Here is a very informative video on how the Hunter Road Force Balance is done.


You can see why some places like Discount Tire have the machine but only use it for spin balancing as the road force requires training and skill well beyond that of a spin balance.


Fast forward to 11:50


http://video.pbs.org/video/2365193612/

 

True, but EVERY time I take my cars there I have to go back to have them rebalanced after the initial balance. So now I just tell them to rotate the tires and do not balance them as they suggest when I'm do if I'm not feeling any vibes.

 

Chances are they are not doing the real Road Force Balance, as you can see from the video it would take about 30 minutes per tire as it involves mounting the tire and then rotating the tire on the wheel to find the perfect tire and wheel spot.

Even if they are doing the real Road Force you can see from the video it requires a well trained tech and patience to get it right

I asked my Discount tire and they admitted they don't even have a guy trained to use the road force and they just use the Hunter machine for a plain old spin balance

I know one garage that does the real road force and they charge $40 per tire, I watched them do one tire and it took several balances to get it correct as you have to move the tire each time.

 

Very informative. I knew long ago that tire balancing required a very careful arrangement of weights on both the inside and outside of the rim. I did not know until I watched an explanation on Goss's Garage (a weekly feature on the PBS show 'Motor Week') that road force balancing requires that the tire must be moved around the rim so that the lowest height of the tire is at the highest portion of the rim. That is a lot of work.

I would seriously doubt many tire sales retail stores would be truly proficient at road force balancing, even if they tried.

 

I record Motor Week and that is where I also first saw the AGM battery technology on Goss' garage.

I'm pretty sure most places advertise the Hunter Road Force balancer as a selling point but only use the hunter machine for spin balancing.

The one shop that I know that does a real road force is a high end private garage that also have their own racing team and that is what the Hunter Machine was designed for, high speed.

If done correctly this machine can balance the vibration felt from a small bend out of a wheel.

 

My Nissan dealer has the GSP9700. I didn't even know it until I found it on Hunter's site. What I have found is that in practice, they rarely use the road force feature unless there are problems they trying to fix.

While disappointing, it is understandable - from the standpoint of how few tires actually need anything beyond spin balancing. It is pretty hard to make much profit at $20/wheel if you have to mount the tire more than once.

My preference would be that they offer a higher priced "road force" option, which would allow them more time to fine tune the wheel/tire combo. Also keep in mind that vehicle sensitivities vary widely, according to suspension, tire aspect ratio and other factors beyond my comprehension.

A "LOT" of good info here:

http://www.barrystiretech.com/unifandbal.html

 

I'm sure if you ask they will gladly charge you labor to do a proper road force balance but as you said is it worth it.

That Garage I went to charged ~$80/hour when I had the RF balance done in 2003. They estimated each wheel took 30 minutes and thus $40 per tire

 

I was getting my RSB and rotors installed at the dealership my buddy works at and he used the road force to balance my tires (Firestone balanced it twice in the past month). It's absolutely amazing how much of a difference that makes!