Tire Balancing Issues - Seeking Advice

[Trumpet]

Here is the problem:

Eligibility
This warranty applies to the original purchaser of a replacement Cooper passenger or light truck tire and is not transferable. Eligible tires must be purchased new and used on the vehicle which they were originally installed. Proof of purchase is required for all warranty claims.

Since the dealership purchased the tires and not me I cannot file a warranty claim as far as I know.

Make it the dealers problem. Start by speaking to them, see where it goes from there.

 

[AuSeeker]

Here is the problem:

Eligibility
This warranty applies to the original purchaser of a replacement Cooper passenger or light truck tire and is not transferable. Eligible tires must be purchased new and used on the vehicle which they were originally installed. Proof of purchase is required for all warranty claims.

Since the dealership purchased the tires and not me I cannot file a warranty claim as far as I know.

In reality new car dealers are also tire dealers and they didn't go to a tire dealer for those tires they ordered them from their distributor or had them in stock, and since you bought the T4R from them with new tires you in fact are the original purchaser and you should state it that way to the dealer if they balk at them getting the tires replaced under warranty!!

Many new car dealers do very well selling tires to the general public and usually give better prices than most tire dealers because they usually get a better discount from most tire manufacturers.

 

[BarryT]

I had a similar problem - NTB balanced the tires and had some vibration between 65-75 mph. Spoke to a mechanic friend who suggested that the balancer used by NTB might need to be adjusted. Having lost confidence in NTB, took it to my friend garage and worked with him through each step. He first tested the balance of each tire - all were off (I don't remember by how much, but all were off nearly the same amount). He rebalanced and verified they were balanced before installing them. We took it for a test drive together - the truck felt like it was running on rails! It cost $100 (all labor) but its been a great ride ever since! (until my girlfriend hit a curb and had to get another alignment.)
So - how do you know when a tire shop has a balancer that needs to be adjusted?

 

[Derek]

I had a similar problem - NTB balanced the tires and had some vibration between 65-75 mph. Spoke to a mechanic friend who suggested that the balancer used by NTB might need to be adjusted. Having lost confidence in NTB, took it to my friend garage and worked with him through each step. He first tested the balance of each tire - all were off (I don't remember by how much, but all were off nearly the same amount). He rebalanced and verified they were balanced before installing them. We took it for a test drive together - the truck felt like it was running on rails! It cost $100 (all labor) but its been a great ride ever since! (until my girlfriend hit a curb and had to get another alignment.)
So - how do you know when a tire shop has a balancer that needs to be adjusted?

Well at this point these tires have been balanced by 3 different machines:

1. Dealership - balanced when tires were installed
2. Butler Tire - Road Force balance
3. Butler Tire - Road Force balance
4. Butler Tire - high-speed on-the-vehicle balance

So I have spent $200 to balance these tires so far with no real improvements. I have exchanged a few emails with the dealership salesperson who sold me the vehicle. I'm waiting to hear back from them now on what to do next. The dealership is a good 2 hour drive in traffic so I may have to wait until the weekend to stop by unfortunately.

 

[4runner2017]

Agreed. See what the dealer has to say.

 

[Derek]

Update: I took it to the dealership last month and during the 2 hour drive there the ride seemed to be significantly improved. When I got there a technician drove it on the interstate and came back to tell me it seemed fine and there was nothing wrong. Go figure the ride seems okay the day I bring it in. So they sent me on my way and I drove back home.

A few days later I'm driving to work and the vibration is there again and seems worse than before. I waited a week to see what would happen and it did not improve so I emailed the dealership again. They scheduled another service appointment last Monday so I made the drive out there again because I had an 8 hour drive planned the following day and I was considering renting a car due to the vibration.

This time they did testing with their Road Force balance machine and determined that two of the tires were 'out of spec'. One was 'in the red' and the other 'in the yellow' whatever that means. They replaced those two tires and now the ride is perfect. I drove over 1,000 miles last week driving down to FL and back and it drove like a new car. No vibration at any speeds.

 

[Bumbo]

Perhaps its not the tires?

Maybe you have some other issue that might be causing this?

Does it happen when its hot or cold, after the truck has been sitting for a while... but even that can be tire related too... coming from a car sitting in the cold or something like that.

Really nice to have a 2nd set of rims and tires or a friend with a similar truck so you can troubleshoot.

 

[Derek]

Perhaps its not the tires?

Maybe you have some other issue that might be causing this?

Does it happen when its hot or cold, after the truck has been sitting for a while... but even that can be tire related too... coming from a car sitting in the cold or something like that.

Really nice to have a 2nd set of rims and tires or a friend with a similar truck so you can troubleshoot.

Read my last post right above yours. Two tires were found to be out of spec for balancing and were replaced. Now the ride is finally perfect.