Tire balance

[Auburn]

I just read it. I do have my own static balancer, and I could have purchased the tire online for about $30 cheaper, I just didn't have the time to mess with it. Now that has bitten me and I'm messing with it anyway. I am going to look into a changer, in the past I did it with two LARGE screwdrivers and it worked, but I risk damaging a wheel and I didn't want to do that either.

Changers are kind of spendy. I have a Derek Weaver pneumatic tire machine ($1100 delivered). But I do a lot of tires. I had a No-Mar (was about $750) and there is a budget model (I forget what they call it - also made by No-Mar) that is pretty good. Some have the Harbor Freight, but the issue with that one is getting it to grip the rim well enough to lever tires on and off.

 

[DennisJ]

Cycle Hill is the low cost NoMar Changer brand.

 

[Donal]

Try No scuff Tire Tool for the cheap but effective option.

 

[Jer]

I did miss that, but I will look back at it. Did you have the bounce at 28-30mph as well or just the vibes at higher speeds? I'll have to look back at your posting.

Only noticeable at freeway speeds and above. 65 in Oregon. It was annoying.

 

[kleake]

Cycle gear ordered me a new tire and I will be dropping it off for the swap tomorrow, but I did a little testing when I dismounted it. I have a balancer (that I should have used before mounting it on the bike) and found the assembly to be just shy of 1oz out of balance. Not bad, and really shouldn't be enough to be noticeable, especially at 30mph. When rotating the wheel you can see just a very slight up and down movement. Again, very minor, maybe 1/16th of an inch. On my old PR2 that did this, there was no noticeable movement and the balance was spot on, but when loaded, it was VERY noticeable on the bike. I will post up the results after I get the new one back on.

 

[Harald]

Good point, I will check, however it looked ok as I did a quick spin when I put it on. I would think 42psi and about 90mph would have taken care of that though. lol

I can tell you from experience that a tire that's not fully seated will not move with 42 psi and 90 mph. I've had a tire with insufficient lube not fully seat with 70 psi applied. And once the bead is set it won't move. That's why it's important to fully lube the bead area before seating the tire and then check for even seating afterward.

 

[kleake]

I forgot to mention, I did check the bead before taking it off the bike, and again while it was on my balancer. The bead appears to be seated perfectly. I have a little rod that checks runout and such while spinning it. The little line right by the bead had no visible movement while rotating the tire. However, right at the lettering just by the edge of the tread, I could see just a little dip. It was minor enough that I couldn't pinpoint the spot, but with it spinning you could see it. I'm still leaning towards a faulty tire, even though it is only very very minor by physically looking at it. The ultimate test would be a machine where the weight of the bike is on the tire, but it is spinning similar to a dyno, and watch for any movement then. It sounds like I am just being picky, but knowing what my old PR2 did, this is the same thing only a tad less extreme.

 

[kleake]

My local CG is starting to really irritate me. The first time they said they would have my tire done by 5, I got there at 6 and it hadn't been touched and I had to wait while the tire guy got back to the store and did mine, making me late for an appointment with my sons military recruiter. When I called and explained to them about the issue, they wanted me to BUY another tire, then they would send this one back to the mfg to see if it was really defective. This really irritates me as it is less than a week old, and I have explained the problem and have had a previous tire do exactly the same thing, but yet they don't want to warranty it. After some firm but polite discussion, they decided to get me a tire ordered. NOW, when they called me to tell me the replacement tire was in I explained that I would drop it off on my lunch hour and pick it up after work around 5:30 and that it was important that it was finished that day, or I would wait until it could be done in 1 day. They said no problem and it should be ready, but when I dropped it off, the guy acts like he has no idea what I am talking about because that IS a new tire he just put on the week before and has no time for it and he has 5 other tires in front of mine. I quickly explain the situation (since he had several customers around) and that the girl that called me said it shouldn't be a problem and that is WHY I went ahead and brought it in that day. Well, I get there at 6 and there it sets, same place it was when I left it on my lunch hour, same as what happened the first time I brought it in. The guy says he has 5 other tires in front of it and he can't get to it. Didn't he say he had 5 in front of it when I dropped it off? I am irritated at this point, but politely explain the situation and that this is a warranty tire from last week, and that I had to wait for it last time while the guy did it. Then he says the guy that does tires is already gone for the day. I'm getting really frustrated at this point because not only was they late the first time, but then they didn't want to order the replacement tire, then we agreed on a time for me to bring it in and they fail to have it finished AGAIN. I realize this is a retail type store, but that's 2 promised times that were missed, and they put the warranty issue at the back of the line and don't seem to really care. The thing that really makes me mad is that if I push to get it done, they are likely going to be carless and in a hurry and might end up scratching or messing up my rim. I told myself the last time I had a tire done there that I wouldn't do it again, but here I am, doing it again and having even bigger problems. Anywhere, that's where it stands for the moment, I guess I'll find out the latest issue when I get there at my lunch time. But if it's not ready, I will likely just have them pull the tire off and refund my money. It would have saved me over $60 to order it online and install it myself. I was willing to pay that much to save me the hassle and time, but at this point, it's a bigger hassle and taken even more time.

