gpcollen1

You should not have to ask them to use it. They should know!

Mtriple

traben27

yeah i know but sometimes we need a friendly reminder, its hard to keep track of every kind of car that comes in and what to use. heck we even have a hard time putting up the spare sometimes.

X-AWDriver

My tires balanced quite easy and i had the weight put on the inside of the rim but then again I don't have mud tires.

kmcc78240

The Discount tire on 410 past Vance Jackson, has it, they balanced mine just fine. Never asked about it though.

UNR.Grad

All my local Big-O tires have it, along with the dealer. Just call and make sure.

jdsdj98

This isn't helping your argument. I bought my All Terrains at Discount, and still having a vibration in the rear, I'm now even more skeptical of the balance job. We, as paying customers, trust that you're able to keep track of EVERY type of car that you deem yourselves expert enough to charge hundreds of dollars to wrench on. That's your job.

No flame war intended, but understand that the average Joe doesn't have the tools at home or the know-how to mount and balance a set of tires/wheels. We trust you to be the expert. You shouldn't have to be reminded by us to do the job correctly. I've never had good luck with shops being receptive to my knowledge of my own truck, anyway.

Off to the dealer for a balance....

traben27

i'm not trying to be confrontational at all, but all i'm saying is i forget sometimes and do balance them without the adapter and have never had a complaint. and with your vibration in the rear, i doubt thats from the tires being out of balance. also, it can always be a problem with the tire and/or wheel, as we had this happen on a jeep the other day (we replaced both the wheel and tire for free). yeah i know that was a bad comment on my part, all i'm saying is nobody's perfect.

jdsdj98

No intent for confrontation here, either. Flame wars on BB's are a buzz kill.

I need to track the vibration down. This thread gave me one more angle from which to think about it. I have thought about the wheel itself. I'll probably take the one suspect wheel to the dealer for a balance job, however. Talked to them today to confirm that they do use a flange plate adapter when balancing.

4RunnerBuddha

Neither Longo Toyota or Wondries Toyota here in SoCal have that adapter. I should know, I asked BOTH when I was having vibration issues. NEITHER had heard about the adapter, nor did they know about the TSB that Toyota corporate supposedly issued.

If someone can tell me of a shop that uses it here in SoCal, it would be greatly appreciated.

Joshs98Runner

I worked for 2 different Discounts in AZ and both stores had 2 sets for every applicable lug pattern...wierd the stores where you guys are at don't have em, they probably do and just don't understand you or don't use them so they don't know what they are. I recommend calling up the corp office and requesting they properly stock the local stores with those and request that they inform their techs about them. As long as you are not a raging d*ck the word will probably get to the manager of the store, a valid argument would be that you can't use the free lifetime balance they provide because they aren't properly equipped to work on your vehicle. Tell them if it doesn't change you will seek out a shop that is properly equiped to work on one of the most common SUV's on the road. See how they take that. I worked for that company for two years, they are undoughtebly the best when it comes to customer service, professional orientation, strict elaborate procedures and they bend over backwards to please people every day. In my two years experience almost every person that walked away unhappy was a stupid fool that acts like a pissed off 5 year old, and they don't come along too often.

traben27

yeah, have them watch it with the tire on to see if it hops at all and if it is have them take the tire off and try it with just the wheel and see what happens. i felt kinda stupid defending discount, after all im just a tire tech and its my high school job, but hey its fun.

jdsdj98

Since this thread got me thinking about my problem wheel in a different way, I took it to a local Toyota dealer for a balance yesterday and specifically asked them to use the flange plate adapter for it. And, being the snot that I am, I did watch them do the job just to make sure.

And now, after having a great experience there, my truck is finally vibration free. So, after that wheel having been balanced 3 times with 2 different tires in approximately the past year and a half at a tires-only store, a trip to the dealer with this tool finally fixed the problem. Don't know if that's definitive proof or not, but I'm a believer.

And as a shameless plug for 'em here, I do recommend GO! Toyota in Denver. I insisted that it was no big deal and I could pick the wheel up the next day, but they insisted I wait just a few minutes while they did it. Additionally, since they don't typically do single wheel balances, they did it for free. I think they just didn't have a way of writing up an invoice for it. The job got done faster and cheaper than I had planned for. AND the problem is solved.

BruceTS

Never needed to use one of those, the stock rims are hub centric. The problem is most places have the wrong size cone and it comes in contact with the rims spokes before the center ring. If the proper cone is used, the wheels can easily be balanced. I've only found one shop that has a proper one in my area.

Hugo

My local tire shop has a similar one. I asked for an Haweka adaptor, they diNt, know what I meant. I explained it and they were like "oh, a claw!"

So that's what they call it, and it doesn't seem to be that rare.

giguchan

Looks like something i had used on me during my last night in Amsterdam.
I'm going to miss her....

Man4God

I know that I have had 3 different Discount tires and one Evans Tires try to balance my tires...no luck. They all assured me that their cones would do the trick. None have to this point. I will ask about the "claw" adaptor instead of Hawkea...they might know about it then.

Isn't there a TSB for the early stock 16" alloys on our 4Runners? I could have sworn that our wheels have problems keeping wheel weights in the same spot because of the lip on the rims...

ozziesironmanoffroad

what i dont like is the balancers everyone besides the dealer uses now only goes up to 65mph MAX. the dealers' balancers go up to 120mph. for anyone that doesnt know, the faster the tire is spinning on the balancer, the faster you can drive without feeling a vibration. and with the claws, my work has them, but me and the 60 yr old mechanic are the only ones who know how to use it. and we only have one for the big tires. if its a standard size rim, and whether its hubcentric or not, my manager says to cone it. hey nothin i can do, i gotta listen to my boss.

wareagle98

Felt strongly enough to resurrect an old thread. I just got some new tires at the shop I always use, and have never had a problem at. Been using them for 12 years. Love em, but they sure couldn't balance my wheels. Guess what, they didn't have the adapter. I ended up taking my runner to the dealership for a balance. Used the adapter, smooth as glass now. Thanks for all the good advice on this site.

Mulkey

6 SEATER!!! lmao