Wheel balancing and alignment.

Davespud said:
Must have been a website for one of the biggish tyre centres. Possibly formula one. I think they said if you rotate your wheels you need a rebalance and align.

Thanks everyone
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If it was F1 I wouldn't believe a word they say. I had 4 tyres fitted there a couple of years ago & they told me that my front discs/pads were 'dangerously worn & should be replaced' By coincidence they could do the work whilst I was there (help yourself to free coffee sir while you wait) I paid for the tyres, smiled & left; little did they know that the car had recently benefited from a full service at our trusted local garage & I had been advised that although there was some light wear to the discs both they & the pads gave no cause for concern whatever.
Touting for custom is one thing, lying through your teeth to generate it is another :mad:
 
Wheels do go out of balance over time. I have a wheel balancing machine in my workshop and once a year when I service my cars, I sometimes rotate the wheels but I always check the balance while they are off when I am checking my brakes. In fact I always check my wheel balance when the wheels are off as it doesn't cost me anything. They can sometimes be out by a small amount, up to 5-10g. Maybe if you are going to the trouble of rotating the wheels it may be worth having the balance checked while the wheels are off but if I was paying for 4 x balances every time they were rotated, I probably wouldn’t bother! I check mine with the existing weights on and only strip off and rebalance if needed (not just add weights) but I would imagine that a tyre shop would just whip the weights off and carry out a fresh balance whether they needed it or not.
 
norseman said:
If it was F1 I wouldn't believe a word they say. I had 4 tyres fitted there a couple of years ago & they told me that my front discs/pads were 'dangerously worn & should be replaced' By coincidence they could do the work whilst I was there (help yourself to free coffee sir while you wait) I paid for the tyres, smiled & left; little did they know that the car had recently benefited from a full service at our trusted local garage & I had been advised that although there was some light wear to the discs both they & the pads gave no cause for concern whatever.
Touting for custom is one thing, lying through your teeth to generate it is another :mad:
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Kwikfit are have the same sort of ethos.
One of their favourite tricks, especially with women drivers, used to be to squirt a drop of oil near the axle and then tell them their brake cylinder was leaking and needed repairing/replacing immediately. Driver panics and agrees to the job being done while they have a 'free' coffee. Mechanic then takes a rag and wipes the area clean. This was/is only one of their shenanigan's. Nice easy money.
They used to have to go on a 'Special High Intensive Training' course. Commonly referred to as a SH*T course.
 
It's not any particular company, it's a general thing with national, or even regional fastfits. The workers are paid quite poorly but given a good bonus on sales. So they will always look for any work they can find.

Blame the system.
 
carmanmemoranda said:
It's not any particular company, it's a general thing with national, or even regional fastfits. The workers are paid quite poorly but given a good bonus on sales. So they will always look for any work they can find.

Blame the system.
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I my case they didn't get the job, nor will they get my custom again. Judging by several friends' reactions when I related the story they won't get theirs' either.
 
conny said:
Kwikfit are have the same sort of ethos.
One of their favourite tricks, especially with women drivers, used to be to squirt a drop of oil near the axle and then tell them their brake cylinder was leaking and needed repairing/replacing immediately. Driver panics and agrees to the job being done while they have a 'free' coffee. Mechanic then takes a rag and wipes the area clean. This was/is only one of their shenanigan's. Nice easy money.
They used to have to go on a 'Special High Intensive Training' course. Commonly referred to as a SH*T course.
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On that theme. Formula one offer 'precision balancing', for £3 a tyre anyone know if this is a real thing worth having?
 
Mottie said:
:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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Made me smile as well, but I know many modern cars (BMW for example) need to be 'told' that a new battery has been fitted, so maybe not beyond the realms of possibility :unsure:

Or it could simply be bull...t
 
Davespud said:
They claim it's specific to the car I think.
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Batteries for modern cars with stop-start, are a bit messier to change. Not exactly car-specific, but certain cars will need certain types of battery. It's not as simple as it used to be, when any old lead acid battery of the correct (or larger) capacity could be used.

"Precision" balancing is a thing. The wheel and tyre together, are a large rotating mass. They're also a 3-D rotating mass, in that it's more of a 'cylinder' than a 'disc' that you are trying to balance - which is why those DIY wheel balancers where you just balance the wheel and tyre on a sharp point and add weights until the thing sits level, don't work).

Balancing until the average driver can't feel any vibration is "good enough". However, it is always possible to balance something more precisely. If you've got an old van that isn't very fast, doesn't have ridiculously wide tyres, and is pretty rattly and wobbly, You're unlikely to notice something out of balance by as much as (say) 10 grammes. If you have a light, fast sportscar, you might be able to feel a wheel out of balance by 5 grammes or even less, if the road is smooth enough. So for your extra £3, they just take a bit more care (I imagine) and get it down to a smaller imbalance.

As others have said, it is complete hogwash that you need to rebalance each time you take a wheel off and put it on again (well, assuming you remember to fit it shiny-side-out"...;)). I have two sets of rims for summer and winter tyres, so our car has all its wheels off and on again, at least twice a year, plus servicing. Never had a problem with needing to re-balance them. Likewise, suspension alignment.
 
norseman said:
Made me smile as well, but I know many modern cars (BMW for example) need to be 'told' that a new battery has been fitted, so maybe not beyond the realms of possibility :unsure:

Or it could simply be bull...t
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No, it's "a thing" on modern cars with stop-start that used "AGM" type batteries. The car monitors battery state of charge as one of the parameters for permitting stop-start. "Telling" the battery management system that it's got a new battery helps it re-calibrate itself. Some people connect a couple of flying leads to the battery cables and to the new battery, before removing the old one, so that the car doesn't "know" it's had a new battery fitted. It stays live all the time. That sometimes gets out of having to take the car to a stealer to be told that it has a new battery.
 
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