I work for a state agency, and so often drive a “state fleet” vehicle. Currently, our staff shares a 98 4WD Chevy Blazer with 153,000 miles on it. Noticing tire wear, (it rode fine) we recently took it to a Goodyear tire and lube place and had them check the tires.
They rotated and balanced the tires and did an alignment. We then promptly noticed that when the car was driven at 65 MPH, the steering wheel shook. Taking it back to Goodyear, they informed us that ALL FOUR WHEEL RIMS were bent.
My question is this. How could all four wheel rims become bent (aside from a high speed airborne San Francisco streets chase where all four wheels leave the ground - which did not happen)? Could the tire place have caused this by improperly mounting the tires. Could they have been bent for a long time, and it only became noticeable after the alignment? Seems a bit fishy to me.
I have heard rumor that improperly driving in 4WD could cause this? True?
First thing I’d do is get a second opinion from another shop - hard to believe all four are bent! Sounds more like a bad balance or a bad tire that got moved from the back to the front.
If true, the situation should have become apparent when the alignment and balancing was done, so it sounds bogus to me.
If the tires were not properly balanced, it could cause a vibration at highway speeds. It is not a rumour, attempting to drive a Blazer in part-time 4wd Hi on dry pavement is a bad idea. The drive train will bind since the front and rear axles are attempting to turn at the same speed. This link explains it better than I can - http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=435017
I would be suspicious of the shop if they are claiming all 4 rims are bent.
Ed B.
Yes, there can be problems with part time 4wd engaged on a dry road, but I don’t believe it would result in bent rims. Damage to the 4wd system, maybe, jerking as you go around corners, for sure (I had that system in my Cherokee for 12 years).
I don’t think Ed was referring to the bent rims, rather he was suggesting one additional possible cause for the vibration and indirectly indicated that the rims are less likely to be the problem. I like you doubt if it is the rims, but we don’t know where that state agency car may be regularly drive, like on old logging roads, with enough poor roads to do in four rims.
OK, I see what you mean. It sure would be coincidental for the 4wd system to go bad (or the rims to all bend) at the same time as the work was done. My bets on a bad balance job, followed by a bad tire.
If the rims are aluminum it may be possible that they are bent. Alloy rims could be bent from hitting a pothole hard and others in the department may be hard on vehicles.
Agree; this needs a second opinion. All four rims bent sopunds suspicious. Tire dealers love selling rims, they are high profit items, and installation labor adds to it. It could also be that their balancing machine is not working well.
If all 4 rims are bent, I would sit down with the driver and analyze his driving style. A company I worked for had regular driving and car care workshops to avoid such things.
I don’t buy all 4 being bent either. At 153k miles I would suspect there are some worn suspension parts such as tie rods, tie rod ends, lower ball joints, or loose wheel bearings causing this.
There are usually red and yellow dots on the tire sidewall and one of them must mated with the valve stem, depending. Make sure this was done.
Or either there is a problem with their wheel balancer or the person using it. A dealer I worked for bought a new Snap-On wheel balancer (a large chunk of money involved) and this thing was nothing more than a boat anchor. Within a week every tech in the shop refused to even use it because it was so inaccurate; even though the service manager and the Snap On rep said it was fine. (Not when it repeatedly shows wheels being 15 to 17 ounces out of balance. Only if someone left a brick inside the wheel…) 
I’ll bet what you have is irregular wear and that rotating the tires moved the problem tires to sensitive positions.
Irregular wear is caused by misalignment and aggravated by insufficient inflation pressure and insufficient rotation practices. I’m guessing rotation is not much in the oicture, and alignment - well- probably was bad!!
You can wait until the tires develop a new wear pattern and erase the old problematic pattern - or - you can rotate the tires back to their original positions.