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Originally Posted by 23109VC
...is it important to have the car balanced with that LFM feature, or does it just matter to get it done by a place that has the newer 9700 machine??
there is an americas tire very close that has the 9700 but it does NOT hze the LFM feature. the only places near me that have the LFM feature are dealerships that don't do porsche work... chevy, mazda, etc.
will any shpo with a hunter 9700 be able to do "roadforce" balancing? the place that I got my tires balanced at did NOT have this machine, so my wheels did NOT get this type of balancing.
do I need this LFM feature? or is that unnecessary?
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You probably just answered your own question. If your shop didn't have the Hunter machine - they didn't dynamically balance your tires - it may need to be done again.
The LFM feature is nice but not absolutely necessary; the 97XX system has done a very good job of dynamic balancing tires/wheels for a decade without it.
But, it's not just a case of the equipment, it's also a case of the operator.
To illustrate; I had a 4 wheel alignment done on my wife's Jag when we got new tires for it. I was allowed to be in the shop and observe. The tech spun the tires up, one at a time, on the 9700. This has a graphic readout and as I was watching, he turned off the machine while the graphic on the screen showed the 1st tire off. I commented and he said " The machine gives us a range and it's within that range..." I asked him to spin it up again and get it dead-on-balls which he did, and repeated for all 4 tires.
Next, the car went to the alignment rack. He did the setup and then started the machine. Because it's a Jag, I copied the alignment specs from the Workshop Manual and had them with me. The spec was 0.43. Again the tech adjusted it until it was at 0.47 and started tightening up the trailing arm. I pointed out that the spec was 0.43 and again the tech said the computer gives them a range of 0.39-0.49. I replied "that's just for schmucks who don't know what they're doing... but I bet you can get it right on the dot..." So he loosened the trailing arm and continued to adjust it until it sat squarely at 0.43 and set the other side the same way. I complimented him saying I knew he could do it. Anyway, that car can have a cup of coffee in the holder at 60 mph and it doesn't ripple.
These machines have universal software such as ALLDATA and such which do not always mirror the specs from the factory workshop manuals - remember these are commercial enterprises, it's counter productive to get things down to the Nth degree, they are built on the
Move 'em in - Move 'em out principal. In most cases, this is fine, but with alignment and balancing, precision matters. So make sure you know what the correct specs are and have the tech prove to you that he's setting the car to those specs - despite what his database may say.
Cheers!