Did the dealer screw up a tire rotation?!

[BWilliams]

I had the 36,000 mile work done at the dealership on April 9 (oil change and tire rotation). After that, I was out of town for a week on vacation, so I didn't drive the truck... and when I got back, I noticed that the steering wheel vibrated above 50MPH (never did this before). It's been getting progressively worse since I first noticed it, so I finally called the dealership.

The service manager said that they'll look at it next Monday, but I've got the feeling that he's going to try to screw me and tell me something's shot -- he wanted to charge me 50 bucks for "diagnosis" to have the tech check my sway bar bushings (I told him specifically what to look at too... ) when it was on the lift anyways for the rotation, so I don't know what he's going to try to pull.

Could this have been caused by the tech screwing up a simple tire rotation?

 

[MustangP51]

Sounds like the tires weren't rebalanced when they were rotated, I just took my Explorer in to have the tires balanced because I thought I lost a wheel weight. The first thing they asked me was if I rotated my tires recently (yes). They told me that they are balanced differently on the front and rear. I didn't notice the vibration until I got up to about 70 mph.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

It sounds like you need to get your tires balanced to me- I'd cancel the appointment and go get the tires done.

 

[Aero540T]

hell you could get the tires rebalanced at any shop for well under 50 dollars...assuming that's what the problem is

 

[BWilliams]

Thanks for the reply, guys!

I'm probably going to try to get the dealership to do the balance -- they rotated the tires, so they should do the balance to go along with it.

I realize that it's a minor issue, but I lost my job a few weeks ago, so I'm trying to cut corners wherever possible.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

An out of balance tire on the rear won't be nearly as noticeable as one on the front. Chances are your rear tire was a bit out of balance all along, and once it got rotated to the front, you're feeling it more now than before.

Make sure they torqued the lugnuts to spec too. If you have a torque wrench, go around and make sure they're all at 100 lbs/ft.

 

[seadawg]

Ryan do I understand you correctly? The front tires are balanced in a diffrent manner than the rear. WOW I thought balanced was balanced. Or not. Sounds like slipped belt, I dont think out of balance progresses but a slipped would.

 

[MustangP51]

Thats what I was told at Mavis, I had always thought that tires were ballanced to the rim, not the actual hub it is on. It didn't exactly seem right since the only way they can ballance them was with the rims off the car. Now after thinking about it even more I believe he was wrong, but is was fixed by rebalancing the tires.

 

[BWilliams]

Since this got bumped, I figured that I'd post a result here.

The dealership did indeed say that it was in need of a balance, and since it had nothing to do with the rotate, it wouldn't be covered by the dealership. Obviously, I asked for my keys back, since they wanted 40 bucks, and I could probably get it done cheaper elsewhere.

 

[rizzjc]

Yeah, you would typically pay $20 for a tire rotation, but that would NEVER include balancing by default. I wouldn't think you'd get it for much under $40 for all 4 tires anywhere else. I typically make sure I get that as part of my tire purchase. Then I take advantage of it and have them balanced and rotated every 5k miles.

 

[Aero540T]

I'm pretty sure I only paid like 25 for a balance and rotate at Discount Tire last time I was there

 

[rizzjc]

That seems low, but maybe.

 

[03xbox]

I work at Sam's Club in the Tire and Battery Center. When you buy tires there the balance and rotation is absolutely free for the life of the tire, and if you didnt buy tires from us then a rotation is $16 and it ALWAYS includes balancing. And all tires are balanced the same way, there isnt any different way for front or rear.