Gen 4 2019 Alloys difficult to balance

Hi

Today I swapped out my SZ5 Alloys with SZ4 steel wheels. Did so for a variety of reasons main one being that I think the steel wheels go well with the character of the Jimny. What has been interesting is the challenge I had before buying the steel wheels in trying to get the alloys with AT tyres balanced.

Car was fine with the Bridgestone duelers but after a couple of months I bought Toya Open Country AT Plus tyres. First garage who tried to balance them struggled in that they did not have the correct fitting to mount the wheel to the wheel balancing machine. they did balance and said it was all fine but proved a bit difficult for them. Off I went and at about 60 mph got some vibration. Was not that impressed with 1st garage so did not take it back to them but went to 2nd garage. 2nd garage balanced the wheels but had lots of weight on the wheel. Seemed ok but was not convinced giving the amount of weights on the wheel. Went to garage number 3, a trusted friend as well as garage owner. He spent quite a bit of time but ended up chasing the weight. Problem being the machine was saying to mount the weights on the outside edge of the wheel but given they were alloys he did want to use old school weights on the outside rim and tried to balance using stick on weights on the inside. To all intents and purposes he gave up he was uncomfortable with keeping sticking om weights and did not want to use old school weights which would damage the wheels. So off I went and again at about 65 mph a bit of vibration. Nothing too bad and don't often drive above 60 mph given where I stay. Roll forward to last week and I had my 1st years service. So went to Suzuki garage for service and asked them to balance the wheels. Picked up the car after service they advised the work had been completed with no problems. Off I went and again at about 65 mph a wee vibration. Not too bad this time and I did wonder if I was imagining it but I was not convinced it was spot on.

Any way independent of questionable balancing I wanted steel wheels. So this weekend I went back to garage number 3, trusted friend. This time he had no problem balancing as he was able to use old school weights on the outer rim. All very straightforward with minimal weights added to the wheel, he also aligned the yellow dot with the valve. Drove home had the wee car up to 70 mph and rock solid .

Today I decided to clean the original alloys before storing in the garage and found large amounts of stick on weights which the Suzuki dealer had fitted in an attempt to balance the wheels. 515 g spread over 5 wheels. Some worse than others see pics. So I know AT tyres can be more difficult to balance but it would appear that the SZ5 alloys are particularly difficult to balance with AT tyres. So delighted at my decision to go Steel. Especially with a 3000 mile drive to Northern Spain coming up in May. Lots of pics including a before and after shot as well as a pic of all the weights and pics of the weights on the wheels.

So point of post is to warn people considering AT tyres be aware that it may prove challenging to get them correctly balanced. Maybe Toyas are more difficult to balance than Bridgestone's or Yokohama etc or maybe I was unlucky. However steel is the way to go for me now with AT's.

Missed one pic.

I had no problems with my Yokohama G015 A/Ts on alloys, had them fitted and balanced at a Blackcircles depot and they were spot on first time. Not sure if I got lucky or if Yokohamas have some special secret sauce?

Balance beads are the best way to sort issues like this. Preferably ceramic ones.

Added bonus of no unsightly wheel weights clagged on the rims

Beads with TPMS? Is that not going to wreck the sensor?

In theory the beads will not contact the sensor
www.devon4x4.com/wheels-tyres-and-access.../tyre-balancing.html
Get in contact with Devon 4x4 and ask some questions would be my advice

Jack