Guest Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I need to do some juggling of wheels and tires. Looking for a knowledgeable place with Hunter road force balancer. Can anyone recommend a place? Before I used Champion Tire in Ringoes, NJ but was not very pleased with them as they told me "winter tires cannot be road force balanced" (Nokian WRs). I am thinking about going to Freedman Tire in Edison, NJ - talked to them over the phone and they seem alright. Any experience with them? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I need to do some juggling of wheels and tires. Looking for a knowledgeable place with Hunter road force balancer. Can anyone recommend a place? Before I used Champion Tire in Ringoes, NJ but was not very pleased with them as they told me "winter tires cannot be road force balanced" (Nokian WRs). I am thinking about going to Freedman Tire in Edison, NJ - talked to them over the phone and they seem alright. Any experience with them? Thanks. The autox people like this place eg tire and auto center. http://www.autox4u.com/egtire/index.htm A very unique and very special opportunity has been presented to the Tri-State autocross community. For quite some time, autocrossers in the area have had to deal with shops who lacked the skills, equipment, or heart to understand the special needs the autocrosser requires compared to "ordinary" customers. That is all about to change... Thanks to Jeff Yatsko and his team at EG Tire and Auto Center, we finally have a place to call "home". An avid autocrosser and NNJR-SCCA member since 1997 &, one of our core workers that helps organize the NNJR Solo II events. Jeff brings a strong work ethic and an uncanny attention to detail to our community. He understands the importance of having a wheel alignment that is custom tailored to one's preferences and spot-on in its execution. He does not dread the sight of R-compound race rubber like many other tire shops; nor will he look at you puzzled when you ask to get your car corner weighted! But EG Tire and Auto Center is much more than a tire shop, it is also a fully functioning repair facility capable of fixing anything afflicting your Acura just as capably as your neighbors Volvo. I personally have entrusted Jeff's expertise since our friendship began almost a decade ago. He was an integral part of the success I had with my 1993 Civic and many, if not all, of the trophies I acquired at various levels of competition should have been dedicated to him. I look forward to continuing that tradition of quality and success with my new 2006 Civic... And I hope you will as well. Anthony "Mario" Crea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Thanks! That's damn close to me. Unfortunately, they don't have the road force balancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 you dont need a road force balancer. if you have ever used one you'd know it doesnt help much with the balancing. the way i see it, its better to have someone who knows what they are doing on a non-road force balancer than it is to have an idiot on a road force balancer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Well, right, but the road force is not a hype I keep reading everywhere... Will give these Freedman folks a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Well, right, but the road force is not a hype I keep reading everywhere... The road force feature itself is pretty worthless IMHO. Waht you are reading is the overall opinion of the entire hunter roadforce balancer itself which is an amazing balancer machine. even if you took the roadforce feature off it, it would still be an awsome machine. I had a one of them at my old job, and the only time i used the road force feature was to proove that a rim or tire was messed up beyond repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Que es un Road force Balancer? How does it differ from a plain ole wheel balancer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Never Mind... From another thread.. "This balancer has a roller that will measure the radial runout of your wheel/tire combo and the attendant roadforce that these inconsistencies generate. I had a set of Falken Azenis ST-115's on my car and had mild vibration after the install. I went back and had them rebalanced, but it didn't make any difference. I then had the shop put the wheels on their RoadForce balancer and we found that 3 of my 4 tires were out of spec for roundness." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raz-0 Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 I don't know about freedman tire's ability to do the high quality balancing, but my friend has been going to them for YEARS and swears by them. always gave him a very honest price, went out of his way to save them money, and when their car started dying, hooked him up with his son who sells used cars and got hima great deal on an accord that was a couple years old. Jake is a good guy, and they do good work, just don't know how far it extends to the performance end of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eqt2010 Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 The autox people like this place eg tire and auto center. http://www.autox4u.com/egtire/index.htm Wow... it's only 5 min away from my home. Do they do repairs? My wife just damaged my front bumper and wheel and I'm looking for a good bodyshop now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 I don't know about freedman tire's ability to do the high quality balancing, but my friend has been going to them for YEARS and swears by them. always gave him a very honest price, went out of his way to save them money, and when their car started dying, hooked him up with his son who sells used cars and got hima great deal on an accord that was a couple years old. Jake is a good guy, and they do good work, just don't know how far it extends to the performance end of things. Good to hear a good review. I also found a positive comment somewhere on the net. I am gonna give these folks a try this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATB Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 hmm...no 18s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATB Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 hmm...no 18s. Edit: Their TireRack entry indicates thay dont take 19+ http://www.tirerack.com/installer/InstallerDetail.jsp?index=0&installermiles=4&zipCode=08536&x=85&y=19&place=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I went to Freedman Tire today. WOW. First of all - Jake, the owner... has 2005 LGT MT wagon! He bought the low-mileage black one that was for sale recently in Edison (was posted on the board) - this is incredible coincidence - I was considering buying that car and even had first "dibs" on it! His already stage 2 with that car! The guy was very friendly and assured me of talking extra good care of me as a LGT brother. I brought set of STI BBS wheels with old tires and ask to move Nokian WRs I had on the stockers