Mobile Tyre Fitting - Balancing Issues

[skemball]

Having just had four Dunlops fitted by a well known mobile quick fitting company I have again suffered from poor quality wheel balancing.

Their vans seem to be equipped to only provide a hand spinning static balance of the wheel. i.e. wheel stops spinning with the heavy spot at the bottom - bang a weight on the inside rim at the top.

This does not factor for out of balance either side of the wheel mounting face and so is in my opinion a half balance - and i assume i have paid for a full blalance

£34 for valves and balancing says the invoice - which i assume is the same as what i would pay if gone to a fitting bay and given a dynamic balance

I'm waiting for them to send out someone to balance the wheels again but if the van doesnt provide dynamic balance facilities then thats wasting my time/money.

 

[Will]

Why not just pop past the actual fitting centre next time it's convenient, I'm sure they'd re-do them for you FOC

No point in doing a bad job twice?

Will

 

[st13phil]

To put it bluntly, static balancing is inappropriate for modern width (i.e. wide) wheels and tyres and you're wasting your time and money on dynamic wheel balancing done in the back of a van because the van is on springs which prevents the balancing equipment working accurately.

As Will says, pop in to a depot of the same firm and ask them to re-do it FOC.

 

[tlzeebub]

Wheel balancers onboard mobile vans work ok if they are calibrated regularly, but this doesnt seem to happen very often due to the operator not bothering to do so, also the calibration weight quite often gets lost and they are near on impossible to replace.

 

[skemball]

Thanks guys -

Yes looks like i will have to visit the local depot - good point
ST13Phil about the van and springs affecting a dynamic balance machine.

By rights they should make specific mention about the limitations on balancing with mobile fitters - but i guess most people are probably not aware/bothered whether the wheels are balanced true. Sign of the times.


I am as i do mostly motorway driving

 

[Chris Murray]

just because it's a hand spin machine doesn't mean that it doesn't dynamically balance/ Hand spin machines are usually used in mobile vans because the power demands are less, and there is no necessity for a space-occupying guard

 

[vijilants]

Having just had four Dunlops fitted by a well known mobile quick fitting company I have again suffered from poor quality wheel balancing.

Their vans seem to be equipped to only provide a hand spinning static balance of the wheel. i.e. wheel stops spinning with the heavy spot at the bottom - bang a weight on the inside rim at the top.

This does not factor for out of balance either side of the wheel mounting face and so is in my opinion a half balance - and i assume i have paid for a full blalance

£34 for valves and balancing says the invoice - which i assume is the same as what i would pay if gone to a fitting bay and given a dynamic balance

I'm waiting for them to send out someone to balance the wheels again but if the van doesnt provide dynamic balance facilities then thats wasting my time/money.

Hand spinning static wheel balancing its a total waste of time and money.

 

[ckember]

a guy at work used a mobile company and at first they didn't even balance the wheels.
He had to get them back twice to re-balance and then refit the tyres as he used the wrong ones. When He asked about the balancing he was told it would never be as good as a using the main fitting service.

I think in an emergency mobile unit are good, but always get them checked asap after. A re-balance is free if you use the same company normally.

 

[timskemp]

The fitter I've been using (crown tyre services of market weighton) has a good reputation and balances and fits properly. Maybe worth using someone else in future? Certainly I'll continue to use Crown as they're cheap, quick and convenient!

 

[rf065]

just because it's a hand spin machine doesn't mean that it doesn't dynamically balance/ Hand spin machines are usually used in mobile vans because the power demands are less, and there is no necessity for a space-occupying guard

I've used E-Tyres.co.uk twice now, and had them fitted at home, I have never had a problem with any of the wheels needing rebalanced.
I've had plenty problems with tyre depots in the past, usually the ones who employ 17 year olds and pay them peanuts. If the guy on the machine doesn't care, then it doen't matter what type of wheel balancer he uses.

Russ

 

[Number_Cruncher]

Murray Systems has it right IMO.

Hand spun machines can do both static and dynamic balancing (i.e. both heavy spot and front/rear imbalance).

Although they are hand spun, and don't rotate the wheel as quickly as a motor driven machine, a hand spun machine doesn't have as much motor/bearing/drive belt noise contaminating the signals which are used to calculate the balance weight sizes and locations. These hand spun machines can be sufficiently accurate to do a good job.

As ever, the caveat is that all balancing machines need to be well calibrated, and used intelligently to get good results.

However, if the machine used was purely being used to find the heavy spot (i.e., static balance only), then, I'm in agreement with many posters - it's simply unacceptable for tyres any wider than those on a 2CV!

 

[skemball]

I had them come back and re-balance a second time. They did apply adhesive weights this time in the cut out areas between the spokes but i suspect this was just for appearance sake as its not improved the in-balance problem.

My wheels are true and never been kerbed so i guess i will have to take it into a centre for another balance.

 

[television]

I picked a broken balancer made by "Wheelforce" this morning,, fixed it in 10 mins, but cant take it back till the morning, otherwise I cant charge much, so I will have a play this evening.

 

[SimonsMerc]

cant take it back till the morning, otherwise I cant charge much

:-(

Whatever happened to an honest day's wage for an honest day's work?