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al perna · 10-30-2013, 08:00

so I have 2 new steer Michelin's , George Morris has fixed my issue with the height adjustment . My front left was lower than the front right side . we have a 3 point leveling, and the repair was to adjust the curb side rear . I cant believe I drove the way it was , what a difference in the turns .
so my question after a 100 mile ride without balancing the tires I feel NO vibration , bounce or shimmy at all . The ride is as smooth as glass. Is this due to the tires being new, or like the Michelin man said , " we don't need to balance the tires " ??? I await the GuRu Reply's Smile

davidbrady · 10-30-2013, 14:03

Al, Do your side-vew mirrors vibrate?

cmillsap · 10-30-2013, 14:09

(10-30-2013 08:00)al perna Wrote: so I have 2 new steer Michelin's , George Morris has fixed my issue with the height adjustment . My front left was lower than the front right side . we have a 3 point leveling, and the repair was to adjust the curb side rear . I cant believe I drove the way it was , what a difference in the turns .
so my question after a 100 mile ride without balancing the tires I feel NO vibration , bounce or shimmy at all . The ride is as smooth as glass. Is this due to the tires being new, or like the Michelin man said , " we don't need to balance the tires " ??? I await the GuRu Reply's

Al,

Where did you have the new tires installed? Are you sure that they didn't balance them? Most tire places automatically assume you want them balanced.

All wheels should be balanced as the rim could be unbalanced as well as the tire. Although Centramatic balancers are an easy way to keep your tires balanced; weight balancing when installing new tires works just as well and is a lot cheaper.

al perna · 10-30-2013, 20:59

Chuck ,

The tires were installed at RATS last week . Snyder Tire a very reputable tire dealer installed close to 50 or so tires during the week . I must tell you Chuck when I inquired about Balancing we were all informed it was not necessary ??

Now Chuck , I have so far driven 400 miles without balancing and there is not even a slight vibration on the wheel . I know you might call me crazy but I plan to do a little experiment for all of us BB owners Smile

I WILL NOT BALANCE MY TIRES . I will report feel and take a picture every week , this will be around a 1000 miles @ week . this coming Sunday Nov 3 rd I will have 1,400 miles on these unbalanced tires . This should be a good starting point .

My feeling is without any true mileage to report , how can we know for sure if Balancing the tires is really needed . If I am wrong I will ask Snyder to assist in buying me a new set of tires at RATS next year , "IF THEY LAST THAT LONG " that should be about 45,000 miles or so Smile

davidbrady · 10-30-2013, 21:27

Al,

My test is whether the side-view mirrors vibrate. Mine are rock steady. I once had a tire shop damage one of my steer axle Centramatics. The firt thing I noticed was vibrating mirrors. As Chuck said, the tires may not need balancing but the drums, wheels, and hubs might. If you ever replace the drums be sure to buy the BX suffixed drums - these are the balanced drums.

Shops damaging Centramatics is why my next coach won't have them - I'll use Equal instead.

al perna · 10-30-2013, 21:54

David ,

I will check them on tomorrows ride . I want to do the other 6 in Michelin's soon . I wish we had the time for test rides , that would have been a sure way to grade the quality of the ride .

I just cant help but to think these balancing options are not really needed . I keep hearing of tire blow out due to poorly installed balancing products .

Robert Britton · 10-31-2013, 02:28

(10-30-2013 21:27)davidbrady Wrote: Shops damaging Centramatics is why my next coach won't have them - I'll use Equal instead.

I've had some problems using Equal too. We used it in our fire apparatus, even with the proper valve core installed it was not uncommon to have air leaks at the valve after checking tire pressure, with no way of stopping it other than changing out with a new valve core. The department stopped using it for that reason and we started running unbalanced tires. Never really a problem as we did little highway driving...but when we did I could usually feel some "wobble" at highway speeds.

tcandt · 10-31-2013, 14:44

(10-31-2013 02:28)Robert Britton Wrote:
(10-30-2013 21:27)davidbrady Wrote: Shops damaging Centramatics is why my next coach won't have them - I'll use Equal instead.

I've had some problems using Equal too. We used it in our fire apparatus, even with the proper valve core installed it was not uncommon to have air leaks at the valve after checking tire pressure, with no way of stopping it other than changing out with a new valve core. The department stopped using it for that reason and we started running unbalanced tires. Never really a problem as we did little highway driving...but when we did I could usually feel some "wobble" at highway speeds.

I just had a tire deflate when parked and the bead come off the wheel when moving into a service bay with Equal. The valve (special Equal filtered valve, stuck open enough to deflate the tire and the scrubbing of tight turns finished the job. I replaced valves in all 8 wheels. My new front 365 Michelins also had Equal against my better judgement. That was all the tire shop used and I did not want to go unbalanced. My last coach I switched to beads from Equal when I re-shod with new tires. I guess they all have pros and cons.

dentmac · 10-31-2013, 14:57

The 450 with disk brakes seems to have no clearance issues.
Ross

(10-31-2013 14:44)tcandt Wrote:
(10-31-2013 02:28)Robert Britton Wrote:
(10-30-2013 21:27)davidbrady Wrote: Shops damaging Centramatics is why my next coach won't have them - I'll use Equal instead.

I've had some problems using Equal too. We used it in our fire apparatus, even with the proper valve core installed it was not uncommon to have air leaks at the valve after checking tire pressure, with no way of stopping it other than changing out with a new valve core. The department stopped using it for that reason and we started running unbalanced tires. Never really a problem as we did little highway driving...but when we did I could usually feel some "wobble" at highway speeds.

I just had a tire deflate when parked and the bead come off the wheel when moving into a service bay with Equal. The valve (special Equal filtered valve, stuck open enough to deflate the tire and the scrubbing of tight turns finished the job. I replaced valves in all 8 wheels. My new front 365 Michelins also had Equal against my better judgement. That was all the tire shop used and I did not want to go unbalanced. My last coach I switched to beads from Equal when I re-shod with new tires. I guess they all have pros and cons.

al perna · 10-31-2013, 18:49

ok , we are up to 700 miles , ride is smooth as glass . The ride could be no better , why add something known to fail ? I just don t see it .

Is it possible , as the tire wears the ride quality will decrease due to un balanced tires ? that could be ? does someone have any road data on unbalanced tires ? that would be someone other than a vendor lol