Road Force balancing...?

Took my 2012 X3 35i for the 15k maintenance and got hit up by the rep for "Road Force Balancing" - tried to tell me without it that rotating my X3 35i's tires would have a wobble and risk ruining the tires.

Found a wiki page with one paragraph on Road Force Balancing- not very helpful.

Looking for factual data to support the $90...

Next time I'm rotating myself F the balancing unless he can do a better job of convincing me.

Road Force Balancing is all I use (google hunter 9700) but I have never heard of it just for a rotation... only when mounting.

Interesting- thought the new dealer advice was no rotation. Anyway, the Hunter 9700 is the only way to go. Find a tire store with one and get them to do it. My tire dealer does all mine for free.

Originally Posted by X3emist

Interesting- thought the new dealer advice was no rotation. Anyway, the Hunter 9700 is the only way to go. Find a tire store with one and get them to do it. My tire dealer does all mine for free.

Hey I thought all service was free for the warranty period?? I guess that only includes rotation and not balancing? I used the Hunter before and it's great. I'll vote for that one too.

I rotated the tires myself at 18,000 miles because the rears were wearing faster than the fronts and I don't want to deal with replacing just 2 tires at a time. I did not expect and have not noticed any balance issues.

I think that the wheel hubs/brake disks on modern cars are balanced separately from the wheels/tires, alleviating the need for on-vehicle tire balancing. Very few shops do on-vehicle balancing any more. Barring uneven tire wear, if the wheel and tire are well balanced, they should stay that way and should work fine, regardless of where they are placed on the vehicle. Note, however, that some tires have a rotation direction marked on them, so “rotation” may consist of moving them from front to back on the same side of the vehicle, i.e., no cross- or x-rotation. That was the case with my runflat Pirelli P7s.

Rotation/balance not covered by BMW maintenance. But I recommend it (if you don't have sport package). A good tire shop can hook you up for little to no cost.

The Hunter Road Force balancer is the only one that I will use when putting new tires on my cars and trucks. The tirerack installers that I use all have and use the system. Apparently there are a couple of other similar systems out there but I have no experienced with them and find the Hunter 9700 to be the best for me. I do not rotate tires on BMW's but that is just a personal preference. I also change all four tires when one (or two or three) reach close to the wearbars. I like to have good supple rubber and after a few years the rubber gets hard from exposure to the UV in the sunlight and starts to crack.

The owners manual of my 2012 X3 page 227 recommend not rotating the tires. Strange that the dealer would rotate them.

He wants to make more money! You will find that many things are offered by the dealer that are not recommended or required by BMW. Of course, BMW also wants you to wear out your car so that you will buy a new one too.......

Road force balancing is a legit system.
Back when I had my Range Rover, they had an issue with the Goodyear OEM tires and a constant vibration in the wheel.
Goodyear blamed Land Rover and the design of the suspension and LR blamed Goodyear for the design of the tires.
Anyhooo...the only way I could get any resolution was to get the vehicle tires RFB'd and bring the report to the dealer to show that everything was done on my end (tire balancing was not covered under their warranty either)..to try and remedy the problem.
Once they got the report, they would put new tires on the car (warranty) to try and get rid of the vibration- which was actually caused by the tire tread cupping. What a PITA.
I was surprised to see that the tires on my wifes car were not rotated during the 10k service. I am not thrilled at the wear on them after 11k miles.

Took my 3.5 in for 15K service- service advisor said, No rotation, balancing is needed" No one had even glanced at the car at that point. Told me it cost $235. I said no. He asked if I would pay $190, and immediately wrote it on the estimate. I said no. He then asked "How much are you willing to pay?" Answer: "nothing". I wanted to take a shower when I got home

Was the the dealer in Oakland that begins with "W"?

Originally Posted by UncleJ

Was the the dealer in Oakland that begins with "W"?

Rofl!!! Sure sounds like Berkeley to me...lol!

Both of you guessed it.

OT, but I have a soft spot in my memory for that store. Years ago "W" ran an ad with a killer price for a 3 series. We were shopping for one at the time and I went to our local dealer -- then in Sunnyvale -- and found a similar car, but Sunnyvale would not come down. So, I whipped out the ad and said well I guess I have to drive up and buy it there -- the price was met.