Tire tips & consumer advice from an industry insider. After reporting on, and writing about, the tire industry for more than 20 years, Automotive Journalist, Jack Kazmierski, shares his insights and advice with today’s tire consumers.
What’s the truth about Chinese tires? What’s the difference between all-weather and all-season ties? What’s the best way to store tires? Do I really need winter tires? Do tires have an expiry date? Should I buy tires online? How can I eliminate vibrations in my tires? Do I need an alignment? Are run-flat tires worth it? What is Homologation? How important is proper tire inflation? What are intelligent tires? Do I really need UHP tires?… these are but a few of the many questions answered on this channel.
Former Editor-in-Chief of TireNews Magazine, and member of AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada) since 1999, Jack Kazmierski turns more than 20 years of tire industry insight into practical advice for today’s drivers and consumers.
A tire balance machine is only as good as the person using it. Every balancer I've ever used has had a High Accuracy (coates) or Technical (Hunter) mode that does a much better job. The operator just has to be aware or give a shit about doing a quality job. It doesn't take any longer really, just might take an extra weight or slightly more weight.
aligning the balance point of the tire and the balance point of the rim makes a lot of sense, but with the tire mounted on the rim, it becomes a single rotating mass, so how can the machine still tell if the heavy side of the tire and the heavy side of the rim are not aligned? It should rotate and detect an imbalance as a whole rotating mass.
I broke a band in my tire. The rear of car was really bumpy. I thought strut or the springs. Luck man friend was honest. Shady place really could of put it to me
Quality control is undermined by cost savings all the time in china unless it is managed by a reputable company. Remember we are riding on tires and any compromise may endanger our life.
There a great alternative to all seasons, but if your going to be driving in the worst winter has to offer there still not as good as dedicated winter tires. But if your going to run all seasons there a big improvement. great overview 👍
My stepfathers tires were giving his car some slightly noticeable vibration. I checked them individually on a spin balancer where I worked for a major tire distributor. They all indicated they were properly balanced. So I put a spacer on the ground below the tires while spinning on the spin balancer and discovered that the tires were manufactured out of round by almost one fourth of an inch ! 😮 So he bought 4 new balancrd tires ; had them installed and the slight vibration he usrd to experience was gone !😊
I replaced hundred of tyres in my cars in the past 20 years, and it was few times I got luck to have perfect tyres, most of them weren’t. I tried top brands like Pirelli, Continental, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Dunlop, Hankook, Toyo, Yokohama and Cooper and only three Pirelli, Bridgestone and Yokohama were less prone to vibrations. You have to keep in mind that the way they store the tyres, will play a vital role in causing the tyre to vibrate and unfortunately no many shops pay good attention to storing tyres properly. Many occasions they found the tyres were defective and they had to replace them even though they were fitted brand new.
Where in this video was the runout of the wheel determined? That must be known to determine the best tire/wheel positioning. Guy asking the questions mentioned his "rims"...ugh...if it has a center, it is a wheel. Or it's hoodspeak.
My Sierra keeps throwing weights. It also keeps getting out of alignment. I have the lifetime balance/rotation as well as lifetime alignment from Pep Boys, and even though it doesn't cost me money every time I take it there, it still takes time. What would you suggest? I have regular highway, truck tires, not offroad/rough terrain treads, and it is a RWD 1500 2010 YM. All tie rod ends are new, as well as both side upper/lower ball joints and all four have new brakes. I just can't get rid of the vibrations and running out of alignment.
$203 per tire, still not cheap! they must be at least 18'' tires. I paid $125 last year for my 205/55r16 Kumho Wintercraft ice tires and they are very good. ( not chinese, made in Korea) Btw, you can get these Sailun for $194 right now in Quebec ( SEP.24.24) and the Firestone are $218 ( bigger difference) size: 225/60R18
I would much rather support the US or Europe manufacturer. I've had Sailun tires and honestly they were decent but politically, ethically and ecologically I will not buy them.
I have come to the conclusion that tire installers do not know how to operate a tire balancer. I gave up and bought my own balancer, a cheap Weaver China made balancer for around $1000.00 new. This solved all of my problems and proved to me the installers do not know what their doing, even using a $25.0000 dollar balancer. I would back time and time again only to have a shake in the wheel. I swear to God they just throw a wheel on the balancer any old way, they don't put in the right settings, spin it up and slap some weights on and hope. The problem is NOT the machine, its the operator.
Yeah, so why are we is such a hurry to have a war with China? Hell everything I own is made in China. What the hell is going on. Why fight your suppliers?
Not convinced. It may be usefull in some circumstances, with crap tyres and crap aftermarket rims but not worthwhile spending time on crap with an expensive machine. If the tyre runs up and down you can see it on the balancer and usually the tyre is bad, nothing wrong with the rim. If the rim is true then it does not matter how the tyre is rotated, it won't change anything. If the rim does not run true or is bent then replace it. High quality tyres run relatively true but you get the odd one slightly out, but you don't feel it if rim good. A good match balance is the way to go and a touch up balance after 5k to 10k km. The tyres do settle in a little. Soft sidewall tyres can flatspot and be problematic with balance also, one rim with a slight bend can be felt also after balancing.
It's because the quality today wouldn't even make it out of the plant 30 to 40 years ago. It's saying instead of the center of the rim being center of the tire isn't matching
I've also had highway speed vibration when I had a partially torn lower control arm bushing. It wasn't visible until I uninstalled the control arm. A new control arm solved the problem. With it just being partially torn, there were no other indications other than the highway vibration that felt just like an out of balance tire.
