Discount tire fail and balancing issue...

I am having a hell of a time with my new wheels and tires. Discount tire has tried balancing them 5 times. I have new Level 8 Bully Pro wheels and 265 75 16 KO2s. At around 45 to 55 mph i get horrible steering wheel shakes. They did not install the hub rings that come with the wheels because they hadn't come in yet. Discount Tire also dented and scratched TWO NEW WHEELS. They said they are replacing only one. The wheels are 4 days old. Very unsatisfied. I took it to an independent wheel/alignment shop who got the wheels and tires to balance out to zero but I have almost a pound of weight on each front wheel and they are counter balanced out the ass. Wheels look horrible with that much weight on them and who wants nearly a pound on each wheel?! I drove back to Discount Tire today and showed the manager who said the shop I paid 40 bucks to ripped me off and balanced them incorrectly.... Well... the shaking is gone. He said they will reimburse me the money spend on balancing and start over possibly tomorrow if the hub rings come in with the matching lugs. They also claim Toyota doesn't ever need hub rings and that my wheels are 110 which isn't much of a gap with the 106 on the Tacoma.

Don't know who to believe at this point. Pretty pissed they are only replacing one of the two wheels they damaged. Guess the only thing going for me is I got a crazy good deal on all 4 tires.... The sales guys and the manager were both very very nice and helpful. I think my issue lies with inexperienced tech? I have heard of road force balancing but don't know of any shops out here to do it. Any suggestions??

 

A 4mm gap is pretty significant when you're talking about how the wheel is centered on the hub. Chances are that's not the problem though.

1lb of weight is crazy. Does discount do road force balancing? Did they use the lug adapter or the cone?

Why did you agree to purchase 2 damaged wheels?

 

1lb of weight is damn near insanity. They do not do road force balancing and one of the techs told me they never heard of it. They used the cone at Discount. The shop I went to that got them to zero out used the lug adapter. I didn't agree to purchase two damaged wheels. They damaged them on the try #2-5 of balancing.

 

Ah I see. That's horrible. I don't use discount tire, but I've heard "some" are good.

 

The sales guys and the manager were very friendly so hopefully they will make it right.

 

They need to break the beed and spin the tire 180.

 

I had to take my tires to two separate shops. One shop gouged two wheels and all 4 wheels had a pound of weight on each. I took them to another shop and had them re-balance and told them to turn the the tires 180 to take less weight.

 

not sure what that is

 

Dude which discount tire are you going too? The on on plaza off of the 805 is great. Been going there for years.

 

Santee. I used to go to La Mesa. Not bashing the sales guy or managers just the more than questionable work by the techs.

 

I completely understand. Try the plaza store, they have been really great.

 

If they cant get it sorted when the hub rings and lugs come in, I may just do that. I am more than frustrated at this point.

 

Discount could never get my Level 8's balanced. I eventually gave up, went back to stock wheels and had them balanced at the dealership. They might be expensive but they do it right. I had read somewhere that toyota wheels need to be balance with a heweka adapter and that discount doesn't use it... Not sure of the validity of that but definitely something to look into.
Did you order the wheels from Discount TIre Direct and then take them to a store to get them balanced? Might contact Discount Tire Direct about them scratching up your wheels if that's the case. Not sure if it will help but you never know.

 

The adapter was used at the private third party tire and alignment place i went to. They zeroed the wheels but had to use a lb of friggin weights. I am going to keep trying to get this right and hopefully discount will stick to their word.

 

Well, the lug nuts and hub rings showed up today at Discount. They called me to come in. They replaced one of the wheels they damaged and installed the rings and new lugs. They also re balanced the wheels. So far so good. Rides smooth as it should be. Only a couple of ounces needed. I honestly think the hub rings were the most needed part. I have a lot of driving to do these next few days so that will be a good test. They were more than helpful and friendly about it all. Maybe partly because they did mess some a brand new wheel. Either way, the customer service was there. If anyone gets any of the newer level 8 wheels that come with hubcentric rings... use them.

 

Glad it's all back to normal,looks like your missing your center cap on the rear rim... Truck looks good..

 

glad they got the problem fixed! Americas tire up here in Elk Grove/Sacramento always do great work for me.