Road Force Balancing Performed ** BIG Fan ** - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

tboyer · 07-29-2010, 04:32 AM

Had a shake @ and above 60 MPH in my Cayman 'S'. A local Indy shop suggested a road force balance due to the size/width. Shake is totally GONE, completely new drive even at slower speeds! The print out showed the previous balance so far out of whack they might as well as thrown the weight from across the room and hoped for the best. Highly recommened, I paid $100 for it, took an hour to complete.

landrovered · 07-29-2010, 09:10 AM

I had mine done when I put my Yokohama S. Drives on the rear of my 01 S. It is so much better than older machines. Also one of my rear tires required no weight adjustment at all. That is good manufacturing for a high speed tire!

j.fro · 07-29-2010, 04:32 PM

Ditto! Road force balancing is definitely worth the $100. And, it's for the life of the tires.

Dino · 07-29-2010, 04:55 PM

Hey Todd, The new ride looks good! Your old ride is still looking great in my garage as well. I have 2 new drive axles, a new motor mount, new fuel filter, and new spark plugs setting here waiting on the temp to drop enough for a long day under the car. Best of luck with the Cayman!

I'm not familiar with Road Force Balancing. Please elaborate.

Dino

JoeFromPA · 07-30-2010, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.fro

Ditto! Road force balancing is definitely worth the $100. And, it's for the life of the tires.

What do you mean for the life of the tires? A weight can still fall off. Do you mean they guarantee it stays balanced for the life of those tires?

Just curious man

landrovered · 07-30-2010, 04:20 AM

Road force balancing refers to the way the machine turns the tire. On old machines the tire was spun on a spindle and there was no contact between the tire and any surface as there is when you drive. Road force balancing uses a drum to turn the tire like a road surface. This allows for the natural deformation of the tire side wall just like you have when the tire is on the ground.

The computers are more sophisticated and can tell you if the wheel is out balance, if the tire is flat spotted or if the tire is out of round. This is in addition to better balancing.

backman_z · 07-30-2010, 04:41 AM

Never heard of road force balancing before. Learn something new every day. Thanks.

JoeFromPA · 07-30-2010, 05:13 AM

It's become more commonly available at higher end performance shops, as their customers are running wider tires with thinner sidewalls, which tend to exacerbate balancing issues and there is no "softness" to dampen any issues that come up.

Honestly though, I've seen it for ~$50 but not for $100. There's not much additional labor involved, it's simply the cost of the machine needs to be amortized so they increase the per-wheel/tire cost.

I think some shops are still figuring out what they can charge for it. Kinda like shops that offer to fill your tires with nitrogen for $25.

Dragonwind · 07-30-2010, 03:54 PM

I had mine done at Toyota and I love it! Highly recommended. You can see who has thenmachine at Huner's site.

Chris

tboyer · 07-31-2010, 02:45 AM

Hey Dino! Glad the Box is working out for you! Sounds like you may be enjoying it too much! HaHa, just kiddin'! The best $100 bucks and hour spent on a pcar was having this road force balance performed. Absolutely lovin' thie ride in the Cayman now. Feels so much more level, flat, and straight with no shaking. Highly recommended!

Johnny Danger · 07-31-2010, 05:42 AM

I've been extolling the virtues of "road force balancing" for years. Simple dynamic balancing is not sufficient. Tboyer is correct in saying, "might as well as thrown the weight from across the room and hoped for the best" !

23109VC · 07-31-2010, 09:40 AM

+1.

My 2000 box had a pretty bad shake at 65-70+ and it drove me nuts. my tires were good and I knew it was likely a balancing issue....

i went online to the website for the company that makes that machine..forget the name/link but you canf ind it.. hunter?? anyway, the Porsche dealer had one. I needed an oil change an my box gets free changes for life b/c the car was purchased there...so took it to them for my free annual oil change and then had them roadforce balance the tires.

teh shakes was GONE. 100%. car drove GREAT. I was VERY happy!

Dragonwind · 07-31-2010, 01:01 PM

Hunter GSP9700

Locate a Hunter GSP9700 near you!

Overdrive · 07-31-2010, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonwind

Hunter GSP9700

Locate a Hunter GSP9700 near you!

This sounds like a worthwhile investment. Thanks for the link, Dragonwind.

Johnny Danger · 07-31-2010, 05:41 PM

Its worth mentioning, that every Porsche dealer is required to have the Hunter system in house.

vath2001 · 08-01-2010, 03:54 AM

I'm not totally sold on this. Sounds like the tire guys are re-balancing the tires and trying to sell you a $100 "upgrade" to the balance. Did they try to include better weights too? Better grade of lead?
Someone mentioned the Nitrogen upgrade.... which, right now, your tires are filled with 78% N2 anyways.
Another way to relieve you of your hard earned money.

vwburg · 08-01-2010, 04:18 AM

The additional costs can come if the machine finds the tire is out of round. The system will then have the operator take the tire off the wheel and rotate it about the wheel to be re-mounted in a different position. If both the wheel and the tire have any raised spots you don't want them to be constructive making the whole assembly worse.

Obviously I don't know if this is why you were charged $100, but this can cause additional labour when balancing and could cause a variable price for the balancing.

Dragonwind · 08-01-2010, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwburg

The additional costs can come if the machine finds the tire is out of round. The system will then have the operator take the tire off the wheel and rotate it about the wheel to be re-mounted in a different position. If both the wheel and the tire have any raised spots you don't want them to be constructive making the whole assembly worse.

Obviously I don't know if this is why you were charged $100, but this can cause additional labour when balancing and could cause a variable price for the balancing.

It takes an hour of labor to do + materials. I had a shake that nobody could balance out, even with brand new tires. I brought it to get road force balanced, and they discovered that the left rear was out of spec, but by matching the balance of the wheel to the tire they got it smooth. In fact, it has NEVER ridden as smooth as it does now. There was no 'selling 'it costs this much everywhere. In fact if you are being charged more than that then I would question it.

I like the indie shop I go to but I tried three times for them to get it right and I even watched one time, saw their machine read 0.00 and it still had a shake over 70. From now on I'll always just order tires to my house and bring the to the Toyota dealership to get put on and RFB.

Chris

SoCalKen · 08-01-2010, 06:17 AM

supply and demand I guess, probably not as many people need that type of balance and so you need to pay for it somehow.
Ken

coreseller · 08-01-2010, 12:03 PM

I have a few cars, drive ~1k miles a week for work and have been doing so for 25 years. I'm cheap. Last spring I sprung for the road force balance on my Boxster (while having the rears only replaced) on all 4 tires, the car drives worlds better than it has in years. Chalk me up as a believer.