Long story short:

I bought black Unique wheels from Discount Tire 4 weeks ago. 16x7 with Pirelli 265/75/16's. The rear wheels cannot be balanced any further.

<---- see avatar.

I have had a slight "shimee" since day one. Right around 68 - 75 MPH. They have balanced my wheels and tires 5 times total, and the problem still exists. The manager told me, "Toyota's are really touchy. Aftermarket wheels never balance correctly, that's why I run only stock wheels on my Tundra." OK, well that would have been nice to know when I bought the wheels!

I sold my stockers to a Yotatech member the day I bought the blackie's.

So here is what Discount will do:

1. Replace my wheels with stock Toyota STEEL wheels free of charge.
2. Replace my wheels with OEM Alloy 6-spokes for $300 (what I had before).

What the heck should I do? I want to go back to stock I think. The shimee is horrible. How would you proceed?

The manager has assured me that my satisfaction is the #1 concern. I have never had a problem with Discount in the past, and I have literally stacks of receipts for all my wheel and tire purchases there.

 

christian,

the morons at discount tire centers in el monte said "that's all we can do" after 3 unsuccessful tries re balancing. one trip to longo toyota who has the hunter tire balancer, and it was done.

does your tire place have the hunter? if not, i suggest you should go somewhere that does.

bob

 

"Toyota alloy wheels for $300, Alex"

I have seriously ben thinking about steel rims too. But I've decided against it. Rather I need to find a reasonable way to make these rims black.. I think that will look cool.

 

Christian, do you know what machine they're using when balancing? I don't know if Unique's are lug-centric or not, my first guess would be "not", but you never know. I don't remember the name of the machine that's been recommended but its on Gadget's site. You may just want to give another shop (or dealer) a crack at it. I'd think with all the people that run aftermarket rims there would be alot more complaints if they really couldn't be balanced.

 

I am gonna paint the stockers black. I dont care anymore. I know I can do it.

Thanks for the info about the Hunter Bob. I will check into that!

-CD

 

I took too long typing!! Thanks Bob, the Hunter machine is what I was referring to.

 

One of the dudes said to me,"well I could only get it [the rear wheel] between 12 and 16."

Dude #2: "That's as good as you can get a wheel!"

What the heck are they talking about?

 

The Discount Tires store where I got my BFG's has the Hunter GSP 9700. They didn't do a road force balance when they balanced my tires, but I have no shakes or shimmies, so it's no big deal. But, I second or third the idea of checking into that Christian.

Peace and good luck.
G

 

My guess is road force numbers.

 

They are talking about pounds of road force. 12-16 lbs road force for a wheel/tire combination is pretty good.

G

 

I know they put the wheel and tire on something that measured the tire too. To see if that was out of round...

Not sure if that was a hunter or not. I will call the same place tomorrow and ask if they have a Hunter machine.

 

Why can't they give you a replacement wheel that isn't f'd up?

G

 

That's what I asked him! He says, "well then we will be into it 5 wheels instead of 4."

OK dude...lol.

 

Yeah, but don't your wheels come with a warranty of sorts for defects, like OUT OF ROUNDNESS???

G

 

I think you are right. I may push that end of things more. Keep in mind I had to sand and paint the red and blue patriot stripes that they put on these wheels...

I hope that didnt void anything.

 

I hope not too. That certainly wouldn't have any effect on whether or not the wheel is round, though. Make a big stink about it. Sounds like they are trying to get out of something they should honor...

Good luck!
G

 

"...aftermarket rims can't be balanced on toyotas..."

<cough> BULL˟˟˟˟˟ <cough>

They are being lazy or trying not to honor their warrenty like Dr Z has said.

According to them, the rims on my truck shouldn't be rolling down the road perfectly like they are. Nor have they for the past 14 years...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight LOL

I got 12 donuts that says they let some newbie install the tires on your rims and in the process of breaking the beads from the old tires, bent the SNOT out of your new rims... Sam's club did it to one of my rims and to two of my 'rents DUALLY'S rims which are seriously overbuilt, but it bent them like an aluminum can...

 

Mark Greise said his black rockcrawlers were a chore to balance. He mentioned that they were very heavy. They came from Discount.

Even with Goodyear MT/R's I never had to go as far as road force at Discount with the alumium wheels. They were balanced on the Hunter machine but never road forced and they were completely vibration free.

 

I'm experiencing the same problems with Discount Tires.....

However, it's with my 20" wheels......

I've taken in my truck about 7 times.......

After 3 sets of tires (Goodyears, Nittro, Falken (current))........i'm still experiencing the same vibration problems......

The manager had suggested using a better quality tire....(ie. Toyo)

I don't know???.....we'll see how it goes next week....

Very Frustrating !!!!!!!!!!!

-vegasboyy-

 

Christian.
Have them switch the wheels to the front. Then see if the shimmy moves to the steering wheel. THen do the process of elimination. Move one tire at a time to see if you can get it exact wheel that is giving you the problem.