my stock re010's has 20,0000 miles on them right now. i just did the first rotation(i know you should rotate them every 30,000k or 70,000k miles). the problem is that the wheels doesnt sound right when rolling on the pavement. sounds slightly wobbly but doesnt seem to be a potential major problem. i already made sure all the lugs are tightened properly. i think i need to do a wheel balance for the front wheels. is this the cure for my problem? or wheel balancing is only necessary when the tire is first initially installed on the rim itself?

 

Sometimes they are off a little after that many miles, but generally not. If you throw a wheel weight, or if the tire spins on the rim (usually only when new), then it'll throw the balance off.

20k on RE010, that's impressive. Mostly highway I guess. If it's nothing bad, shove the problem wheel/tire on the back. You're close to being due for tires, so just stick it out.

Warren

 

oh yea...btw i just got back from the tire shop for to ask how much it cost to balance a wheel...they quoted me 9 dollars a tire!!. seems a little too much just to balance the tire.

 

I disagree with those 20K and 30K and 70K figures. The purpose of rotating tires is to even out the wear. On the ITR, front tires will wear faster than the rear tires. You need to rotate them often enough to even out the wear. As a rule of thumb, you should rotate them at least halfway through the life of the tire. So if you expect to get, say, 12K miles on your tires (which is what many people get with the RE010 on the ITR), you should rotate them at least once every 6K miles.

If you're changing tires fairly often anyway - either because you're putting on track tires for track events, or because you're putting on winter tires for the winter - then it's easy to remember; just put the tires with more tread on the rear, and it will even out the wear among the four tires.



[Modified by nsxtcjr, 7:25 PM 1/26/2002]

 

sorry, i made a typo there about rotating every 30,000 or 70,000. i meant it to be 3,000 or 7,000
anyways my original question was about BALANCING not rotation of the tires.

 

Regarding the balance, I'm not sure what you mean when you say they "sound wobbly". It could be a tire/wheel problem. Or it could be a brake problem. Perhaps your rotors are slightly warped and you just didn't notice it before.

Did you try swapping your tires back and see if the noise goes away or moves to the rear?

 

im sure its not the rotors or brakes. before i did the rotation everything seemed was fine but after the rotation it makes a sound like the tread isn't even....nothing major but its like the tread is slightly off

 

i rotate my tires w/ every oil change..they still only lasted 10 K

 

Are the tires evenly woren? Or are there "sawtooth" marks on the tread? that will make these noises for sure. If this is the case, it is an alignment you need. Out of balance tires don't make any noises. All they do is give you vibrations from 40-70mph. Rotate every 5,000-7,000 miles. Fronts to the back, and backs to the front with right going to left and left to right. (the front tires go straight back) I worked in a tire shop when I was younger. Balancing for 7-10.00 a tire is the rate. If you rotate your tires like every 10,000 miles then if something is out of whack, alignmnt wise, you will get noises.

 

Rotating tires is also something that ANYONE can do - even if you're not at all mechanically inclined. Every driver should know how to remove a wheel, in case you get a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere. If you've never done this before, you should try doing it once, in your driveway, when it's not an emergency, just so that you can figure out how to remove the lug nuts and how to use the jack. Look in your owner's manual for instructions. If you don't have a torque wrench (which is recommended), then tighten the lug nuts tight, but not as tight as you can.

As long as you know how to remove a wheel, rotating tires is easy. Jack the car up using the jack support tab just behind the front wheel well, and you can jack up the side of the car so both wheels come off the ground. Then you can just switch them (since that's the normal rotation pattern).