I'm trying to decide between the Nokian Remedy WRG5 and the Pirelli P7 as Plus 3 tires. I live in British Columbia, where we do experience snowstorms occasionally, but not too frequently. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Is a Big BUT not worth taking a chance for me and my family! Communist China are know to take shortcuts and not known for quality control! Yes you might luck out on some of their tires but my family lifes are much more worth it than just saving a few bucks! No Thanks. There is always a reason and even some Chinese people I know they won't buy Chinese tires too!!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UixyYEl1skE.htmlsi=d1hSfcMRFohjBF3F
Thank you for this video. My 2000 SL500 has been driving me NUTS with a vibration on the highway. I’ve been so NUTS that I wanted to punt this vehicle. I am now going to seek an Elite Hunter Balance shop. Many, many thanks. I’ll report back if I have success. Thank you..!!
There are only a few other reasons. Bad hub bearing. Drive shaft being bent. Brake calipers bad. Break disc being warped. If it's an older car you joint could be bad.
Also probably not comon on a new tire but i didnt realize they had belt in them so if a belt inside the tire breaks you may not see it with the naked eye but it essentially is now a flat spot in the tire.
Tires come from the manufacturer with marks on them, most tire shops just ignore those marks because they have no clue what they're for, it's the balance of the tire itself, which is supposed to balanced with your rim to get everything as perfectly centered as possible. Otherwise it's like having an unbalanced load in the washer.
Eggactly. Hitting a pot hole hard will cause a bulge on the tyre. Which is undetectable by eye. But free rolling the whole wheel on the flat ground will show the tyre leaning side 2 side.
I went through this problem many years ago. New tires that had a high speed shake. Had the wheels and tires balanced three times at three different shops and still happened. Isolated the problem down to two tires so put those two on the rear axle and it still happened. I then replaced the wheels and it still happened. Replaced the tires with the same type and brand. Still happened. Finally replaced the two tires with more expensive tires. Problem solved.
I believed "road force" balancing was like nitrogen air filled tires, a scam. I was was wrong. Absolute night and day difference, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. The next time I got tires, it was from a place that did "road force" balancing. I'll never go back to regular balancing.
Could not agree more and have come to the conclusion the tech simply do not know how to run a balancer. I ended up buying a brand new cheap Weaver China balancer for around $1000.00 and have had awesome results that the shops could not achieve with their $25,000 dollar balancers. Its the operator.
Take them to someone who can shave them to remove the high spot. Once the tire is more symmetrical then it can be balanced. This will extend the life of the tire.
A large percentage of tires are not round! Wife's uncle had a tire shop in Glendale, AZ for many years. He specialized in Tire Truing, aka shaving. He did many hundreds in the day. Unfortunately he's gone now. Tire Truing is an intensive process that works great! Sadly, it's a lost art. Might be able to find a racer that will begrudgingly do it. I had cheap, mud/snow tires on my 77 4x4. They were bad on the highway! He trued them, they were smooth as could be! Had this done to some other name brand tires that were troublesome to balance, works like magic.
Do NOT use balance beads. They cause shake especially at higher speeds...anything that moves around inside a tire will not balance it! I have removed tons of them to fix people's mistakes. It is a lot of work to remove them. I can mount and balance tires easier than having to clean up this mess....Tire shop owner.
That's not the point, the issue is tires and rims aren't perfectly round. You need to match the stiff point of the tire with the dip on the rim. So the shape with vehicle weight on it is relatively round without major radius runout.
@@yuzeyang8847 it most certainly is the only way you could stand a chance of balance on crap products you mentioned. It is continuously, and dynamically balancing with every rotation regardless of speed or tire shape.
@@scoutdogfsr again, the issue is not balancing. It's about the overall shape with load on it. You can balance a square/hexagon but it doesn't mean it will ride smoothly.
Tire companies "Sell what we stock" or "Sell the brand we carry/have a relationship with." Michelin has been very aggressive in marketing their tires, and they're good -- but they're not the only game available. I've been using the Pirelli WeatherActive tires for nearly 2 years (I bought my set of 4 tires in early January 2022). I lived in Florida at the time, but my tires were worn and I was moving to Central New York "snow country." So, I've operated the Pirelli tires in Florida's hot weather, CNY snowy winters and weather conditions in-between. The Pirelli WeatherActive tires have been some of the best tires I've ever owned, and they did well on snow-covered roads (coverage up to 6"). They have great gripping power not only in winter, but on dry and wet roads. They are well-engineered, but they do have one flaw -- they are not very good in mud! Like most other tires, the tread pattern easily becomes clogged with mud, rendering the tire ineffective. Other than getting stuck (requiring a tow) on a muddy field, the tire have performed flawlessly. More importantly, they cost less than Michelin's tires.
Any more than a road force of 11 on a car tire or more than 16 for a truck tire is too much get another tire. It wont fix it buy rotating the it on the wheel. preferred is 6 or less on a car and 9 on a truck or less
Wow! So much advertising Blah Blah in less than 5 minutes than focus on what makes this tire a better for vehicles... Cars are moving items, I live in TX doesn't mean I won't be driving in Chicago in the winters, so what make this tire stands out...
Nokia Tyre is drive on ice 335,7 km/h.. Bad tyre you cant😂, Here in Finland we gnow how stay on road ! -just i put my boys car Hakkapeliitta 9 winter.... Who want drive dangerous wintertyres ???
I do understand what you are saying. However, there is a much bigger issue beyond product's made in China. If anyone buys a product made in China or owned by a China company, then you give money to the evil CCP xi ping. And xi ping uses this money to build weapons to fight the world, incl Taiwan or sending weapons to Russia to fight against Ukraine. And that's the worst issue. Therefore, don't buy made in China products.