Sorry about the venting, but this kind of customer service just irritates me to no end!

 

[Auburn]

My local CG is starting to really irritate me. The first time they said they would have my tire done by 5, I got there at 6 and it hadn't been touched and I had to wait while the tire guy got back to the store and did mine, making me late for an appointment with my sons military recruiter. When I called and explained to them about the issue, they wanted me to BUY another tire, then they would send this one back to the mfg to see if it was really defective. This really irritates me as it is less than a week old, and I have explained the problem and have had a previous tire do exactly the same thing, but yet they don't want to warranty it. After some firm but polite discussion, they decided to get me a tire ordered. NOW, when they called me to tell me the replacement tire was in I explained that I would drop it off on my lunch hour and pick it up after work around 5:30 and that it was important that it was finished that day, or I would wait until it could be done in 1 day. They said no problem and it should be ready, but when I dropped it off, the guy acts like he has no idea what I am talking about because that IS a new tire he just put on the week before and has no time for it and he has 5 other tires in front of mine. I quickly explain the situation (since he had several customers around) and that the girl that called me said it shouldn't be a problem and that is WHY I went ahead and brought it in that day. Well, I get there at 6 and there it sets, same place it was when I left it on my lunch hour, same as what happened the first time I brought it in. The guy says he has 5 other tires in front of it and he can't get to it. Didn't he say he had 5 in front of it when I dropped it off? I am irritated at this point, but politely explain the situation and that this is a warranty tire from last week, and that I had to wait for it last time while the guy did it. Then he says the guy that does tires is already gone for the day. I'm getting really frustrated at this point because not only was they late the first time, but then they didn't want to order the replacement tire, then we agreed on a time for me to bring it in and they fail to have it finished AGAIN. I realize this is a retail type store, but that's 2 promised times that were missed, and they put the warranty issue at the back of the line and don't seem to really care. The thing that really makes me mad is that if I push to get it done, they are likely going to be carless and in a hurry and might end up scratching or messing up my rim. I told myself the last time I had a tire done there that I wouldn't do it again, but here I am, doing it again and having even bigger problems. Anywhere, that's where it stands for the moment, I guess I'll find out the latest issue when I get there at my lunch time. But if it's not ready, I will likely just have them pull the tire off and refund my money. It would have saved me over $60 to order it online and install it myself. I was willing to pay that much to save me the hassle and time, but at this point, it's a bigger hassle and taken even more time.
Sorry about the venting, but this kind of customer service just irritates me to no end!

Wow. Have you talked with the store manager? Your experience sure makes me happy I have a tire machine of my own. It is waiting for me any time I am ready.

 

[kleake]

I have seriously considered a changer, but I only do tires about once a year even though I have 3 bikes. The KLR I just do it the old fashioned way with long pry bars, haven't worn out the factory set on the Raider yet, but I'm going on the 4th set on the FJR. The NoMar is definitely tempting.

 

[Auburn]

I have seriously considered a changer, but I only do tires about once a year even though I have 3 bikes. The KLR I just do it the old fashioned way with long pry bars, haven't worn out the factory set on the Raider yet, but I'm going on the 4th set on the FJR. The NoMar is definitely tempting.

the Clyde-Hill change is made by NO-Mar and a little less. might be a good option

 

[rocketman0]

