Good and Bad Experience with Tire Balancing

[James Lofgren <lofgren@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently bought a '98 M3 from a private party, which has given me
flawless driving except for two things:

1.  There is a steering wheel vibration at about 1300 rpm.  The dealer
replaced the power steering pump, which is often the cause of this problem.
 This did nothing to lessen the vibration, and then the mechanic noticed on
the technical bulletin that this problem is occurring in a lot of M3's and
the cause is unknown at this time.  Should the factory isolate the cause,
they will notify the dealer, who in turn will notify me.  At least this is
the story given me, and I can live with the malady.

2.  The real reason for this posting is my experience with the tires; the
steering wheel vibrated between 65 and 75 mph to the point that I felt I
was getting a wrist massage.  I had the dealer rebalance them, and I think
the end result was even worse than the original vibration.

I then recalled a that posting some time ago extolled the virtues of the
Hunter balancing systems.  Using Google to research this, it appeared that
Hunter's GSP 9700 Vibration Control System was getting good reviews.  As
luck would have it, one local tire store had the machine, and I today I
commissioned them to try to improve the balance.

I won't delve into the computers and mechanics of this system (if
interested, you can look this up on the Hunter web site), but the results
were amazing.  When I drove home, there was no vibration at any speed under
the century mark.  The shop did point out that my left rear tire had an
unacceptablly high 36 pound out of balance condition and because the
dianostics indicated that the condition could not be significantly lessened
through rotating the tire on the rim, they would try to correct it as much
as possible with weights, which they did.  Interestingly, the shop said
that the dealer had correctly balanced one of the four tires.

Now the car is a real joy to drive.  And, a question is, do I go back to
the dealer and ask for some $$$ back or chalk it up to experience?  Other
than this, I have had a good relationship with the dealer.

I have no financial interests in Hunter, and this is an unsolicited posting.

Jim  

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