I had a set of 305/65/18 BFG AT KO installed on my factory wheels at a large chain tire store. I had 3 tires replaced due to excessive weight required to balance them. The three each had more than 5 oz. on the outside! I then experiences a pull to the right with the replacements tires. I had them replace the front tires again. The pull did not change. I then began to replay the visits to the shop in my head. I thought about possible damage, other than where they marred my rims with the clip weights, of course. I thought about how the jacked up the truck. I remember that they used three floor jacks at once to jack up the truck. They placed one jack under the rear pumpkin and one under each of the two front radius arms on that rounded part just under where they attach to the front axle with those two big bolts. In other words, on the front, they placed the jack under the point closest to the ground on each radius arm. Sorry, I don’t know a technical name for this point. Is it possible this bent a radius arm or even my frame, causing this pull? Any suggestions on diagnosing the pull? I’m worried I now have a boogered-up truck![/SIZE][/FONT]

 

I think the king pin or RA bushing is an approved jack point. Depending on the store, they may or may not know about the little tricks to balancing a bigger tire. The location of the yellow dot can make a difference in the balance. I've heard opposite to the valve stem, then if the weight is way off, you can move the dot to change how it balances. If the wheel had crust or wasn't properly secured to the balancing machine, it could also effect the balance.

I would wonder about a chain store who put clip on weights on a $40k upper trim vehicle. It might be worth while to find a good shop to rebalance the tires and check the alignment.

 

I've heard the yellow dot should go by the valve stem, and the red dot away. But then what happens when there is only a white dot on some tires or no dot at all. Personally I've never noticed much of a difference on some tires no matter where the dots were. Might be some sort of conspiracy to confuse everyone

 

Or perhaps it has to do with which side of the Mason Dixon your on. Kind of like how water swirls backwards in australia.

 

The balance dot really doesn't matter if your using a computer spin balancer. I just use it as a starting point. Find a shop that has a Hunter GSP9700 road force balancer. This machine can be a useful tool in finding the optimum tire/rim combination. Often times the optimum match isn't anywhere near the "balance dot". Also, every tire manufacturer isn't on the same page when it comes to the "dot". Some have one dot, some no dots, some two or three dots. Also, some wheel manufacturers use a paint dot or sticker to mark the wheel, while some mark it with the valve stem hole.

 

I have been jacking up all of my ford trucks for years under the king pin/i beam and never had a problem. You also have to consider the tire pressure sensor when you balance the tire, they should be opposite from the fill valve. I had my tires balanced a couple of weeks ago and they were taking a lot of weight so they put those flat wieghts inside the rim and balanced them from the center, they seem to be o.k., no vibrations.

 

I'm not sure I get what you are saying. The tire pressure sensors attach to the valve stem.

 

I thought Ford used a band style sensor. That's what the one on my fusion looked like anyway. However my Suburban had a sensor that was part of the valve stem.

 

Can you use balancing powder or beads with the TPMS?

The pull to the right is probably radial pull. Some new tires pull to one side due to misalignment of the bands inside the tread. Your tire store needs to identify the tire that is bad and replace it.

If you want to check for yourself, first swap the two front tires (left to right) and take a test drive. Is it pulling the other way? If so, it's the front tire in the direction of the pull. If not, then swap the rears left to right and take another drive. Same rules apply.

If the pull doesn't change, it isn't the tires.

 

The TPMS sensors in the Ford trucks are banded to the wheel and generally are 180 degrees from the valve stem. You should not use balancing powders, fix-a-flat, etc. in vehicles with TPMS sensors.

 

Interesting. I have not seen one of these yet. Most of the ones (other makes, GM, Mercedes) I've seen were the ones as part of the valve stem. Learn something new every day.

 

Pepsibob,
Good info for us consumers. I agree with the video 100% but i also believe that tire age alone doesn't "always" play a factor. I believe overall tire construction (meaning process of making the tire) has as much if not more in the role of a defective tire. I think what needs to be done is the DOT should step-up and put more stringent rules on the manufacturers quality control systems but with all the political red tape and the economy im sure it won't get any better. I learned about the tire date coding a few years back and have seen "new" tires break apart for no unseen reason. Believe it or not up untill 2 years ago the rear tires on my 67 ford conv. were replaced after 22 years. The tires were Sonic "Maxima" G60 bias-ply's. I only used the car in the summer months (maybe 4 months out of the year) The conv. also sat in the garage for over 10 yrs (was rolled out each year during a very slow resto) total aprox. mileage was about 25k. The tires (which i still have and to this day) have no visual dry rot whatsoever, still have a fair amount of tread and i don't think i ever put more than 2-4 psi in each tire over it's entire life. The only reason i replaced: finally realized there "could" be a safety factor issue (stupid me).

Sorry guys for the long post and off the subject abit.
THANKS

 

My truck has the banded sensors also. When the guy at the tire shop went to balance the tires, they were taking over 4 oz. of weights so he put the stick on weights on the back side of the rim in the center and they did not take as much. If you have tires that came with heavy tread they need to be balanced after a lot of it wears off. I don't know why, but ford recommends that the sensors be placed opposite the fill valve, probabaly so you can locate them when you have to re-scan them into the computer. I saw that video a while back, supposedly firestone skips a step when manufacturing the tire and that causes tread failure