It was something similar to your experience that

My local CG is starting to really irritate me. The first time they said they would have my tire done by 5, I got there at 6 and it hadn't been touched and I had to wait while the tire guy got back to the store and did mine, making me late for an appointment with my sons military recruiter. When I called and explained to them about the issue, they wanted me to BUY another tire, then they would send this one back to the mfg to see if it was really defective. This really irritates me as it is less than a week old, and I have explained the problem and have had a previous tire do exactly the same thing, but yet they don't want to warranty it. After some firm but polite discussion, they decided to get me a tire ordered. NOW, when they called me to tell me the replacement tire was in I explained that I would drop it off on my lunch hour and pick it up after work around 5:30 and that it was important that it was finished that day, or I would wait until it could be done in 1 day. They said no problem and it should be ready, but when I dropped it off, the guy acts like he has no idea what I am talking about because that IS a new tire he just put on the week before and has no time for it and he has 5 other tires in front of mine. I quickly explain the situation (since he had several customers around) and that the girl that called me said it shouldn't be a problem and that is WHY I went ahead and brought it in that day. Well, I get there at 6 and there it sets, same place it was when I left it on my lunch hour, same as what happened the first time I brought it in. The guy says he has 5 other tires in front of it and he can't get to it. Didn't he say he had 5 in front of it when I dropped it off? I am irritated at this point, but politely explain the situation and that this is a warranty tire from last week, and that I had to wait for it last time while the guy did it. Then he says the guy that does tires is already gone for the day. I'm getting really frustrated at this point because not only was they late the first time, but then they didn't want to order the replacement tire, then we agreed on a time for me to bring it in and they fail to have it finished AGAIN. I realize this is a retail type store, but that's 2 promised times that were missed, and they put the warranty issue at the back of the line and don't seem to really care. The thing that really makes me mad is that if I push to get it done, they are likely going to be carless and in a hurry and might end up scratching or messing up my rim. I told myself the last time I had a tire done there that I wouldn't do it again, but here I am, doing it again and having even bigger problems. Anywhere, that's where it stands for the moment, I guess I'll find out the latest issue when I get there at my lunch time. But if it's not ready, I will likely just have them pull the tire off and refund my money. It would have saved me over $60 to order it online and install it myself. I was willing to pay that much to save me the hassle and time, but at this point, it's a bigger hassle and taken even more time.
Sorry about the venting, but this kind of customer service just irritates me to no end!

Wow. Have you talked with the store manager? Your experience sure makes me happy I have a tire machine of my own. It is waiting for me any time I am ready.

My local CG is starting to really irritate me. The first time they said they would have my tire done by 5, I got there at 6 and it hadn't been touched and I had to wait while the tire guy got back to the store and did mine, making me late for an appointment with my sons military recruiter. When I called and explained to them about the issue, they wanted me to BUY another tire, then they would send this one back to the mfg to see if it was really defective. This really irritates me as it is less than a week old, and I have explained the problem and have had a previous tire do exactly the same thing, but yet they don't want to warranty it. After some firm but polite discussion, they decided to get me a tire ordered. NOW, when they called me to tell me the replacement tire was in I explained that I would drop it off on my lunch hour and pick it up after work around 5:30 and that it was important that it was finished that day, or I would wait until it could be done in 1 day. They said no problem and it should be ready, but when I dropped it off, the guy acts like he has no idea what I am talking about because that IS a new tire he just put on the week before and has no time for it and he has 5 other tires in front of mine. I quickly explain the situation (since he had several customers around) and that the girl that called me said it shouldn't be a problem and that is WHY I went ahead and brought it in that day. Well, I get there at 6 and there it sets, same place it was when I left it on my lunch hour, same as what happened the first time I brought it in. The guy says he has 5 other tires in front of it and he can't get to it. Didn't he say he had 5 in front of it when I dropped it off? I am irritated at this point, but politely explain the situation and that this is a warranty tire from last week, and that I had to wait for it last time while the guy did it. Then he says the guy that does tires is already gone for the day. I'm getting really frustrated at this point because not only was they late the first time, but then they didn't want to order the replacement tire, then we agreed on a time for me to bring it in and they fail to have it finished AGAIN. I realize this is a retail type store, but that's 2 promised times that were missed, and they put the warranty issue at the back of the line and don't seem to really care. The thing that really makes me mad is that if I push to get it done, they are likely going to be carless and in a hurry and might end up scratching or messing up my rim. I told myself the last time I had a tire done there that I wouldn't do it again, but here I am, doing it again and having even bigger problems. Anywhere, that's where it stands for the moment, I guess I'll find out the latest issue when I get there at my lunch time. But if it's not ready, I will likely just have them pull the tire off and refund my money. It would have saved me over $60 to order it online and install it myself. I was willing to pay that much to save me the hassle and time, but at this point, it's a bigger hassle and taken even more time.
Sorry about the venting, but this kind of customer service just irritates me to no end!

I had similar experience with other stores and I ended up getting a complete Nomar tire changer with balancer, some extra tools, tire valves, wheel weights etc... for about $1000 and do it myself, even though I use it may be once every other year. I figured $1000 to rid of frustration and upsets is well worth it.

 

[kleake]

Very good point FNG, and I agree... I usually only go to CG when there is a sale on something I need, which is rare. It feels like I'm going into Autozone when I go in there.

I'll look into that Clyde-Hill changer.

 

[luvtoride]

Watch those friggin Cycle Gear people. I've had them balance a new tire without removing the old weights first. From now on I will be sure that I remove the weights myself.

