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RGordon
09-02-2008, 04:40 PM
I removed all four Goodyear 17.5 H Rated tires and had them balanced, using stick on weights. The tires took 6 oz; 4.5 oz; 3.5 oz and 1.5 ounces.
The tires that took 6 and 4.5 ounces was on door side. This explains why my dining room light fixture supports broke. I would highly recommend that you get your tires balanced. This would have caused excessive dipping and premature shock wear if I had ignored it. It was a good workout to remove the 100+ lb tires and take them to Goodyear and reinstall them.

bstark
09-02-2008, 09:33 PM
Ron, those big Goodyears commonly require a lot of weight to balance according to the tire tech that I deal with here. I maintain they shouldn't leave the factory without being balanced.

RodeWorthy
09-03-2008, 08:17 PM
I had our wheels balanced by the same method right after we took delivery. We have the full aluminum wheel spare and I unfortunately neglected to get it balanced too. Don't forget that one.

I will want to rotate the tires so will need to get that spare balanced too.

I can't say enough about how smooth our MS pulls with no sign of stress in the interior. The axles are a big part of that but I think the wheel balance is an important factor too.

wingnut60
09-03-2008, 10:49 PM
Would like to mention that the 17.5" Michelin XTA tires I just got took max of 3.0 oz to balance. The tire guy said there was a "area on the tire when matched with the stem area, would reduce the amount of weights needed"
Not sure if he was correct, but I was happy that these big tires only took small amount of correction.

Joe

bstark
09-04-2008, 08:25 AM
Joe: The fellow I deal with explained all tires have an "overlap of plies" you can actually see on the sidewall as a slight depression and if you put that area of the tire adjacent to that depression directly opposite the stem it serves to help cancel the additional weights of each other out. Not many shops take the time or even know to do this.

wingnut60
09-04-2008, 09:10 PM
Makes sense, I guess. Many years of buying tires, never heard of this til now, and now twice. Learn something most days.

Joe

Jack in Alaska
09-25-2008, 03:07 AM
I had my tires balanced when the steel wheels were replaced with aluminum ones. MS furnished the new wheels and switch over but I had to pay for the balancing. Not a big charge and it eliminated a lot of interior vibration.

47hook
09-25-2008, 01:54 PM
This past summer I had the wheels replaced because the finish was coming off and the aluminum was starting to corrode. DRV coordinated with Tredit Wheels and they contacted me and made all the necessary arrangements to have the wheels replaced. Tredit even asked me to check the spare, just in case. The wheel balance was done under warranty, even though they had never been balanced. Once again, great warranty support!

Half of the miles on the MS have been done without balanced GY's. I can tell no difference; nothing really moved around in the MS under either condition and the tires are wearing true. When you think about it, with a tire weighing in at probably 100 lbs or so, 1 lb of wheel weights is only 1% of the total weight! Suprised the balancing made such a difference for RGordon. Not doubting the outcome, just suprised. I had been meaning to balance mine, but never got around to it until I needed to have the wheels replaced.