Do trailer tires need to be balanced?

[sigv]

Thanks for all the good advice. I called the trailer place and asked them again to balance - said they never do that.

I am picking up the tires and wheels tommorrow from them, bringing them to shop and getting them balanced.

Thanks again,

-Sig

[Action]

Originally Posted by sigv

Thanks for all the good advice. I called the trailer place and asked them again to balance - said they never do that.

I am picking up the tires and wheels tommorrow from them, bringing them to shop and getting them balanced.

Thanks again,

-Sig

I never understood that about shops. You are asking them to do a proceedure that they can do and is something they have the capability to do safely. You have money to give them for the services that you are requesting. And they don't want to do it!

Even if they thought your request was nutty I would think they still would want to do work and get paid!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by Action

I never understood that about shops. You are asking them to do a proceedure that they can do and is something they have the capability to do safely. You have money to give them for the services that you are requesting. And they don't want to do it!

Even if they thought your request was nutty I would think they still would want to do work and get paid!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

maybe they don't have a tire balancer.

I was shopping for tires last year...there is a local "trailer" shop near me that services all kinds of trailers...not just campers. they could sell me rims and tires, but when I asked about balancing, they said the same thing: "trailer tires don't need to be balanced". They don't have a balancer.

maybe this is why sob's rattle themselves apart in a few years. their service folks think they're immune to the laws of physics?

doesn't make alot of sense, thats for sure.

but, as for the fact that they don't have a balancer...perhaps thats not so crazy, considering that perhaps most of their customers don't actually "need" balancing...or that they believe this to be true. for the cost of the machine, the space it takes up, etc, etc...perhaps its too small a profit margin to be bothered. just guessing, there. But these guys always look like they're quite busy enough, as it is.

[scottanlily]

Hello chuck ,
Funny you should mention that about sob shaking apart. I do road service work on sobs in conjunction with my local RV shop.Many customers complain about that very problem ,also bouncing around going down the road and a big common problem,broken leaf springs ,why ,no tire balance and alot of sobs do not use shocks! Shocks control the rebound and movement of your tire and wheels. Its hard to believe ,but true.

Scott

[frozen chosen]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Just to clarify, the newer trailers do come from the factory with balanced tires. I crawled under mine and saw the wheel weights on the inside of the wheel.

Jack

Sorry Jack, I crawled under my '04; no weights. I plan on getting them balanced this week.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by frozen chosen

Sorry Jack, I crawled under my '04; no weights. I plan on getting them balanced this week.

FC, my Safari was built 12/03. I think Jack's was built between 30-90 days before mine. What is the build month/year of your coach. We might be able to narrow down when they started putting the weights on the rims......

[frozen chosen]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

FC, my Safari was built 12/03. I think Jack's was built between 30-90 days before mine. What is the build month/year of your coach. We might be able to narrow down when they started putting the weights on the rims......

Not sure; but I'd guess around July 2003

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Silvertwinkie

FC, my Safari was built 12/03. I think Jack's was built between 30-90 days before mine. What is the build month/year of your coach. We might be able to narrow down when they started putting the weights on the rims......

My build was September or October of '03. You do have to look carefully for those weights. They aren't the typical big lead ones that you see on auto's or trucks. I know I missed them the first time I looked.

Jack

[sovereignrwe]

The size of the lead weights will depend on the level of balance of the combination of tire and wheel. Wheels can not be balanced without the tire, and must be rebalanced when the tire is replaced.

Someone doing a good job of balancing wheels/tires will try hard to put all of the weights on the back of the rim so that they can't be seen. It is not always possible to balance a wheel/tire only putting weights on the back of the rim.

Balancing a tire and wheel is obviously only for that point in time. As we drive down the road the tire is slowly worn and balance is impacted.

If you rotate tires on your TV you should check the balance to see that the tires are still in balance. I say this being able to do this for my self for free, and not paying for the balance. So you should do your own price/risk analysis to decide if you want to pay for this service. I would guess I change the size and location of weights on the rim when rebalancing around 50% of the time. Note: That is not a scientifically calculated estimate.

