Re: Forester Wheel Balance

Wade Garrett <[email protected]> wrote:

> My neighbor took her '17 Forester with only 16k senior-driven miles to 
> the local Subaru dealer for its scheduled 48 month service. They said 
> tire wear pattern showed they needed to be balanced and she agreed to it.
> 
> To my eye, tires show no abnormal wear and there is absolutely no 
> vibration, shaking or steering wheel shimmy even up to 75+ MPH. Smooth 
> ride at all speeds.
> 
> Was she had?

That depends on how expert you think you are in diagnosing tire wear
patterns.  Did you check for scrubbing on the edges, and it uneven?  Did
you rotate each tire to watch the threads to see if there was a pattern
change due to bouncing (out of balance)?  Did you check for toe wear,
camber wear, center wear, edge wear, patchy wear, or cup wear?  The shop
should explain exactly how they determined improper tire wear.  If they
refuse, they're untrustworthy.  I had a shop say I needed a new intake
manifold gasket because they spotted puddles of coolant.  I had already
replaced a defective radiator cap.  It leaked, and the coolant went onto
the engine.  I hadn't hosed down the engine.  Despite telling them that,
and asking they clean the engine to determine if there was a coolant
leak from the engine, they just stuck to their guns saying that I had a
leak and how much they would charge.  That was at a shop not of my
choosing (the owner had work on their car done there).  When I took it
to my car shop, they explained to clean the engine, let it dry, and then
check for coolant on the engine and on the ground.  There was no leak.
The folks you sometimes deal with at the counter are not the mechanics.
They only know how to spew off their mechanics recommendations, and some
mechanics make decisions based on poor inspection.  I don't know if the
front desk dude even bothered to tell the mechanic what I told him about
the leaking radiator cap that I replaced.

Ride varies by the car.  With my car and its firmer ride, I can tell
when something is amiss.  When I get into my aunt's cushy Outback,
there's no way in hell I can tell if the ride is good or not just by
driving it around one time.  I'd have to drive it a lot to know what to
feel for.  I'm also used to a quicker response for steering than she
has.  To me, her car and lots of cars have mushy steering.  It'd be damn
tough to feel troubles through the steering wheel of those cars.
Smoothing the ride, reducing noise, making handling easy are factors
that lower the ability to feel the condition of the car.

I don't know your (her) car shop.  I don't know if you really have the
expertise to feel tire wear, know for what to inspect for tire wear, and
to feel improper balance.  Out of balance doesn't mandate car shake that
you can feel, especially if ride is normally spongy.  You've driven the
car once, and you think you are experienced in its ride to know what
vibrations to feel for?  You'll never detect by eye an out of round
tire.  Balancing can partially compensate, but not fully.  As best as
the shop could balance a tire of mine that was out of round (don't
remember if it was radial or lateral runout), it got put on the rear to
minimize the remaining effect (pulling) to prolong when I had to replace
the set.  The tire had a manufacturing defect that could only be
minimized with balancing (and would require more frequent balancing).
Could be due to improper tire to wheel installation, but they tried
removing and inspecting and remounting several times, along with
checking the wheel.  It took the shop several tests and me with several
test drives to determine which tire was out of round.  You're expecting
us to assume you have more expertise than a mechanic.

If they suspect one tire, they should tell you what led them to that
conclusion.  How much did they say a balance job would cost?  $40 to
$75?  When was the last time this car had its alignment checked?  Ever?
Often a balance job can get rolled into other services, like alignment.
Seniors are pretty bad when it comes to preventative or scheduled
maintaince of their vehicles.  They wait until something gets really bad
that they can no longer ignore it, or the radio won't drown it out.
Does she keep any auto records, so you can see when her car last got an
alignment or even a tire rotation?