Re: RE: It's a great day in the neighborhood!

From: Bill Pitz (dakota@billpitz.com)
Date: Wed Nov 05 2003 - 18:55:39 EST


On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 18:12:39 -0500, Donald.Mallett@BNSF.com ("Mallett,
Donald B") wrote:
>Rides a heck of a lot better now! Service dude says the pull and shimmy at
>65mph and above are the tires. Says the need to be balanced and rotated. But
>from side to side not back to front, this makes sense to anyone??? I have
>BFGoodrich All-terrain T/A Tires, 31x10.50R15 if that makes any difference.

Rotating them in the "normal" rotation pattern will, theoretically,
keep them from wearing unevenly. I've seen some tires wear crazily
because they weren't rotated and others that go 50,000+ miles with
perfectly even wear with no rotation. In order to keep most tire
warranties/road hazard warranties valid, you usually have to rotate
them at least every 5,000 miles (and most shops will do that for
free), so they've obviously got to believe that it does something.
Perhaps it actually makes the tires wear out faster ;-)

If your wheels aren't balanced, that can definitely cause pull/shimmy,
especially at higher speeds. Even a slightly out of balance wheel can
cause problems. It doesn't cost much to have done, especially now
that they have computerized machines that calculate the exact amount
of extra weights that are necessary.

>Now who and how at mother company to I complain too about the short life of
>the wheel bearings and ball joints? I would like to get my money back!

Good luck with that. :-)

-Bill



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