I would be very surprized to encounter a tire business that doesn't offer wheel/tire balancing. I'm sure it happens. I can't imagine running a tire businesses without one. Dad has balanced tires for the 31 years he has owned this businesses and did it for the 5 years he worked for Goodyear before that. Since I have Dad's business, I've not had to consider this before...would I shop at a tire business without a tire balancer....good question.

In my mind, a recommendation not to balance tires on a trailer is due to someone's personal opinion that a trailer isn't worth enough to worry about balancing, along with the fact that trailer tire life isn't based on the same tire features as a normal tire application (car, truck, SUV) as trailers in general don't cover enough miles. Trailer tires tend to die from age rather than use. For all I know, the guy making the recommendation had no idea an Airstream has the kind of value (monetary and emotional - both) that justifies the added expense.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by frozen chosen

Not sure; but I'd guess around July 2003

Originally Posted by jcanavera

My build was September or October of '03. You do have to look carefully for those weights. They aren't the typical big lead ones that you see on auto's or trucks. I know I missed them the first time I looked.

So, if FC has no weights and Jack does as of 10/03, to me that would mean one of 3 possible things:

1) That sometime between July '03 and October '03 the factory started putting balance weights on the RVs (be it themselves or from an outside vendor).

2) FC's wheels were perfect and needed none.

3) The factory forgot to balance these or they came to the factory that way unbalanced (in error).

I'm leaning toward #1. Though with some of the QC issues I've seen #3 isn't all that impossible.

[frozen chosen]

I gotta go with door no. 3 here. I pulled the tires and definately no weights, front or back. Given AS's abysmal record at QC, this seems typical. While J might have gotten some info from AS to the effect they balance tire/wheels, isn't it suprising others, including some major AS dealers who post on this site can't get a straight answer from the company; about balancing, or jacking procedures, or standing on the roof, or protective covering, or product manuals, or about a dozen other things I can think of. While I have never "taken the tour", and can't think of a lousier way to spend my time, it appears the Jackson center operates with the skilled efficiency of a Bulgarian shoe plant. No 2 trailers are alike, ever. The appologistas will say this is quaint and indicative of the fact these are hand made. Sorry, I'm starting to blog; anyway, I'm getting the damn tires balanced today, and wish I'd done it before my bearings blew up and broke the wheel assembly in half last year.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by frozen chosen

I gotta go with door no. 3 here.

Not to sound like Sly Stalone in Judge Dredd, but "I knew you'd say that!"

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by sovereignrwe

Balancing a tire and wheel is obviously only for that point in time. As we drive down the road the tire is slowly worn and balance is impacted.

If you rotate tires on your TV you should check the balance to see that the tires are still in balance. I say this being able to do this for my self for free, and not paying for the balance. So you should do your own price/risk analysis to decide if you want to pay for this service. I would guess I change the size and location of weights on the rim when rebalancing around 50% of the time. Note: That is not a scientifically calculated estimate.

Many larger tire retailers will offer a lifetime wheel balance, so you can purchase a wheel balance once, pay a bit more, and have them checked for free whenever you get the tires rotated. Many retailers also will offer free tire rotation on tires that you purchased from them. You may be able to get the lifetime balance on your trailer tires, also, but check with your tire dealer to make sure he will honor that program on trailer tires before you purchase this.

[Dusty601]

Originally Posted by sigv

Just bought new tires and rims from TrailerTiresAndRims.com. The tech there said trailer tires do not need balancing?

Is this true?

Thanks,

-Sig

Check out centramatic self balancers for your trailer. I have a set and they seem to work just fine. Allows you to rotate without need to balance and eliminates need to pay someone to balance.

[frozen chosen]

Originally Posted by Dusty601

Check out centramatic self balancers for your trailer. I have a set and they seem to work just fine. Allows you to rotate without need to balance and eliminates need to pay someone to balance.

They sound like the ticket allright. I checked and they do not make these for 14" rims, but may in the future. If they do, I suspect it may not fit b/c the bolts on my wheels do not stick out very far - the centramatic plate would add too much thickness. I guess I would have to add longer bolts.