Recommendation for a good wheel balance shop?

wstar

Basically every time you take it apart and put it back together, it's likely things will change slightly, but if the vibration's still there after switching brands of spacers it doesn't seem likely the spacers are the issue.

If the tires are the culprit, it should be obvious to a tire person looking at them. The two basic ways tires can be bad that cause vibration are: (1) Some kind of defect or failure in the tire, like a broken belt or tread delamination: if this vibration's been going on for a while, this should be obvious on close inspection, e.g. a single very odd wear area on the tire (like a spot a few inches in diameter on the tire that's worn way more or way less than everything around it), or a bulge in the tread, or some kind of cracking/separation starting to appear near where the main bulk of the tread surface attaches to the sidewalls. (2) Lateral wear from running on bad toe settings (which will persist even after the toe is fixed): should be obvious on a tire-balancing machine. Basically spin up the wheel on the balance machine and stare at the tread grooves. They should run true and straight as it spins; if the groove pattern wobbles, then that's the issue and there's nothing you can do but replace those tires and make sure the alignment's good for the next set.

But you'd think one of these tire balance or alignment shops would've already noticed and told you about something like this. One of those shops should be able to diagnose your car and tell you exactly what's wrong, it seems kinda sad that none of them have done so yet.

Maybe look around locally for recommendations (outside of just the Z community) on a good shop that does both tire balancing and alignment (It can be frustratingly common that many shops only do one or the other (just tires, or just alignment)), and take it to that shop and have them diagnose. Don't go in and tell them "I think X part is bad, can you check that" - have them own the whole problem. Tell them you have a vibration and you want them to figure out what the cause is, whatever it is. They should be able to do it.

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