Dealer + Road Force = Trouble

[DSH]

Almost 70,000 miles on our '07 T4R & time for new tires.

Dealer actually beat Tire Rack's price for a set of Michelin LTXs. Thought if anyone is going to do the Road Force balance & have the right equipment for a Toyota it would be the dealer so we went for it.

Go in to drop off & while writing up the service order the service manager asks why I want the Road Force. He says they only use it a couple times a month & have found they don't really need it. Ok.

Back to pick it up & he acts kinda nervous & says he needs to show me something. (Uh oh). Look at the right rear wheel & it has had the heck beat out of it. He said while balancing it came loose and the lugs hit the wheel. Already ordered a new wheel & will call when it is in - sorry.

To top it off, anytime you go over 60 mph there is now a very noticable vibration where it was smooth as silk before.

Is this as ridiculous as I think it is? How can you screw up so badly that the wheel comes loose on the balancer? And I thought the Road Force balancer had enough brains built in that it would either get a great balance or let you know the tire has a problem & it can't be balanced properly. So the new vibration is a surprise.

The new wheel is in now. Do I just take it back & tell them to fix the vibration? Or should they rebalance all 4 wheels & provide printouts from the Road Force machine?

Appreciate thoughts from you guys that understand the Road Force machine.

 

[2000t4r4wd]

Almost 70,000 miles on our '07 T4R & time for new tires.

Dealer actually beat Tire Rack's price for a set of Michelin LTXs. Thought if anyone is going to do the Road Force balance & have the right equipment for a Toyota it would be the dealer so we went for it.

Go in to drop off & while writing up the service order the service manager asks why I want the Road Force. He says they only use it a couple times a month & have found they don't really need it. Ok.

Back to pick it up & he acts kinda nervous & says he needs to show me something. (Uh oh). Look at the right rear wheel & it has had the heck beat out of it. He said while balancing it came loose and the lugs hit the wheel. Already ordered a new wheel & will call when it is in - sorry.

To top it off, anytime you go over 60 mph there is now a very noticable vibration where it was smooth as silk before.

Is this as ridiculous as I think it is? How can you screw up so badly that the wheel comes loose on the balancer? And I thought the Road Force balancer had enough brains built in that it would either get a great balance or let you know the tire has a problem & it can't be balanced properly. So the new vibration is a surprise.

The new wheel is in now. Do I just take it back & tell them to fix the vibration? Or should they rebalance all 4 wheels & provide printouts from the Road Force machine?

Appreciate thoughts from you guys that understand the Road Force machine.

I would have them fix it and re-balance all 4 wheels. Don't request the road balance. I have always had my 4runner's tires balanced at Toyota and have never had a problem.

I'm surprised the technician did not notice the vibration on his test drive

 

[riverider]

Almost 70,000 miles on our '07 T4R & time for new tires.

Dealer actually beat Tire Rack's price for a set of Michelin LTXs. Thought if anyone is going to do the Road Force balance & have the right equipment for a Toyota it would be the dealer so we went for it.

Go in to drop off & while writing up the service order the service manager asks why I want the Road Force. He says they only use it a couple times a month & have found they don't really need it. Ok.

Back to pick it up & he acts kinda nervous & says he needs to show me something. (Uh oh). Look at the right rear wheel & it has had the heck beat out of it. He said while balancing it came loose and the lugs hit the wheel. Already ordered a new wheel & will call when it is in - sorry.

To top it off, anytime you go over 60 mph there is now a very noticable vibration where it was smooth as silk before.

Is this as ridiculous as I think it is? How can you screw up so badly that the wheel comes loose on the balancer? And I thought the Road Force balancer had enough brains built in that it would either get a great balance or let you know the tire has a problem & it can't be balanced properly. So the new vibration is a surprise.

The new wheel is in now. Do I just take it back & tell them to fix the vibration? Or should they rebalance all 4 wheels & provide printouts from the Road Force machine?

Appreciate thoughts from you guys that understand the Road Force machine.

Only thing I can post about this is, stay away from your dealer for anything you need. Any place even if it's a higher price, beats getting your trucks hardware damaged by their untrained low wage, grunt slaves.

For tires I go to Hibdon Tire Co. don't know if you have them where you are, but they pay top wages and I have always been given my Autos and Truck back in good condition, with no tire or driving problems.

STAY FAR AWAY FROM ANY DEALERs STEALERs DIS-SERVICE DEPT.s.:AK47:

 

[12guns]

Mistakes happen. It sucks that the dealer screwed up, but sounds like they are good enough to make it right (not like they had a choice here). If there's an issue w/ vibration still, I would bet a buffalo nickel it's either still out of balance or a faulty tire. If it's a tire problem you may have to deal w/ tire-rack unless the dealer will help you out. Shouldn't be a problem, but take it back for sure. They should bend over backwards for you. Give them a chance before you get too upset.

 

[DSH]

This was my 1st vist to this dealer & probably my last.

Went with the dealer because I had read on this forum about tire places doing road force balancing & not having the Hawkins adapter for the machine that T4Rs need so they ended up with problems. (Did verify with the dealer that they use the adapter.)

Wanted the Road Force balance after reading on here about it solving a lot of problems - hadn't ever heard of it causing problems before.

The tires & balancing were from the dealer. I only mentioned Tire Rack because I had planned to buy from them & was surprised when the dealer actually quoted a lower price.

 

[12guns]

This was my 1st vist to this dealer & probably my last.

Went with the dealer because I had read on this forum about tire places doing road force balancing & not having the Hawkins adapter for the machine that T4Rs need so they ended up with problems. (Did verify with the dealer that they use the adapter.)

Wanted the Road Force balance after reading on here about it solving a lot of problems - hadn't ever heard of it causing problems before.

The tires & balancing were from the dealer. I only mentioned Tire Rack because I had planned to buy from them & was surprised when the dealer actually quoted a lower price.

My bad, I read wrong. If the dealer sold the tires and mounted/balanced them I would probably check w/ them first?? There is clearly something not right. Keep in mind w/ the new tires there's a chance you're feeling something else worn like a tie rod end or something. Hopefully not, but always a possibility.

 

[zerowkul98]

Out of curiousity, what are the symptoms of a loose tierod end? I hear binking and rattling from my drivers side when hitting normal road bumps and new england crappy dpw pothole fixes.