Christmas in September!

[RandallNeighbour]

+1 on what JD wrote.

I road force balance all my tires and rims every time I have them balanced on a Hunter 9700 series machine. Most Discount Tire locations have them, but charge another ten bucks per wheel for it, but it's worth it.

Matches the heaviest part of the tire to the lightest part of the rim for the best balance possible. Much better than stick-on weights alone.

Just remember that if you track your car or do some serious high-speed braking from time to time, the rubber can actually creep around the rim a 32nd of an inch at a time without breaking the bead. I've had tires move as much as 6-8 inches after being mounted a year before.

The Discount Tire boys always argue with me that I don't need RFB after the tires are initially mounted, but when I press them to do it and they see how far they've shifted, they say, "Oh, I didn't realize that could happen."

I hate the fact that I have to argue and educate these newbies all the time, but they're a lot closer and a LOT cheaper than the performance shops in town who understand these things.

BTW, it's great to hear the sidewalls are softer than the Michelins. With my coilovers and adjustable control arms, my ride quality has suffered terribly and this should help a little. It's not so great to hear about the flat spotting... my Michelins didn't flat spot at all, or if they did it was not noticeable. I just didn't have the money to buy French again, so I went Korean.