I'm about to order new shoes for the 100. I will be getting 285/75 BFG AT KO. The best price I have found is BJ's Wholesale. I can get a set of five mounted and balanced for $935 incl tax. Next best price was $1,007. The higher price has road force balancing, but I am not sure BJ's has this ability. Is it worth the extra to get the road force balancing?
Discount Tire has road force ballancing, it made a vibration in my 285's go away, there was a heavy spot in the rim and a heavy spot on the tire, had to 180 them to get it to ballance right.
I believe road force balancing doesn't just spin the tire /wheel, but also applies a load to the spinning assembly to simulate the weight of the vehicle on the tire while spin balancing.
A lot of tire problems experienced by members of the board have been solved when the tires were balanced using a roadforce machine like the Hunter GSP9700. Use the search on their site to find a shop with the right equipment. I'd vote for the road force balancing since this is a $1000 dollar investment and the road force balancing is more likely to identify a bad tire.
That said I'm not sure I would overpay for the tires just to get the balancing since this costs only $8 a tire at Discount Tire.
Got rid of a nasty vibration in my Tundra that normal balancing wasn't fixing. The system matches any high/low spots or inconsistencies in the tire with high/low spots or inconsistencies in the rim. They do this by applying a load (force) to the tire and then measuring the balance. Hence road force balance. I only go to shops that use the Hunter GSP9700 as well. It might be the only one.
FWIW, I had my 5 BFG tires balanced on a Road Force machine at a cost of $75 which is almost exactly the difference in price you are paying between the two companies. If you are having balance problems after BJ mounts them, you could always take take them to a Road Force machine. Personally, I'd just go with the Road Force machine in the first place on larger truck tires like that.
Roadforce balancing is definately worth it. Have it done now all the time when I buy new tires or when I have a balance issue and it will identify problem tires and solve many problems that standard balancing won't. Its worth the money.
Hummm I have to get my tires road force balanced then, I get a horrendous vibration at about 70+ MPH on the highway. I also need to get my bearings done......
