Front tires are balanced.

Saturday morning September 1, 2007

Arrived for my 9am tire balancing appointment at "Blue Water Tires" on Gratiot.

After a short discussion with the "boss", myself and the mechanic who did the balancing job, it was decided the best way to balance the front tires would be to leave them on and balance them in place.

He used a heavy duty floor jack to pick the front of the Motor Home up so the tires were off the ground. He then used a machine that spins the tire to just about any speed he wants. Getting it up to speed he showed me the steering wheel vibrating. I told him I knew it would because at 60 I have a bad vibration.

He removed 8 oz. of weight from the previous balance by these folks 3 years ago. Of course I have a much more experienced mechanic today. He said that was a lot of weight for a tire this size. After putting it through the spinning test he added only 3 oz. to get the tire balanced. This was on the passenger side. The drivers side he removed 4 oz. but had to put 5 oz. on at different locations on the tire to get it balanced.
Each time he made sure to show me the steering wheel did not vibrate as the wheel was spinning. Actually I believed he wanted me to feel comfortable with his job, which I did.

Now I realize this was no standard balance job. When I called to make this appointment last Wednesday, I was told by the boss it would be $10.00 per tire to balance them. OK Fine....abit pricey I thought to myself, but I had to get it done and just any tire place can't do the job at all. So...off to the office to pay the bill. Well I guess using all the fancy gizmo's and showing me several times the smooth running tires after the balancing, it must have been worth the "extra" charge. I was expecting a $20.00 charge.....got a $40.00 bill!

I guess driving a 38 ft. Motorhome makes me look like I'm just overflowing with $$$$.

Oh well....the test drive home was a success. No vibration....job well done.