The Lair

ok well, good luck with your out of balance tires... all 4 of them

 

Today was actually pretty busy. I didn't mind not being on TW so much.

 

Dont believe you.

 

Most if not all, new tires come with ink dots on them. They indicate the light spot in the tire, created during manufacturing. A yellow dot is supposed to be aligned with the valve stem because the stem is the heavy spot. A red dot though is placed when the tires are out of round. Radial Runout is the term. The red dot should be placed where the valve stem is. Steel wheels will sometimes have a dimple. Match the red to the dimple. If you have both dots, red rules. If there are no dots then the manuf just didn't want to indicate the abnormalities just about all tires have. Any other colored dots are for manuf purposes and are useless.

Also check the bead to be sure it is even all the way round the tire, inside and out. Improperly seated tires will appear to be imbalanced.

The fact that they let you go is wrong. Unless they didn't use a Roadforce balance machine. The "plumb" method used for centuries works but a spin type balance is best.

If the beads and the dots are all ok and there is still shake then have them rotate the tire 180 degrees and see how it is. If that fails then likely the tires are defective and should have a satisfaction guarantee.

How do I know all this? Duratracs on my 4RT were shit, but not at first.

 

FTFY!

 

Excellent write up! Look at the bold in my quote though. Is that what you meant?

 

Already on it!

 

No, the dot indicates the light balance spot and since the stem is the heavy balance spot the two need to be together. The stem becomes the weight the tire needs. After that weights make up for the rest of the abnormalities.

 

This sounds like a great way to test! Clever!

 

Oh DUH, that makes sense. I just assumed since the red dot also got mounted there, that it would be the opposite for whatever reason.

 

Yea, you would think, but most info can't point to why there are actually multiple dots if no matter what the red dot means the most. I suppose a tire could have a light spot and be out of round too. I suppose also data teaches that the out of round condition is always worse than a light spot as well.

I learned all kids of stuff with those Duratracs.

I never knew this either. Duallies should have the valve stems opposite of each other. Seems petty but supposed to be the rule.

The guy at Firestone that day talked way too much. He dropped the center cap off the lift arm because he was gabbing too much and not paying attention. In the end, even with the balancer they had to add like nearly a pound to one of the wheels. It was crazy. Then they took the tire off and redid it in another spot and it was less weight but still a lot. Stock 4RT wheels.

The guys that did the Ridge Grapplers the old fashioned way on the Ray 10s did the plumb method and those bitches are smooth as silk. Good tires, good wheels, makes a lot of difference.

 

There's nothing more to teach you.

 

Why does it suddenly feel like this in here.........

 

I believe you're showing a pic of Randy and his shadow at work.

 

I thought it was me and Mike.

 

Sometimes it pays to be overly cautious. I have a GPS tracker on Tony's collar in the event that he gets out. A bi-product is that it tracks his activity. Every day I'm at work, I have a dog walker come over at noon to let him out, which registers on his tracker.

I also have a security camera in my living room, and occasionally I'll watch the footage to make sure everything is kosher.

There was a fill-in walker today since mine was out of town at a funeral, and she never showed up. Apparently her car broke down and she didn't let Tony out, nor contacted the dog walking company to send a replacement. She just straight up didn't walk tony and failed to tell anyone. Only reason I knew was because the tracker and camera. Fucking people.

 

I deal with the public everyday. Some people do suck and then when you call then out on their BS they make themselves look more stupid.