Hampshire wheel balancing recommendation?

[jeremy156]

I'm hoping someone can recommend a place in the Hampshire area that'll do a proper job at balancing my wheels.

I had Michelin Primacy HP tyres fitted by eTyres with their wobbly wheel balancer on the van and felt vibration at speed. Having had bad luck in the past I decided to take the car to someone with their balancer bolted to the floor and made the mistake of choosing National Tyres (first I came to) who made lots of noise about how badly eTyres had balanced them, re-fitted weights but to no benefit at all.

I then found a local independent place who said they'd get it smooth for me but even after they've done it twice (with some surprise it seems) they're still bad. At 70mph I'm getting a vibration in the steering wheel that's significant enough to make me concerned the shock absorbers are working overtime, quite aside from the lack of ride comfort.

So.... what to do next....? All of these places had fairly basic looking wheel balancing machines - I know it's not as simple as having a big complex modern looking machine because they could also be used lazily, but does anyone know of a place that'll take the time to get it perfectly balanced and not just rush it through?

When watching one type spin I am sure the tyre surface isn't perfectly round, I wonder if it needs to be broken away and re-fitted, not just loaded with weights?

Anyway, any recommendation of a place that'll do the job properly would be appreciated - preferably near Southampton, Hampshire, but will travel.

 

[Howard]

Couldn't be a damaged wheel could it instead of a tyre ?

 

[jeremy156]

Possible I guess - although a quick visual check showed no damage to the inner or outer edges of any of the wheel rims. My office mate here just suggested checking the wheel bearings too - something he said he'd heard of as a problem with Fords some time ago - although my wheel shake appears to occur only above 60mph and I'd assume a knackared bearing would be noticable at all speeds.....???

 

[Burger]

Not sure if it's Hampshire but get your car to Racing Green Cars. They're a Jaguar/TVR specialist really but they have extremely sophisticated alignment/balancing equipment and know how to use it. It is entirely possible you have a tyre that simply cannot be balanced due to a manufacturing fault or something. I cannot recommend RGC highly enough. They're just south of Camberley.

 

[Burger]

Here's a URL for RGC. Racing Green Cars - Jaguar and TVR specialists for South East England

The other place that's always given me excellent service is Micheldever Tyres. Micheldever Tyre & Auto Services

Micheldever have always beaten anywhere else on price and choice and always given me great service.

 

[jeremy156]

Thanks Dave, I've used Micheldever in the past and been happy enough there, I think I'll forget eTyres and use them next time.... meanwhile a phone call to your RGC recommendation seems a sensible move, I'll report back.

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
Are you having the rear wheels done as well?
I,m in Southampton as well, I have used Micheldever mainly because of their tyre prices and the fact that they do four wheel alignment.
I am now using County Tyres in the West Quay Ind. Estate by the Rank Hovis Dock Gate (forget its gate number now), as their tyre prices are very good, four wheel alignment as I said, I have never had any reason to go back to them, so they must be doing the wheel balancing ok too.

 

[ShinyF1]

Micheldever for me last time I needed proper wheel alignment - new castor bolts and a car transformed. Good price too.

 

[Mercington]

Well if you're heading up to Surrey, I can recommend Merrow Tyres in Farnham, Dogflud Way - 01252 724209.

I'm slightly biased as it's run by a good mate of mine, but he also has a full 4 wheel alignment machine and some decent balancers, more importantly, he knows how to use the stuff.

While your there, ask him about wheel balancing in vans impossible to do if the machine isn't fixed down firmly to the floor..

It's also not unknown for wheels to be out of balance before the tyres are even fitted, but this is normally more likely on cheap aftermarket wheels, so I'm assuming you have pukka Merc wheels?

To be totally unbiased I've also heard good things about Micheldever, but I've never used them for obvious reasons..

 

[jeremy156]

I went to Racing Green Cars and I honestly couldn't recommend them highly enough. Quite apart from spending an hour nosing around a lovely collection of E-types and TVRs (and an old SL280 hiding upstairs), their customer service is excellent. Imagine kwik-fit taking your car for a test drive to verify the vibration is gone....? No, me neither.

They have a Hunter balancing machine with a roller to simulate the road, so it doesn't just get "balance", it also measures roundness - I understand that they re-mounted one of the tyres rotated a little further around to make it more round when re-assembled.... that's the sort of attention to detail I was looking for.

No hesitation to use them again, thoroughly recommended at £20+VAT per corner.

 

[Burger]

Excellent news Jeremy. Thanks for posting back on it. I didn't think you'd be disappointed at all but wasn't sure if they'd be happy to work on a Merc. Great to hear they are because I honestly don't know anywhere better.

Regards,

 

[s500colin]

Did I not read somewhere Micheldever Tyres was sold a few months ago
Are they still as good ?
Anybody used the recently ?

 

[abecketts]

Just wondering if Olly @ PCS does that kind of thing he's somewhere in Hampshire