Anyone know the acceptable circular run out for 16" Tires

[Grant Eckfeldt]

They replaced one tire on the left front due to its obvious eccentric
runout on the balance machine. I also made them move one from the right
front to the right rear due to visual indications for rim distortion.
They won't measure anything. After the car was in the shop last weekend
before going back to the tire dealer I jacked the car up wheel by wheel
and used a pointer clamped to a cinder block and measured up to 3/16"
difference in circular runout. Specifically after finding the high point
I would have a difference of up to 3/16" at the low point. They switched
balancers trying to sort things out were not really willing to look at
he tires or rims.

Even if the tire is balanced, but he tire is out of round there is an
input to the suspension that hasn't been accounted for by the balance
machine, ie concentricity.

According to my wife the car ran smoother with the studded snows she had
last winter.

Thanks to all for the help.

Grant

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Martin [mailto:mardkins at msn.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 12:41 AM
To: TM; 'Grant Eckfeldt'; quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Anyone know the acceptable circular run out for 16" Tires

Taka.
There is an acceptable runout in tires.  There is no such thing as a
perfectly round tire.  Look at any tire on a balancer and you will see
some
bounce.

That is not to say that the imperfections should be felt in the car.
They
should not.  I would suspect a simple out of balance situation that may
not
be resolved by this tire dealer.  The fact is that if their tire
balancer is
out of calibration than they can balance it 20 times and never get it
right.
BTDT and been on the wrong side of this equation as well.  I have been
able
to get them balanced even with a bad balancer but it is EXTREMELY tough.

Pat Martin
86 4kcsq turbo, 2 1/2 cat back, H&R-Boge, MC and loving it.  Drilled and
stopping it. Koenig Cobra 16x7 with AVS Intermediates turning it,  K&N
and
uh....
98 A6q Avant
87 5kt stick
A couple others




> Grant-
> Nothing like what you describe is acceptable- out of round tires are
> defective, pure and simple. The dealer is trying to make you keep
these
> defective tires.
>
> The whole thing sounds a bit fishy about the "wrong size" and all. I'd
> insist on full replacement and if they won't comply, complain to the
> manufacturer of the tires, the regional/national office of the dealer
> (if
> it's a chain), the BBB, etc. They usually will make things right if
you
> complain enough. Sorry to hear about that.
>
> Taka
>
>