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A Mechanic's Life - Tales From Under the Hood

2845 messages,  Last post on May 21, 2013 at 12:38 PM

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Messages Page 62 of 286

#603 of 2845 Re: Why is getting wheels balanced so difficult??? [oldbearcat] by stickguy

Dec 04, 2012 (9:45 pm)

Replying to: oldbearcat (Dec 04, 2012 9:31 pm)
My guess, a combination of poorly trained low paid techs, the need to get them done quick, and the ever increasing size and weight of the wheels/tires all come into play.

#604 of 2845 Things that are out of balance by thecardoc3

Dec 05, 2012 (7:11 am)

My guess, a combination of poorly trained low paid techs, the need to get them done quick, and the ever increasing size and weight of the wheels/tires all come into play.
 
Many of the chain stores pay their techs an hourly wage, plus a bonus based on productivity. Then they turn around and exclude some items from the list from which they accumulate productivity. Guess what one of those items is?
 
In essence, the techs are "punished" for doing tires, unless they upsell other services from the tire replacement. Then in the case like bearcat, since techs are not paid for a "comeback", they are in effect punished again. The only recourse is for the techs to minimize the personal financial hit by not being paid for installing tires and that happens with speed. When everything goes correctly, nobody else cares what actually happened inside the shop.
 
Now as far as balancing the tires, there are problems with some wheels on some balancing machines. The wheels have to center correctly in order for the machine to be accurate and many manufacturers have an uncanny ability to make sure their wheels don't mount up without specific adapters. My machine (Snap-On) doesn't do a lot of the 3/4ton truck wheels as easily as it does any car steel wheel. Some of the Jeep mag wheels force me to be very creative in double, and triple checking the wheel/tire assembly which often means that I have to spin it to measure it out, add the weights to balance the assembly and re-spin it to check it. The I have to break it loose, turn it on the spindle and then tighten it up and re-check it again. There have been a number of times that I have found that I have to use different adapters between individual wheels from one car. If the wheel is balanced correctly, I should be able to take it loose, reposition it, and tighten it back up and end up with "0's" again.
 
The advantage for me is that I don't have to rush through a job like this. I'll take whatever time I need to and in some cases I have had to buy additional adapters for my machine.

#605 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [thecardoc3] by obyone

Dec 05, 2012 (11:47 am)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Dec 05, 2012 7:11 am)
Notice the difference?
 
Snap On
 
The competition

#606 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [obyone] by qbrozen

Dec 05, 2012 (11:52 am)

Replying to: obyone (Dec 05, 2012 11:47 am)
Hell, I use an old-school bubble balancer at home. I've mounted and balanced at least 20 sets ranging from 14" to 18" in the past few years this way without a problem. Its just what I'm used to. Its the same balancer I used back when I was 7 years old working in my dad's shop.

#607 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [qbrozen] by thecardoc3

Dec 05, 2012 (2:29 pm)

Replying to: qbrozen (Dec 05, 2012 11:52 am)
Hell, I use an old-school bubble balancer at home.
 
You would add yourself to bearcats list of people who couldn't balance his tires with that.

#608 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [obyone] by thecardoc3

Dec 05, 2012 (2:41 pm)

Replying to: obyone (Dec 05, 2012 11:47 am)
Notice the difference?
 
Yea.
 
http://www.nissantechmate.com/equipment/index.php?c=400&s=405
 
Big difference
 
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=649965&group_ID=67- 5720&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog
 
About $10,000 in difference......

#609 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [thecardoc3] by thecardoc3

Dec 05, 2012 (3:18 pm)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Dec 05, 2012 2:41 pm)
What was that I heard? You want the balance free with the tire purchase?

#610 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [thecardoc3] by xwesx

Dec 05, 2012 (3:55 pm)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Dec 05, 2012 3:18 pm)
Yep, that's it, too!
 
Most places around here do the mount/balance for about $60. The local Ford dealership charges $90 for theirs, but they also use the Hunter RF9700. What I find is that not only are the tires better balanced (although I've never had an out-of-balance that was noticeable at under 70 mph, which is where 99% of my driving occurs), but the amount of weight used to balance them seems to be considerably less. Of course, that's on the same rims, but with different tires, so the tires themselves could be the difference?
 
I'm not sure why, but for some reason that just seems worth an extra $30 to me.
 
The only thing that bugs me is that there isn't a differential rate for mounted vs. unmounted wheels (meaning on or off a vehicle). It seems to me that changing tires on rims that are mounted on a vehicle should take more time and effort than ones that are not... yet the price is the same.

#611 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [thecardoc3] by qbrozen

Dec 05, 2012 (4:14 pm)

Replying to: thecardoc3 (Dec 05, 2012 2:29 pm)
You would add yourself to bearcats list of people who couldn't balance his tires with that.
 
Probably. Sounds like his wheels and/or tires are really messed up. Luckily, all the ones I have done haven't had that problem. I even balanced out the set that the BMW dealership told me was bent. Still running them now.

#612 of 2845 Re: Things that are out of balance [xwesx] by explorerx4

Dec 05, 2012 (7:44 pm)

Replying to: xwesx (Dec 05, 2012 3:55 pm)
The tires and the wheels are not perfectly round.
I'm pretty sure the there is a way to even that out, then balance the whole thing.

Messages Page 62 of 286

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