Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Agreed. So...the Hunter 9700 just exists for no reason and shops spend, what, $20,000 for the machine bc they like to waste money? And certified Toyota master techs know nothing also? Yeah, I guess we're all just dummies on this forum, idiotic, uneducated morons in comparison (though I will tell you Ceehris, your post can use a LOT of grammatical correction).

And...hmmm...I guess the vibration that I had when I bought my new Urban Runner last month, which was corrected after the 9700 detected two out of round Michelin tires, was what, just a lucky shot in the dark? My Urban now rides as smooth as glass. I must make sure to contact the idiot service manager who replaced my tires and the idiot tech who balanced them and tell them how fortunate they were to luckily correct such an annoying problem.

Thanks for this post Thai! I just had my tires balanced today on a GSP9700 with the lug centric adapter and it completely eliminated the highway vibration. It was the worst around 65-70 mph and the mechanic told me 3 of the 4 tires were off by 1 1/2 to 2 ounces. The mechanic said he wasn't surprised when I told him none of the dealerships I called had no idea what I was talking about. He also said he doesn't know why tire shops don't have this machine since it can rule out bad tires, bad wheels, and match up tires and wheels to cancel out abnormalities. I would definitely recommend anyone with vibration issues try this first and ask their shop if lug centric balancing can be done.

Cool. Glad to be helpful.

Do ALL DISCOUNT TIRE stores have this machine or the HAKEWA adapter?

They should, right?

To my knowledge yes...

I hate to say it, but I'm kinda with ceerhis on this matter. Not that it's going make a difference weather 2 newbs agree on something or not.

I don't know much about this new adapter. All I know, is the procedure that my shop follows when balancing a tire.

Step one, peel tires off rim and run rims alone on balancer
Step two, install new tires on rims already prooven to be strait and balanced
Step three, run all tires on balancer, install weights
Step four, take vehicle for test drive, running through all speeds to make sure no vibration.

Thats it. The shop I work at isn't a tire shop, but does have all the proper equipment, it's not a dealer either, it's family owned and run(except me). They have a 6 year old balancer with all of the proper cone adapters and they have never had a single costumer complane that their tires were vibrating after taking it to this shop. The reason for that is simple. It's not because they have the latest and greatest technology, it's because they run a calibration on their machine every 10 sets of tires they balance, and every time they bump the shaft, and because they drive the vehicle afterwards to make sure the job was done properly. That's it. The owner of the shop(who is 65) told me this summer he is going to show me how they used to balance tires when he got his mechanic ticket, with a cone on the floor and a buble ruler. A balance can be done properly that way as well it just takes longer and has a lower success level.

Now, I'm sorry if I've offended with this post, I certainly don't want to start making enimies so early on. But what I'm trying to get at is that, these machines are great, honestly real cool and makes a mechanics job so much easier. But it just makes it easier, that's it. These new machines just help you detect what is wrong with the tire without having to take it for a test drive and waste time.

Wow, I have nothing but praises for the gsp9700 road force tire balance machine.

Since I haven't read much about "drifting" at highway speeds I have pass along my experience. My 05 4runner would stray off course and I continually had to counter steer to keep her straight. Not a big problem, but really annoying. But after installing 5100 billy's and an alignment, my front end started shaking.

Thanks to Thai I was able to locate a shop using this machine and for something like $30, both of my problems were corrected! Sorry, I don't know if they used a Hawaka adapter or not and they did not give me any reports. I have original 17" wheels and Michelin tires.

In 6 months I will be buying new tires and for the money, I believe the gsp9700 will assure a good ride and good tires.

The shop I work in, we have the 9700 and the lug centric plate. One thing to keep in mind. A tool is only as good as the person working it.

What a pointless rambling,where have you been in the last decade?not trying to be jack*** why don't you do a bit of research before you speak like you know everything there is to know about tires and balancing.I have been wrenching for 23 years and just like anything time change and you have to keep up with the times.

Mechanic, I like your idea of different steps.most tire installers or technician follow this simple and true reliable steps.since you mentioned a bubble balancer (i have used) it's the same application when it comes to tire and machine technology,back in the old days when cars only travelled down the road at 30mph this balancer (bubble level) work just fine for this tires, of course things evolve and so thus cars and machines we use.I think we can all agree that technology changes every second and things do get better for the most part,cars have been around long enough for most of us to see the changes in the last decades and we have to embrace the fact that tire technology will come with machines that would make them even better on the road.

I am an absolute believer in the lug-centric balance method via the Hunter gsp 9700. The combination of a road force balance with straight track diagnosis eliminated the steering wheel shake shimmy vibration AND alignment pull to one side. There is absolutely NO vibration anymore and truck tracks dead straight. no wander, no pull, nothing. Just straight.
I read as many posts as I could find for 2 weeks about my front wheel vibration. Found info here on T4R. Got contact info off Hunter website for Regional manger and service reps. Called/emailed each. Received return recall from both the next day! Regional Manager pointed me towards local Les Schwab because they had the brand newest equipment (this info was also available on Hunters website, with simple icons indicating which shops have which equipment). I could not be more impressed with Hunter as an organization. The Les Schwab here in denver on Federal blvd. knew exactly what I was talking about re lug-centric. Nice clean shop. nice clean employees.
Absolutely go to Hunter website, find local shop with gsp9700 (heck, call regional manager and service reps for their shop recommendation) and have your tires force balanced via lug mount adapter AND make sure they do the Straight Track thing. This ain't no voodoo b.s., this is absolutely the way to go.
plus it is so dang cool, figuring out which tire should go on which corner of the vehicle. Gotta love free enterprise + technology applied to such a basic mechanical procedure as tire balancing.

BEFORE you get your tire balanced by Toyota or anyone else,

Just to remind everyone who might be in love with the idea of having their wheels balanced on the newest miracle wheel balancing machine, I've had wheels balanced on those Hunter machines and the employees---I won't call them technicians---managed to screw up the balance job anyway. Better to have a skilled tech do it on a lesser machine than have an incompetent do it on the fancy machine.

I don't know if this is accurate or not, but I am currently having balancing issues (Cooper Disco AT3) that were installed and attempted to be balanced twice by Discount Tire, and they failed miserably (twice). None of the Discount Tires around me come up on the GSP9700 locator tool, but the Firestone places do.