 

[kleake]

Well, I went by to pick it up and it was ready. All was peaceful and I talked to the guy for a few minutes about what he found, and he said he couldn't find anything wrong, but understood what I was telling him and said it does happen rarely. So he starts doing the paperwork and mentions "Warranty normally doesn't cover labor, but i'll waive it this time."..... I pause for a minute trying to decide if I should just say ok, or if I should say something else. I mean,,,,, REALLY???? I just bought this tire last week and you are considering it a favor to not charge me labor,,,, like it was MY fault??? Do you really think I would be in here having you SWAP a tire when I already have a NEW tire mounted??? Like I'm going to say, oh, I don't like this new tire, let me have that one over there, it's prettier..... I decide to just say nothing and wait for him to finish. He NEVER apologizes for not having it done, or any of the problems, etc, etc, basically making me feel as if I was just throwing a fit for nothing. Anyway, all ended quietly and I head out to put it in the truck and I notice,,,,, "Damn,,, he left the sticky tape on from the 5 weights he had just taken off!!!!" They did this the first time and I blew it off and just peeled it off myself, but after all of this??? It took 2 weights to balance this one, and he left a strip of sticky tape on my wheel!!!! I'm just floored!!! I inspect the wheel and I'll be damned if there isn't more marks on my wheel where they clamped it up and evidently slid it across their machine. While the marks aren't all that bad, the fact that they are there at all really is the issue. If these were custom cruiser wheels or something, it could have just gotten expensive! I'm smoking mad again and tempted to go back in there, but I know this won't do any good, so I'm going to take this one home and put it on my balancer and see what it looks like. Since I didn't get it back yesterday, and I'm heading out of town tonight, I won't get to mount it back on the bike until next week. I am going to chat with their customer service though, because this whole fiasco has been horrible........ Funny, this thread started as a tire balance issue to a bad tire issue, and has switched to a rant about CG! I just went in there for a new tire...........

 

[HotRodZilla]

How did anyone determine that tire was bad and not just out of balance? I've gone through lots of MC tires and never had a bad one. I've had one out of balance from CycleGear that they failed to balance twice, and one throw the weights that I helped stick on. With vehicle tires, I've only ever had ONE out of round tire that was a 35" BFG on my truck. I burn through 2 sets of tires per year on my unit; everything from Firestone Firehawks, GoodYear RSA's, General POS whatever those are. SUV tires, and Z rated tires on the Mustang I used to have.

Only one bad tire in all this time, yet one guy gets two bad tires in a couple year's time? Me thinks it was an out of balance tire that wasn't properly checked and ASSUMED it was bad.

Personally, I would NEVER pay anyone to do something that I can do myself.

 

[kleake]

I am with ya HotRodZilla, I usually do ALL of my own work. I even rebuild automatic transmissions on the side and there isn't anything I won't do as long as I have a tool or can make a tool to do it. Unfortunately I have been completely swamped lately so I figured I would save some time and have it done. Absolutely the last time I will do that, at least if I am able.

As for 2 tires being bad, the first one, a PR2 about 2 years ago and was rebalanced twice. It continued to have a bounce at 25-30mph and as soon as I had it replaced, it was butter smooth again, just like the factory tire. The PR3 was butter smooth all the way until it was smooth, I put a PR4 in place of it and the bounce is back at 30mph, and seems out of balance above 65ish. I checked the bead, as well as checked the balance on my balancer and it's maybe 1/2 an ounce out. While I could see a balance issue cause the high speed vibe, it wouldn't cause the issue at 30mph. I noticed the high speed vibe on my first ride, but didn't notice the bounce until I was trying to sort on the issue and was rolling along in traffic. Since I've had the same problem on a PR2, I recognized the exact same bounce. So while I do agree it is highly unlikely that a single person would be lucky enough to get 2 bad tires, I do believe I have. In all honesty, the bounce in this one seems less than the PR2 did, but at higher speeds, the vibe gets progressively worse the faster you go.

Edit: On a good note, the online chat person is relaying this to the regional manager to give me a call.

 

[kleake]

Mounted the wheel back on the bike last night and the ride to work this morning was perfect. No bounce at 30mph and no shake/vibration at any speeds I tried. I even left it 1/4oz off, the way I got it from CG just to see if I could feel it and nope, smooth as can be. I did mark the spot where the 1/4oz will go just to make it perfect if needed but it's 100% better already. Even my cup holder no longer shakes. I don't know what my odds are at the lottery, but this confirmed that I have now had 2 new defective tires.... Still awaiting a call from the regional manager to discuss all of the issues I had, but at least the bike is right now.