A Tire story

[xtriggerman]

Im wondering if any one here has had a similar issue as this with H rated tires. I bought a set of my favorite tires from Tire Rack And had a shop put them on the car. They are OEM size General Altimax RT43 H speed rated. Tire Rack didn't have the T rated tires that I'v bought several times in the past for a variety of vehicles. All of which balanced out perfectly first time around. The counter guy at the shop (whos been there over 20years) all so praised the Altimax as one of the very best tires on the market today. The shop uses Hunter Road Force Elite balancing machines. Wade, the counter guy comes out and shows me a spec sheet with balancing results. 3 tires were in the mid 20's and one was 37. I never knew that tires had a numerical balance value! Wade said the one tire simply would not balance out good enough but "might" pull in after running it for a sort time. The vibe at 75 mph was way more than I could deal with so I had them order another H and that one balanced OK. Even at OK the car still has a very slight vibe at speed so I will re balance after a thousand miles. After a call to Tire Rack CS, they sent UPS out with a pre paid tag and I should get a full refund on the bad tire. After a little research, I find the speed rating on a H tire has a much tougher casing than the T's and even the rubber compound is different in addition to the fact that they will not last as long as the T's. Question is, has any one else had balance issues with H rated tires? This seems weird.

 

[slowmkviii]

Dont remember the speed rating but when I put tires on 19 years ago for a living
The new white letter indy tires were horrible for at least a year every set had to have at least one tire warranty replaced

 

[xtriggerman]

Tire Rack refunded the $102.99 cost of the tire. Who would have thought.... A new tire that couldn't be balanced! Maybe General made Indy tires back then, LOL. Still have a 75 mph vibe on the new rubber. After about 1000 miles, I'll see what happens on a rebalance.

 

[xtriggerman]

Just to update this thread, the other 3 H tires balanced out at 25, 27 and 29. Tire rack has taken them all back for a no cost to me exchange since they will exchange anything that will not balance below a 25. I'm waiting for the new tires to come in now. As this was all going down at the shop with the 4th try to balance, I decided to just order 4 new T rated Altimax tires and they are now on the car. Tire rack would have refunded the 3 but as a refund, I would have had to pay shipping back to them, so I opted for the exchange so I can just sell the 3 new and one that balanced out as a 9. The car rides pretty good now at least way better than those H tires at speed. In the 44 years I'v been driving, I'v never ran into a balancing issue like this. Maybe its just a General tire QC problem since 4 out of 5 H tires were bad right from the git go. Any one else with balancing issues on the factory rims?

 

[germansheperd]

For whatever reason these cars have always been known to have an ever so slight vibration thats near impossible to fix. Not horrible but if your a car guy or gearhead you will always pick it up regardless of how good the tires or balance are.

 

[xtriggerman]

Your right GS! There still is an "ever so slight" body vib up into the 70's plus that seems to even out past 85mph. The steering wheel is about 95 percent free of vib. I think I'm going to bring it to another shop and have them give me the balance numbers on the rear tires and see how close to zero their Hunter machine can get them. I all ready have a Dynotech drive shaft with Spicer U joint and new yokes so it has to be a tires/wheels thing all tho I'm not crazy about how much free up and down slop there is in the Differential input of the housing. I would thing the rubber grommets would give it pressured movement, not free play to the extent it has. I hate crawling under cars any more! Nothing seems to be inside bifocal range any more other than that dirt crumb that will most likely evade any eye protective efforts on my part....