I had a balance issue with my Duratrac 285's after about 1000 miles. At close to 60mph, it had the shakes pretty bad. Soon after, doing some routine maintenance, I decided to rotate the tires in an X pattern. Like magic, the major shakes at highway speed are gone. I didn't mess with the weights, although on one tire I want to every time I look at it.
One wheel has 4 of these lined up on the outside...

Cordrayj1,

Take it to Joe's Alignment down Savannah Hwy for the best alignment in Charleston County; they are past McDaniels Acura/Audi on the left, I think before Hankel. They will work with ya.

For James Island, the Firestone in Merchant's Village is a coin flip whether they can get it right or not, depending solely who works with the car.

I drove a 92 Chevy 1500 Reg cab shortbed with 350 V8 5 spd combo on 32's and a Lock-Rite for a few years. Man do I miss that truck sometimes.

I don't like shops driving my truck either, but I hate someone else working on my truck even worse!!!!! And I seem to have the worst luck with shops. It seems like I have to bring the truck back to the shop about 95% of the time because something isn't right.

I try to do most of my own work to my 4runner, but the few times I've brought it in to get major stuff done like engine rebuild and gears and lockers, they've fubar'd it. I had to take the truck to 4WheelFarts 4 times before they got my front locker install done correctly. And I took my truck back to the engine rebuilder 5 times (failed oil pump, valves needed to be re-adjusted, 2 rear main seals, and the last trip I made down there was to get my refund check after I threatened to sue them (which is not something I would normally do unless I was getting hosed).

I'm also seriously thinking about buying a Harbor Fright tire mounter and a bubble balancer and never paying someone to mount and balance tires for me ever again. It seems like they barely ever get them right anyways. I would trust myself with primitive tools more than a trained monkey with the latest gadget, lol.

Like I said before small shop is your best bet. There is a good chance at a small shop that you are going to deal with an owner, or partner or someone who's life is dramatically effected by the outcome of the business. There is also less of a chance that you will deal with a service writer that doesn't know ____ about a vehicle.

At your average tire store you are going to have someone driving and working on your vehicle that is very much new at mechanical work. When I started at Firestone (way back when) they show you a video and then hand you over to a bunch of bitter grumpy techs that don't want to show you anything. Don't forget they are making minimum wage, so even if they like cars they probably aren't excited about being there.




Thats who's done most of the tire work for me the last few years. $40-$50 a vehicle for four mount, balance and disposal. Sure they barely speak english, but I have yet to have a problem with them.

Dude, that is freaking awesome. My favorite part is that the words "Tire shop" are clearly just painted by hand directly on the wall.

The only people I trust and know can balnce tires right near me is whitaker tire in Concord N.C.. Whenever I have taken a vehicle somewhere else, there is weights all over. But at whitakers, hardly any weights are used and they ride smooth.

where did you take it?

I live downtown, just want to know where I should avoid

Damn, you are on some pricey real estate there twa318. Sullivan's Island ain't cheap to live on.

Good rich eye candy though on the beach during the summer.

Joe's Alignment is the spot though for alignments.

I wish you could see more in the pic, it just gets better as you pan out trust me. I give these guys credit though, they are there until 9pm at least.... I mean sure by that point there are more empty cans than full, but it saved me once when the g/f came home with a bubbled side wall on a Sunday night.

johnny, why did you go to a tire shop 100 miles away? I've never had a problem with geralds on 17. as far as joes on 17, my buddy brought his chevy in there and his wheel was turned 90 degrees right when driving straight and they told him they couldnt fix it and when he got it back it was upside down when driving straight. never had any problems with geralds as long as weve been going there though....

I dont let anyone drive my truck, heck i dont like my parents or gf taking my truck so some idiot at shop is definitely not getting behind the wheel. I take my tires and wheels in off the truck to have them done and do all the work to my truck at home. Only thing i dont is the alignment and i have a buddy at toyota who does it for me and is the only tech i trust to drive and work on my truck. The last time i had an alignment done at a franchise shop they were so off i couldnt tell if they had even worked on it. You might try making friends at the local toyota dealership cause it sure does pay off.

bustin the bead and pourin in some airsoft beads.


ill let yall know how it goes. as far as reseating, shouldnt be an issue as long as all i do is break it big enough to pour em in i assume????????

Its just like repairing a valve stem. I would use the high lift. Cram the base right up against the rim with the valve core out. and then use you friends bumper/ whatever and start jacking the truck up. the weight should push the tire right off in that small area. then pour the air soft pellets. USE THE SOLID ONES WITH NO VISIBLE SEAMS. and there are charts out there on how much to use, but i would say 5-6 oz per tire should work on a 33.

The deal with the pellets is it seems to be hit and miss with tires smaller than 35's. SOme people have it work some dont. and 35's and larger seem to work great with this method

The bead should go right back on. just use a good compressor. Co2 tanks work great for re seating the bead. If your using a slow compressor and are having problems try getting a ratchet strap and going around the tire and tighten it up. Ohh and make sure you rip all the weights off

Good luck. Im going to try the airsoft pellets on my new 315's, unless the tire shop that mounts them is only going to charge a couple bucks to balance.

i have a big air compressor. that wont be an issue. would WALMART have the beads?