Tire truing

[Dynamo]

Anyone ever had tire truing done to a new set of tires? They basically mount the tires then shave down the high spots so that they are perfectly round. Then they get balanced. The result is perfectly round and balanced tires. There are some cons like not able to rotate the tires (truing & balancing is done with the wheels mounted on the vehicle).

There's a place in San Antonio that does this. I'm thinking of having it done next time I get new tires installed. I'm sick of the steering wheel wobble.

 

[dezertbomber]

Anyone ever had tire truing done to a new set of tires? They basically mount the tires then shave down the high spots so that they are perfectly round. Then they get balanced. The result is perfectly round and balanced tires. There are some cons like not able to rotate the tires (truing & balancing is done with the wheels mounted on the vehicle).

There's a place in San Antonio that does this. I'm thinking of having it done next time I get new tires installed. I'm sick of the steering wheel wobble.

Haven't had it done, but looked it up a while back as my F150's 35's had an out of round tire. I thought they were done on a machine that had the scraper device that does the truing at an equal distance from the center? And why would it matter which corner of the vehicle it's on after since the wheel and tire unit are now balanced?

 

[Offroading is lame]

Anyone ever had tire truing done to a new set of tires? They basically mount the tires then shave down the high spots so that they are perfectly round. Then they get balanced. The result is perfectly round and balanced tires. There are some cons like not able to rotate the tires (truing & balancing is done with the wheels mounted on the vehicle).

There's a place in San Antonio that does this. I'm thinking of having it done next time I get new tires installed. I'm sick of the steering wheel wobble.

If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of tires and why not get a different tire? People that generally do this are buying a tire that was made for Offroad use that has 1-2” tread and cutting rubber off of it because they actually don’t need that kind of tire in the first place and that’s fine. But you’re buying a tire and paying somebody more money to cut money out of the tire.


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[seatia]

Yes, used to be done a lot
Everyone who has ever had it done swears they have never ridden such a smooth ride.

 

[02SE]

Learned how to do it back in my consumer car repair days. There are different methods, one of which is with the tire/wheel assembly still on the vehicle.

It's rarely done anymore, because tire construction and inspection during their manufacture has improved.

 

[fkheath]

Learned how to do it back in my consumer car repair days. There are different methods, one of which is with the tire/wheel assembly still on the vehicle.

It's rarely done anymore, because tire construction and inspection during their manufacture has improved.

Tires that come from reputable tire companies (Michelin, etc) don't need truing. They are already perfectly round. Cutting rubber off them just reduces tread life.

As a teen, I worked for an unscrupulous man at a gas station who would buy "seconds" (faulty manufactured tires) that were usually out of round. He put me to work shaving of the "Second" stamp from the factory, and he would then sell them as good tires at full MSRP.

 

[fkheath]

I'm sick of the steering wheel wobble.

If you have steering wheel wobble, you have something else wrong than out of round tires. My 2018 4Runner has never had steering wheel wobble, even with the notoriously difficult to balance KO2 tires.

 

[AMLOR]

If you have steering wheel wobble, you have something else wrong than out of round tires. My 2018 4Runner has never had steering wheel wobble, even with the notoriously difficult to balance KO2 tires.

^^^THIS.
I was talking to the manager of the Discount Tire I have been using for the last 15 or so years. I also have never had this issue on any car or truck I can remember. He stated that he sees two issues that get blamed of "out of round" tires.
1. Wrong lug nuts for the wheel. Wrong length, wrong design, and/or wrong torque.
He stated they see it repeatedly, and especially on lifted trucks and SUV's that bought a wheel/tire combo at one of the "buy here pay here" custom tire & wheel shops. Too many people will not pay the extra $$ for a new correct set of lug nuts.
2. Other components, worn ball joints, u joints, tie rod ends, bent wheel etc. & Bad driveshaft angle. When the truck was lifted, virtually no one has the driveshaft angles reset to the "generally accepted 1.5-3 degrees" of shaft to yoke angle. (this is easy on a leaf spring rig, not so much on our 4Runners)

Keep looking...it probably is not your tires, regardless of the name on the sidewall...
AMLOR

 

[fkheath]

1. Wrong lug nuts for the wheel. Wrong length, wrong design, and/or wrong torque.
He stated they see it repeatedly, and especially on lifted trucks and SUV's that bought a wheel/tire combo at one of the "buy here pay here" custom tire & wheel shops. Too many people will not pay the extra $$ for a new correct set of lug nuts.

Agreed. Toyota uses hub centric wheels, thus the lug nuts have a flat washer on them. Other manufactures often use lug nut centering with cone shaped lug nuts. Can't mix the two. There is a thread on this forum that talks about that.

 

[Soulsurvives]

My 2021 has had a wobble since new. It is a slight wobble around 55-60. I've had 2 sets of tires and it doesn't always do it so I don't worry about it.

 

[Jeremy556]

I haven't heard of this being done in like 30 years. When I get a tire that can't be balanced correctly with repeated tries on a road force machine, I have them warranty replace that tire.

 

[Dynamo]

Update - I ended up taking a chance and had a local tire shop road force balance my tires instead of taking them further to have them trued/shaved. They are now almost perfectly smooth at all speeds. The tires are OEM Nitto Terra Grappler G2's with 41k miles on them and I've had the steering wheel wobble since I bought it new. It was really bad when I first got it but the dealer worked on it and ended up swapping out 2 tires. It was never perfect but good enough that I was tired of dealing with it and didn't want to keep taking it back. It had gotten worse though in the past year. So I'm kicking myself for not getting it sorted out sooner but the upside to this is I have found a good shop. I will be hitting them up in 10k miles or so when these tires are done.

 

[Nick B]

I saw this being done at a shop back in the mid 70’s. It was actually fascinating to watch.

 

[02SE]

Tires that come from reputable tire companies (Michelin, etc) don't need truing. They are already perfectly round. Cutting rubber off them just reduces tread life.

.

I've seen Michelins with poor uniformity too.

They're generally better than say Goodyear, though.