Andy, the first thing you should do is get new tires. You owe it to you
, your family and friends. 12 year old tires are dangerous, and well
beyond their life cycle. I am surprised the shop didn't tell you this,
even with all their fancy equipment, which has failed twice now.
These old tires might not seal anymore, since they are hard. I wonder
why the shop put clip on weights on in the first place. I would go
somewhere else where they know what they are doing.
Larry
Andy Walker wrote:
> Guys:
>
> I'm having the most stupid problem that I think I've ever faced with my Tiger.
> I took the wheels (original LAT 70s) into a tire shop last Friday to get them
> balanced as I was experiencing a bit of steering wheel and cowl shake. I
> figured that, since my tires were Michelin XWXs that were about 12 years old,
> this would be the logical place to start. I went to a shop that came highly
> recommended as the place go to get the best balancing work done. They have
> all the latest Hunter computer balancing equipment available and, after seeing
> what all they could do to balance a wheel, I came away most impressed.
>
> My good impression quickly turned sour, however, the next day when I went out
> to the garage to test drive the Tiger. All four tires had about 10 lbs of air
> in them. I re-aired the tires and went back out on Sunday and, viola, I found
> the same damn situation. I took the wheels off today and made a return trip
> to the wheel shop. They put them in the dunk tank and, sure enough, there
> were air bubbles coming up from around the clip-on wheel weights. They pulled
> the clip-on weights off, rebalanced the wheels using stick-on weights on the
> back of the wheel, and I went on my merry way. Still fairly wary, however, I
> did not re-install the wheels on the car and take it off the stands. Instead,
> I opted to just let the tires and wheel sit and, after dinner tonight, I went
> out there to check the air pressure. I'll be damned if they were all down
> about 4 to 5 lbs in just a matter of about 7 hours!!!
>
> What in the world is going on here? An inflatable doll holds air better than
> these stupid things (uh...er...at least, that's what I've been told...)!!
> I've done the "spit" test on the valve stems and determined that there are no
> leaks there. Admittedly, my tires are old but is it feasible that all four of
> them at one time could have damaged beads? I saw the equipment that they used
> to break the bead of the tire from the wheel and it never even touched the
> tire bead. Is this kind of problem common with old tires or is it something
> peculiar with the LAT 70s? Do I just need to get some new tires or never go
> back to that tire shop?
>
> In the immortal words of the Beatles......HELP!!!!!
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Andy Walker
> B382001600LRXFE
>
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