I took my truck to Sears to have the alignment checked (it's been pulling to the right). Turns out the toe was a bit off, and now it drives straight as an arrow. Yay!

It got interesting, however, when the Sears tech came out and asked "Who balanced your wheels?" (Local shop) and "Does that truck shudder on the highway?" (Yes, from around 50-55 MPH). I had meant to take the truck back to the tire dealer anyway for the shudder, as it only started with these new A/T's.

The Sears guy claimed the wheels were "counter-balanced", and that it was a "newbie mistake". Of course they offered to balance them for a nominal fee. I said I would take it back to the tire shop first.

I can absoutely feel the shudder in the low 50's, and if I look in the mirror, the bed is sometimes quaking visibly. Anyone heard of 'counterbalancing'? Rather than 1 weight in the right place, this shop used a very large and a small weight together on each rim. I'm going to give the tire guy the chance to make it right, but the Sears reaction shook my confidence in the local shop.

 

For him to even ask if you had any shuddering at 50 or so mph tells me he knows what he is talking about. I would've had him do it.

 

I agree, if someone knows your problem without you telling them, he prolly should have fixed it for you...

 

Well I ran the term "counterbalancing" by the two fleet mechanics my company has, who have no interest in my money, and they had never heard of it.

The Sears guy didn't guess 50mph, he just asked if it shuddered.

1st stop is back to the place I bought them, and requesting a re-balance.

 

All counterbalance means is when the tech balanced your tire he placed the weight in the wrong spot. Instead of removing the weight and moving it over slightly to balance correctly, he added another weight. So do you have several weights on one side of the wheel? It happens with techs that don't want to spend too much time on one wheel. The only time I use to have the problem was if the wheel was bent or had alot of curb rash. That makes balancing more difficult. Hope this makes sense??

And the SEARS tech should have rebalanced the tire to begin with. When you attempt to align the vehicle, the first things a good tech does is check tire pressure and balance the wheels.

 

kartoon -That makes perfect sense. Yes, some of the rims have 2 weights.

Good point about the Sears guy. But of course the alignment wouldn't be free, and I didn't want to pay for it when the tire shop should do it.

 

well, good luck either way.