JerArdra
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2005
- Posts
- 1,814
We just bought 8 new tires for our motorhome and had them spin balanced. The fellow who supervised the work has done this for 17 years so he is very experienced. What we learned is that "maybe" you should NOT have your new tires balanced at the same time you buy them and have the tires installed, The explanation is that when new tires are installed they use a slippery liquid in order to mount the tire onto the rim. This liquid can be either RED or GREEN. The RED brand does NOT dry very quickly. The GREEN dries a little faster and this place uses the GREEN brand.
They wanted me to leave the motorhome for two days before driving it because you can drive it too soon. If you drive it when the liquid is still wet and then apply the brakes, the tire can slip on the rim which destroys the wheel balancing.
Here is a "real life" example that we saw first hand. They had just mounted and balanced the two front tires about two hours before going on a test drive to check the rear duals and tag for vibration. He said let's go and I'll balance the two front tires when we get back. He then got a chalk marker and marked the tire at the spot where the tire filler valve is located.
Ardra drove so I could see and feel the rear vibration, if any. Ardra did not use the brakes much and also used then very lightly, e.g. no hard pushes of the brake pedal and no quick stops.
Upon returning to the tire store there was a "REAL LIFE" surprise for us because both front tires had slipped on the rim! Looking at the tire I could see that one tire had slipped 2-1/2 inches. Yes, the chalk mark was 2-1/2 inches away from the filler valve. The chalk mark on the other tire was 4 inches away from the filler valve. It was obvious that both recently-mounted front tires had slipped on the rim either from using the brakes or starting from zero movement to moving.
You might want to print this post and put it with material you keep in your motorhome pertaining to buying and balancing new tires.
JerryF
They wanted me to leave the motorhome for two days before driving it because you can drive it too soon. If you drive it when the liquid is still wet and then apply the brakes, the tire can slip on the rim which destroys the wheel balancing.
Here is a "real life" example that we saw first hand. They had just mounted and balanced the two front tires about two hours before going on a test drive to check the rear duals and tag for vibration. He said let's go and I'll balance the two front tires when we get back. He then got a chalk marker and marked the tire at the spot where the tire filler valve is located.
Ardra drove so I could see and feel the rear vibration, if any. Ardra did not use the brakes much and also used then very lightly, e.g. no hard pushes of the brake pedal and no quick stops.
Upon returning to the tire store there was a "REAL LIFE" surprise for us because both front tires had slipped on the rim! Looking at the tire I could see that one tire had slipped 2-1/2 inches. Yes, the chalk mark was 2-1/2 inches away from the filler valve. The chalk mark on the other tire was 4 inches away from the filler valve. It was obvious that both recently-mounted front tires had slipped on the rim either from using the brakes or starting from zero movement to moving.
You might want to print this post and put it with material you keep in your motorhome pertaining to buying and balancing new tires.
JerryF