mis3

Since last year, I have small vibration in my steering wheel at about 110-120 KMH. These vibrations would be gone at higher or lower speeds. I went to balance the summer wheels (17-inch) a few times in MB and nothing helped.

I did not feel these vibrations after I changed into my winter tires/wheels (16-inch).

Someone told me that I should find a tire shop who has the Hunter blancing machine. I did and they asked me if I wanted a road force balancing?

I have no idea what is a road force balancing is. Can someone help?

chixdiggit

I'm asuming they are aftermarket rims. Were they hubcentric? If not that's probably why.

amdeutsch

Roadforce balancing does a number of things for you. I believe tirerack has a writeup on this subject. But I'm too lazy to go there and look for it.

mis3

They are AMG 17-inch, double spoke.

http://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/mer...g_iv_wheel_250

They were OK the first year. I am wondering if road force balancing can eliminate the vibrations. 110-120 KMH is most important because this is hte highway speed I mostly do.

GGM

There is a really good explanation of road-force balancing on this forum: http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...rce-balancing/.

Hope this helps

mis3

I did my research and it does look good.

However, I am asking for user experience. Something that looks good in paper may, sometimes, be insignificant in real world situations.

One place actually said that road force balancing can give you the new-car feel...

EricTheRed

I have always had my C230K tires "road force" balanced at the local tire shop. If I dont, I will usually be back 2 or 3 times for them to get the normal balance right. They used to charge me more for the road force, becouse it does take more time to balance the tires that way. Now that they know I will continue to return until they get the normal balance correct (therefore taking even more time than the road-force), they will usually just road-force my wheels/tires the first time so that I dont return as often. Now that I have a CLK500, when I need to replace the tires, I will most likly let them choose to see if they are confident enough to get the balance right the first time using the normal balance, or if they will just road force it and get it done correct the first time.

I will hint that they should road force balance it the first time so that they dont waste either my time or theirs.

To answer your question, yes, get the road-force balance done, your hops should end. Since your summer wheels/tires dont have the same problem, the problem is in the wheels/tires of your winter tires. If you had said that the problem exists in both sets, then you may have another issue, such as shocks.


(edit) reverse the winter/summer in the above pharagraph.
-Eric

trikoid

Road force balancing is great. They come back with numbers saying how well the wheel+tire is balanced PLUS how round it is (it's mixed in one number, measured in pounds-force with a simulated speed and load rating).

My dealership uses a road force machine. However, he also said that the Mercedes wheels are, by German law, machined so well that they are extremely round and centered, unlike most average wheels.

Sometimes, this is actually bad, since tires are usually not perfectly round. If a tire is not round enough on a "normal" wheel, the installer can rotate the tire 90, 180, or 270 to match the low spot on the wheel (wheels are actually typically marked as to where the low spot is), thus getting an overall good roundness. On the Mercedes wheels, this can't be done.

This roundness is separate from the "balance" of the wheel+tire.

I have a CLK500 convertible, and apparently this car is incredibly sensitive to out-of-round or out-of-balance. I have two sets of winter/summer wheels, and certain combinatations are incredibly bad (my vibrations happen at 32 and 63 mph). I don't know if I have bent the wheels again (3rd time) with these crappy New England pot holes or what, but it drives me crazy.

Does anyone know what torque to use to put on the wheels? I use 80 foot-pounds, per the manual, regarding the spare tire, but does this apply to the regular tires too?