A good technician really won't need the finger plates, the Toyota wheels will balance on the hub, but the finger plates make the process ideal in my experience. TBH, I just put on new Falkens, and road forced balanced without the adapter. No vibrations at all.
KO2s Feel "Rough" After Rotate/Balance (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Dan Higgins
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
A good technician really won't need the finger plates, the Toyota wheels will balance on the hub, but the finger plates make the process ideal in my experience. TBH, I just put on new Falkens, and road forced balanced without the adapter. No vibrations at all.
I had to go back twice with my new Blizzak's just to get it right. It shouldn't be this hard...
Finding a good tire technician, mechanic, etc., is not easy. My RW wheel was damaged by a tech w a screwdriver (long story)and the same wheel tech put over two pounds of weight in each of my wheels. (Tirebuyer preferred installer). Went to my guy and had 2 to 4 oz. in each tire with very good balance and no vibration. Neither used plates. Honestly, searching for a tire shop w a Hunter 9700 is a good first step.
Resurrecting this 3 year old thread to ask if I should assume that Discount Tire knows about Toyota wheels and Finger plates now, or should I still mention using the adapters when I go in again?
my LT305/70/18 KO2s pulsate starting at 60mph and I have over 7oz of weights on he wheels.
my LT305/70/18 KO2s pulsate starting at 60mph and I have over 7oz of weights on he wheels.
Good luck - I fought this battle for 6 months. Eventually, I threw in the towel and went back to 275/65R18 Michelin ATX tires. It would have been nice to keep the K02’s, but nobody (including Discount Tire) could solve the vibration problem - despite NUMEROUS tries.
Had the same problem with KO2's at discount tire. Multiple balances could not get right. Put on Toyos open country at2's and like glass. Discount actually prorated to ko2's to get me into the toys for less.
TIL about finger plates and hub centric vs. lug centric wheel balancing...
I did some google searching on what was discussed in this thread and found this informative:
I'd ask the tire shop to see how they were balancing the tires and see if they were using hub vs. lug centric balancing methods.
I did some google searching on what was discussed in this thread and found this informative:
I'd ask the tire shop to see how they were balancing the tires and see if they were using hub vs. lug centric balancing methods.
Markuson
SILVER Star
Make sure they are doing a dynamic balance where they balance both the inner and outer regions of the tire. Some shops skip this for speed and simplicity doing a single set of weights...but with larger tires, they really should be doing both.
That, and there’s always the possibility of balancing operator error...
-I had a horrible balance job on a brand new set one time from a large and very busy shop. They totally botched it on all four tires and it was shaking the truck badly. Unfortunately, I was already on the road and past their closing time... Believe it or not...stopped at a WalMart tire shop with no other option bc they were still open on a Saturday evening...and WalMart fixed it.
-Like...miraculously better. They told me the previous shop had done a single line of balance, where they did both an inner and outer. Also... the previous shop was a whopping 7os off on one tire!
After The rebalance... -Smooth as glass perfection...so of all the unexpected places...Wally-Mart saved the day.
Make sure someone does inner and outer and see what happens.
That, and there’s always the possibility of balancing operator error...
-I had a horrible balance job on a brand new set one time from a large and very busy shop. They totally botched it on all four tires and it was shaking the truck badly. Unfortunately, I was already on the road and past their closing time... Believe it or not...stopped at a WalMart tire shop with no other option bc they were still open on a Saturday evening...and WalMart fixed it.
-Like...miraculously better. They told me the previous shop had done a single line of balance, where they did both an inner and outer. Also... the previous shop was a whopping 7os off on one tire!
After The rebalance... -Smooth as glass perfection...so of all the unexpected places...Wally-Mart saved the day.
Make sure someone does inner and outer and see what happens.
I've finally been able to find a shop with the right equipment and knowledge to SOLVE MY LC WHEEL BALANCE ISSUES COMPLETELY! After many, many attempts, I've found a shop that knew exactly what the problem was and walked me though how they solve it...and let me take some pictures. So, here's what I've learned. The LC and a few other Toyotas have a very unique wheel. Most shops just try to position it on a cone-type balancer and let 'er rip. Problem is, with the taper on the front side of the wheel, the cone doesn't exactly fit in the same place every time...yielding a vibration problem that they can chase from now 'till eternity...with no solution. What's needed is a supporting Collet on the back side *and* a finger plate to clamp down on the front side, that locks the wheel securely into place. Here's the pics I took to show what I'm talking about:
Anyways, my LC is now glass smooth at speeds up to 90 (that's as fast as I wanted to go) and the ride is transformed. Yes, they also did run-out and road force balancing & match mounting, but once you get the wheel securely balanced on the machine, the rest is stuff that many other tire shops know how to do. The balancing system the shop I went to can be reviewed in detail here:
(the Precision kit is about 1/3 of the way down)
All the information I shared above shows Hunter products. I'm almost 100% certain that other brands have similar products that work as well - I just didn't see them during my searches. I figured I'd share what I learned because so many tire grease monkeys gave me the eye-roll - you know, "we know more than you, so sit down and shut up and let us do our jobs." Problem was, until now, I haven't found a single shop that really knew how to do their job properly.
Anyways, my LC is now glass smooth at speeds up to 90 (that's as fast as I wanted to go) and the ride is transformed. Yes, they also did run-out and road force balancing & match mounting, but once you get the wheel securely balanced on the machine, the rest is stuff that many other tire shops know how to do. The balancing system the shop I went to can be reviewed in detail here:
(the Precision kit is about 1/3 of the way down)
All the information I shared above shows Hunter products. I'm almost 100% certain that other brands have similar products that work as well - I just didn't see them during my searches. I figured I'd share what I learned because so many tire grease monkeys gave me the eye-roll - you know, "we know more than you, so sit down and shut up and let us do our jobs." Problem was, until now, I haven't found a single shop that really knew how to do their job properly.
bloc
SILVER Star
Good stuff! My tire shop uses the individual collets but I had no idea the finger plate even existed.. I’ll be asking about that for sure.I've finally been able to find a shop with the right equipment and knowledge to SOLVE MY LC WHEEL BALANCE ISSUES COMPLETELY! After many, many attempts, I've found a shop that knew exactly what the problem was and walked me though how they solve it...and let me take some pictures. So, here's what I've learned. The LC and a few other Toyotas have a very unique wheel. Most shops just try to position it on a cone-type balancer and let 'er rip. Problem is, with the taper on the front side of the wheel, the cone doesn't exactly fit in the same place every time...yielding a vibration problem that they can chase from now 'till eternity...with no solution. What's needed is a supporting Collet on the back side *and* a finger plate to clamp down on the front side, that locks the wheel securely into place. Here's the pics I took to show what I'm talking about:
Anyways, my LC is now glass smooth at speeds up to 90 (that's as fast as I wanted to go) and the ride is transformed. Yes, they also did run-out and road force balancing & match mounting, but once you get the wheel securely balanced on the machine, the rest is stuff that many other tire shops know how to do. The balancing system the shop I went to can be reviewed in detail here:
(the Precision kit is about 1/3 of the way down)
All the information I shared above shows Hunter products. I'm almost 100% certain that other brands have similar products that work as well - I just didn't see them during my searches. I figured I'd share what I learned because so many tire grease monkeys gave me the eye-roll - you know, "we know more than you, so sit down and shut up and let us do our jobs." Problem was, until now, I haven't found a single shop that really knew how to do their job properly.
