I just got my new tires mounted and balanceed and one of hte tires displayed excessive road force to the tune of 41lbs. It also took over 3oz of weights to balance it. The other tires did not have near the problem and the rim is okay. Is this indicative of a defective tire and will it cause decreased tire life? Will it be fine to jsut go ahead and use it or will the tire have problems? Thanks guys. The tires BTW are Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S 235/45/17.

 

There are defects in the balance of all tires and rims causing them to be heavier on one side, but your case does sound excessive. Did your shop try turning the tire 180 degrees on the rim to see if that would move the heavier side of the tire to the lighter side of the rim?

If they didn't, I would go back and make them try that. I had a wheel and tire do that and my local shop (Twin City Tire) tried every 90 degrees until they found the best balance for that tire and wheel, then they added weight to finish the balance.

If the wheel/tire combo is still showing that much road force, then you definately have a bad wheel or tire, or both. The best way to find the culprit would be to switch tires with another wheel and see if the road force problem follows the tire or the wheel. If it follows the wheel, then the wheel is bad even if you can't see that it is out-of-round!

Nick

 

Thanks for the info! I will definitely bring it back in and switch the tire out to see if its the rim, the tire, or just the positioning of the tire on the rim.

 

Depending on the equipment they were using, turning the tire may make no improvement. The Hunter machine we use at work will have you measure the rim runout and then tell you where to move the tire for the best match. With 41lbs it's going to be hard to bring that wheel into spec. We allow 15lb Max for our cars. More than likely you will have a vibration in that wheel similar to an out of balance condition. I would contact the tire supplier and see if you can exchange that tire for another one. Other than that you could put that tire on the most out of balance rim, then they may be able to cancel some of the tires imbalance with the rim.

 

I took it back and they got it down to 23lbs. It still took abou 3oz of weight to balance it. I am not sure the guy knew what he was doing though.

 

3oz of weight is still alot. Assuming you bought the wheels or tires there, follow Nick's advice and figure out which is the culprit and exchange through that shop. Once you sign and drive away you've lost your leverage.