye an out of round tire. Balancing can partially compensate, but not fully. As best as the shop could balance a tire of mine that was out of round (don't remember if it was radial or lateral runout), it got put on the rear to minimize the remaining effect (pulling) to prolong when I had to replace the set. The tire had a manufacturing defect that could only be minimized with balancing (and would require more frequent balancing). Could be due to improper tire to wheel installation, but they tried removing and inspecting and remounting several times, along with checking the wheel. It took the shop several tests and me with several test drives to determine which tire was out of round. You're expecting us to assume you have more expertise than a mechanic.

If they suspect one tire, they should tell you what led them to that conclusion. How much did they say a balance job would cost? $40 to $75? When was the last time this car had its alignment checked? Ever? Often a balance job can get rolled into other services, like alignment. Seniors are pretty bad when it comes to preventative or scheduled maintaince of their vehicles. They wait until something gets really bad that they can no longer ignore it, or the radio won't drown it out. Does she keep any auto records, so you can see when her car last got an alignment or even a tire rotation?

Reply to
VanguardLH

20 days later and no reply. Guess the inquiry really wasn't that important and just curiousity.
Reply to
VanguardLH

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