Hunter Road Force Touch a must for balancing wheels and tires

[artsci]

Took my 20" wheels and tires for balancing to a shop with the Hunter Road Force touch. This is the current state of the art for wheel and tire balancing. The machine exerts a force on the tire as the wheel spins and indicates on a monitor the out-of-balance points on both the wheel and tire. It provides a "road force" rating number. If the rating is above a specified limit the tire has to be loosened on the rim and turned so that the out-of-blance points are opposite each other. Once that's done the service tech follows steps to fine tune the balance of the wheel/tire assembly. The process took about an hour and cost about $60 total for all four wheel/tire assemblies.

What a change it made! My Model S was as smooth on the road as it has ever been and much smoother than with any conventional balancing I've had done before (at least twice a year).

I highly recommend that when fellow owners need to balance their wheels that they do it only at a shop with the Road Force Touch.

Thanks to Xenoilphobe for recommending this system in the carbon fiber rim thread.

 

[blanche]

Totally agree. Also, worth pointing out that tire and wheel packages purchased from TireRack.com get Hunter Road Force alignment performed before being shipped. I've never had any problems with purchasing winter/summer packages from them.

 

[drsaab]

Where did you get it done. That seems like a good deal at $60 for 4.

 

[artsci]

Where did you get it done. That seems like a good deal at $60 for 4.

Here:

Brooks-Huff Tire Co
909 York Rd
TOWSON MD, 21204
(410)-823-4000

 

[AudubonB]

Thanks for alerting us to this. It prompted me to perform a Hunter hunt , and am happy to report that the Tesla Scottsdale Service Center does have the Road Force Touch, according to Hunter's website. And it doesn't surprise: I took the P85 in last week for a new-shoe mount; they performed an all-corners alignment as well and I have been utterly delighted at how smooth the ride and tracking now is.

 

[trils0n]

I thought every Tesla service center had these machines as standard equipment. (Plus the nice Hunter alignment machines). Tesla always does a great job on my alignments and balances.

 

[artsci]

I thought every Tesla service center had these machines as standard equipment. (Plus the nice Hunter alignment machines). Tesla always does a great job on my alignments and balances.

My SC does have the RoadForce Touch. But I have aftermarket wheels and tires which they won't touch. Plus it's an hour's drive away. Brooks-Huff is 3 miles or so from my home and it's great to have a local shop that can to this work. Plus the Service Manager, Rob Briggs, let me in the shop to watch him do the work. He was incredibly conscientious.

 

[AudubonB]

That may be the case (trils0n)....although a good guess is that it's dangerous to use such absolutes as "every". I do know I had seen Hunter tire changers at Service Centers in the past, but never had looked at their balancers.

 

[trils0n]

My SC does have the RoadForce Touch. But I have aftermarket wheels and tires which my they won't touch. Plus it's an hour's drive away. Brooks-Huff is 3 miles or so from my home and it's great to have a local shop that can to this work.

That makes sense -- 3 miles sure beats an hour drive. Always thought it was odd Tesla refused to deal with aftermarket wheels/tires.

 

[artsci]

That makes sense -- 3 miles sure beats an hour drive. Always thought it was odd Tesla refused to deal with aftermarket wheels/tires.

Frankly it's baffling. It's not that Tesla's 21" and 19" wheels set any standards for quality of manufacture.

 

[AWDtsla]

Things can go wrong with this balancer. For example if you take you car in for a rebalance and you haven't driven enough to round out the rubber. The machine will tell the tech to add weight to counter the flatspot, which will of course go away after a tens of miles of highway driving.

 

[CHG-ON]

I used to "spin balance" my tires all the time. Such a difference. I can't find anybody to do it anymore and I am always unhappy with the balance. Thank you so much for this lead. I'm going search until I find somebody who will do it out here. $60 is a steal for perfectly balanced sneaks on the car!

So happy to see this!

 

[aus]

GSP9700 Locator

Here you go.
.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

I'm happy with the results on my car. It was time to rotate anyway.

 

[CLLACAB]

Just a word of caution. The beauty of this machine is that it allows the tire to be matched to the rim. And it puts pressure on the tire to simulate the effect of driving on a road. But it requires the tech to deflate the tire and move it around the rim to put it in the optimal location. This may need to be done a few times and it takes a bit of effort. Some shops cut corners and just add weights. Confirm with the shop that they are going to go through the effort to match the wheel and the tire.

 

[LuckyLuke]

I can confirm the topic title. After receiving my P85 back in 2013 I had some issues with vibrations on highway speeds.
My normal tire shop did what they could but after 3 times balancing I gave up and went to a shop with a Hunter 9700.
Result was that the rear wheels had measured road force of 140Nm and 90Nm. Where 90Nm is critical and <65Nm is target. The machine measures the wheel and tire and calculates the optimal position to rotate. Result was amazing, the ride was very smooth again.
From then on I never visited another tire shop.

Here you can see the machine in the background.

And a stock photo:

 

[artsci]

I spoke to a Hunter rep today. He confirmed that many if not all Tesla Service Centers have the Hunter Road Force Touch equipment but that few or none have the Hunter Revolution touch less tire changer. Brooks Huff, my local shop, has both.

- - - Updated - - -

Just a word of caution. The beauty of this machine is that it allows the tire to be matched to the rim. And it puts pressure on the tire to simulate the effect of driving on a road. But it requires the tech to deflate the tire and move it around the rim to put it in the optimal location. This may need to be done a few times and it takes a bit of effort. Some shops cut corners and just add weights. Confirm with the shop that they are going to go through the effort to match the wheel and the tire.

It's not a bad idea to observe while the tech takes the road force readings. The video on the machine reports the road force data. As I understand it, if the road force reading is above 65nM the tire needs to be rotated on the rim and weights alone will not be enough to balance the tire/wheel assembly. My shop let me watch as the tech used the machine and he pointed all of this out to me.

 

[pimp-boy]

You got that done at a really good price as it takes a bit a time to do it correctly. Sad to say that shops that actually purchase this machine, not every tech knows how to use it correctly. Alot of them using it as a balancer rather than using it as a roadforce balancer and tire matching. Many of the techs are lazy to break the bead, match the tire to the rim and then re-balance.

Took my 20" wheels and tires for balancing to a shop with the Hunter Road Force touch. This is the current state of the art for wheel and tire balancing. The machine exerts a force on the tire as the wheel spins and indicates on a monitor the out-of-balance points on both the wheel and tire. It provides a "road force" rating number. If the rating is above a specified limit the tire has to be loosened on the rim and turned so that the out-of-blance points are opposite each other. Once that's done the service tech follows steps to fine tune the balance of the wheel/tire assembly. The process took about an hour and cost about $60 total for all four wheel/tire assemblies.

What a change it made! My Model S was as smooth on the road as it has ever been and much smoother than with any conventional balancing I've had done before (at least twice a year).

I highly recommend that when fellow owners need to balance their wheels that they do it only at a shop with the Road Force Touch.

Thanks to Xenoilphobe for recommending this system in the carbon fiber rim thread.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I spoke to a Hunter rep today. He confirmed that many if not all Tesla Service Centers have the Hunter Road Force Touch equipment but that few or none have the Hunter Revolution touch less tire changer. Brooks Huff, my local shop, has both.

Any more info on that bolded part. Does that mean it can install/remove tires without pry tools?

My other car has easily-damaged wheels that have been replaced a couple times due to carelessness. Might be worthwhile seeking out a shop that has that machine if it does what it sounds like it does.

 

[artsci]

The revolution machine never touches the rim. You can see a video of it in operation on the Hunter web site.