Chinook RV

Just recently went to Discount tire to purchase seven BF Goodrich KO2's 235/85/16 for my 1998 Chinook Premier 4x4; After installation promptly took it to an alignment shop for alignment; Good results; 2.5 degrees positive caster and good camber numbers; Drove it on the freeway and had a significant shimmy. Took it back to the alignment shop and they confirmed alignment was good but suggested I take it back to Discount tire to check balancing; I took it back to Discount Tire THREE times for balancing. The third time demanded they use their best employee and to do "Power Force " balancing. After the third time it actually got worse; What now? My friend, Jay Bittle, who owns JBA Speed shop n San Diego recently opened a tire shop which does a lot of tire balancing for race cars, so I took it to him; Here's what they found; One bent rim (replaced); four tires grossly out of balance; the spare was probably not balanced at all because it still had lead weights on it which aren't used currently in California; Now it operates smoothly as it should. Tire balancing is extremely important for our Chinook motorhomes, so think twice about where you take it for tires. Find someone that takes pride in their work. "What an eye opener" Mark in San Diego

I've found that knowledge and skills can vary quite a bit between DT locations. The one by my house is great. The one by my storage spot didn't know how to install a valve extension, and I always have to reassure them that they can in fact check the pressure on all 6 tires without taking the back ones off. Guess which shop I buy new tires from

I tend to avoid any service place with a "waiting room".

If I can stand and watch a tire tech we tend to learn from each other.
An interesting two-way street.

For me, I think the more ignorant I am, the happier I will be with what I pay others to do.

After High school, I did a good stint at a Goodyear tire shop locally. If I had a customer comeback three times because the tires weren't balanced im pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to stay there. Granted, doing six dually rims isn't a easy afternoon, but you darn sure want to do it right the first time so you don't have to take them off again. Now I only use one or two shops I know personally or I do them myself, ( we have a tire machine and balancer at work ) I am sorry you had to go through all that headache Mark, can imagine how frustrating it was.