to them. I asked for road-force balancing. He said he will handle everything himself. Well, yes he did the balancing himself, leaving mounting/unmounting to his employee. Mouting/unmounting - seeing the employee stacking wheels on top of each other I politely asked him to not do so - he angrily responded "I did not slam them". Yes, he handled them carefully, but there was no reason to be angry about my request - wanted rim-to-rim contact eliminated to decrease chances for scratching/chipping. Also at least two wheels were chipped while unmounting the tires. I asked Jake, he says with stiff tires like RE070 this is often unavoidable - despite using plastic attachment on the machine, the pressure while prying is too strong and paint gets chipped. I am not sure if I believe this. Well, I don't care much, because these wheels are to be used as winter set and were already bit rough, but still. The balancing. I had actualy 6 tires to mount/balance (for six wheel rotation). I didn't see two first being done, according to Jake they checked out fine (15/16 lbs. road force), one even did not require any weights for regular balancing! I was witnessing the rest being balanced (thanks to Jake for allowing me to do so). Two new I brought with me - had terrible road force (~50 lbs), which often happens with new tires. At least one of them was unfixable according to the Hunter machine, with the other one I am not sure. It seemed to me the machine had some problems, and Jake was avoiding doing proper measurements or wasn't quite familiar with the process. He was saying he doesn't trust the machine, allegedly it gives many false positives, and he is even considering stopping offering road force balancing. The other two older had 37 lbs and (only) 2 lbs. respectively. Bottom line - I was treated very nicely, wasn't charged too much, in particular I wasn't charged for extra tires being unmounted (total 10 unmounts, and 6 mounts/balance jobs). However the road force balancing job was not what I expected. I wish the chips on the wheels are avoided. Conclusion - with my next set of wheels, also STI BBS but in pristine shape I am gonna use for summer, I am going somewhere else, giving up on road-balancing, but where I will be promised that best effort will be made to avoid chipping/scratching the wheels. Road-force is probably not that important unless the case is severe. I guess I am going next to that place recommended by SCCA... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Road-force is probably not that important unless the case is severe. Didnt i say that? I told you the road force is overrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Didnt i say that? I told you the road force is overrated. I know, I know. I am just overly anal.... but I am giving up... By the way, now after this STI BBS/RE070 "related" chips on the rims. Didn't you mention once, that these ties/wheels require something unusual in terms of mounting/unmounting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 yep. if i remember correctly, the sti bbs rims are reverse drop center rims. they need to be put on the mounting machine upside down. doing this on older mounting machines with the clamps made of metal will almost certainly chip the rims. the mounting machine we had at my old dealership had rubber lined clamps so as to not damage rims. Compounded by the uber stiff sidewalls of the re070 tires, the dismounting and mounting takes alot of muscle. Its very difficult to do it without making a mark on the rim. even more so if you dont know you have to put the rim on the machine upside down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Shit. They did not put them upside down, well actually good, because the mounting machine definitely had metal clamps. Too bad I forgot about it, damn it. Would have checked if they have proper mounting machine and gone elsewhere. Argh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATB Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 So he's the one that took the NJ blk wagon forcing me to fly to Florida to get mine. I don't like him already Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 So he's the one that took the NJ blk wagon forcing me to fly to Florida to get mine. I don't like him already :lol: Yup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 Another thing forgot to mention: the Freedman's shop monkey overtorqued the lug nuts on two of the wheels. 600 lbs/ft impact took time to remove them. #@#!(^$@!! Checked it next day, don't trust any shop monkeys... Also should mention: Jake called next day to ask about any issues/vibrations and said to bring it back if something happens. That's pretty nice customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 yep. if i remember correctly, the sti bbs rims are reverse drop center rims. they need to be put on the mounting machine upside down. doing this on older mounting machines with the clamps made of metal will almost certainly chip the rims. the mounting machine we had at my old dealership had rubber lined clamps so as to not damage rims. Compounded by the uber stiff sidewalls of the re070 tires, the dismounting and mounting takes alot of muscle. Its very difficult to do it without making a mark on the rim. even more so if you dont know you have to put the rim on the machine upside down. I called the place SCCA recommends. Talked to some really nice guy there. He says they don't have this kind of mounting machine and says it's rare. He admits that unmounting often causes chips. Need to call around and see who has this kind of machine. He mentioned some fancy "touchless" Hunter machine that costs big $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 town motors in Englewood up by me has it. Ive used it countless times. but its alittle bit of a drive for you, and I'm not sure how competent the techs there are about the minutia of tire mounting you require. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 I found that American Tire in Trenton has "latest and greatest" Hunter tire changer machine and I was told "no way we will scratch". I will see. They also don't fear road force balancing. Gonna try them next with my summer set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATB Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 I never had luck finding a good tire shop when I lived in the Pricenton area. One place recomended by TireRack chewed up a nice set of SSR 5 spokes. There is a place in Morristown named Shade Tree Garrage that apparantly has the most modern Hunter equipment. Although I can walk there I haven't actually used them since they are a bit pricey - quoted $200 just to replace the belts on a Miata. I have used another place in Morristown, Steve's Auto Service, that does excellent work with mounting and balancing for a good price. They have also patched 3 tires for me. Probably can't handle the STi wheels though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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