[DragonHawk]

After a long due, managed to visit Madhus today for WB, WA. It was an unplanned visit, I had to drop my wife to PSK Lalbagh and had some time to kill. I was experiencing slight wobble from the front left wheel of my ecosport so thought of getting it checked in Madhus.

I was the 2nd customer of the day and I had got all 4 wheels balanced. Also did get to know about the road force balancing for the first time. Great bunch of guys and total flawless execution, was in and out in flat 45 mins.

[Xaos636]

This is a long due post. Went to Madhus around 3 months back and got the road force balancing and alignment done. This was the first road force balancing for my car. I thought first we have to do balancing and then the alignment, but mine was done vice versa. When I asked they explained everything in detail and made me understand that is not necessarily how its done. Big shout out to @Nikhilb2008 for managing this place with exceptional machines and workers. Will be going there again very soon.

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by condor

Nikhil, what is the plate below the rear wheels for ?

They are called Rear Slipplates. As the name says, they allow the rear tyres to "slip" a little so alignment angles can be adjusted.

There is a lot friction between the tyre and the surface. With the weight of the car, it is impossible to move the tyre. However, when alignment has to be done, as the alignment angle changes, the tyre's position also has to change.

However, if there is a tremendous amount of friction between the tyre and floor surface, the tyre wont budge a micron. In this case, the alignment wont be done properly as there is a lot of tension in the suspension system and the tension hasnt been released. Most alignment shops today, after 25 years of education use front turn plates which allow the tyre to move.

However, very few still use rear slip plates. Even authorised workshops never made slip plates compulsory. Hyundai, for example, never bothered about rear alignment (even though a few of their models had to be aligned at the rear). Only recently, with the launch of the new Tucson, have they made it compulsory and insisted on every alignment equipment installed in a Hyundai workshop to be equipped with rear slip plates.

Rear Slip plates and front turn plates basically have two plates with a layer of delrin balls between them. This allows the top plate to easily move around. The bottom plate is rock steady. So, even though the tyre itself doesnt move with reference to the rear plate, the rear plate moves in accordance with the alignment being done and thus, the alignment is easier and will generally last longer.

I hope I've done a good job of explaining it with words. I can explain better using my hands or when we are in front of these rear slip plates!

[Santoshbhat]

Visited Madhus Enterprises for the first time yesterday for fitment of new tyres for the newly purchased BBS Alloys for my X3. I've always relied on my neighbourhood tyre retailer and perhaps it was just sheer laziness that I hadn't visited Madhus yet despite reading so many positive reviews here.

Had a great experience. Despite being in the heart of the city, they have a large facility, with easy access from the main road. The angles and turning radii are comfortable for large cars also. They have some of the best equipment for tyre mounting/ unmounting, balancing and alignment. Their tyre mounting machine consists of parts made of soft but firm non metallic parts for areas which come in contact with the rim which ensures there are no scratches while mounting the tyre. The road force balancing machine too is quite advanced and I never really thought that balancing could be so nuanced. It even gives information on matching which part of the tyre with which part of the rim for the smoothest ride.

They are adequately staffed to handle the load. Their team is experienced, well trained and dedicated. The way they were carrying my alloys and placing them was as if they were carrying a new born baby . Good attention to detail as well. For example, while mounting the wheels on my car, the personnel noticed that there was a bit of rust on the hub. He immediately brought out some grease and applied it. I also like the fact they did not rush through the jobs. The focus was on doing it right than doing it fast. And it was not like there was no rush at that time. Mohsin was great to deal with and handled everything very professionally. Got very good pricing too for the 19" staggered set of Yokohama Advan 105s.

Here's a teaser of the wheels being installed. Will put up more details on the X3 thread after doing some miles.

[r_nairtvm]

Almost one year ago I had bought a set o4 Yoko tyres for my Car from Madhu's Langford Road Shop. Along with the fitment, Tyre Balancing and Alignment also was done there. 75 grams of weights were used in all and since I have alloy wheels, the Sticker Type Weigts were used and those were stuck on the inside of the wheels.

All of the above was done a professional and efficient manner and at a competetive price.

My usage is typically with in the city and suburban areas of Bangalore and since the tyre change the car has done roughly 10k. I had done the tyre change just after a 10K service at Honda dealer (Brigade).

After that there was an oil change service done at Brigade again, with a body wash/cleaning (5k after tyre change date), nothing else.

Last week, i felt that the wheels were almost black with road/brake dust etc, I decided to get it detailed. When the wheels were removed I was in for a shock, as all the balancing weights were missing from the wheels. Only the residual glue strip was remaining(see the pic below)









I contacte Nikhil and explained to him the situation. He assured me that the weights they use are of top quality (same company that supplies to Formula races) and it wouldn't come off unless forcefully removed. As a goodwill gesture he agreed to do the balancing again for me at subsidised rate. Since the car had run 10K since last wheel balancing, it was anyway.

I took the car in today to Langford road shop and as Nikhil had left instructions, the shop managers got the whole thing done and I am glad at a good discounted rate.

I call this really professional service and a Big Thanks !

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[naut]

Had been to Madhu's today to cater to a puncture as well as the periodic wheel balancing, alignment work. Being a Saturday, was expecting a big queue & delays, but the whole experience was super-fast & fuss-free as always!.

@nikhil, is it necessary to remove the pre-existing weights before the balancing is done on a wheel? The reason I am asking is because most of the times (not always though!), I end up with slightly higher weights than previously existing ones.

Makes me wonder, if we can just retain the old weights and do balancing on top of them. Can you please share your thoughts on the right approach.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by naut

Had been to Madhu's today to cater to a puncture as well as the periodic wheel balancing, alignment work. Being a Saturday, was expecting a big queue & delays, but the whole experience was super-fast & fuss-free as always!.

@nikhil, is it necessary to remove the pre-existing weights before the balancing is done on a wheel? The reason I am asking is because most of the times (not always though!), I end up with slightly higher weights than previously existing ones.

Makes me wonder, if we can just retain the old weights and do balancing on top of them. Can you please share your thoughts on the right approach.

Here is what i follow.

I ask the technician to balance the wheel without removing the weight. If the machine asks for more weight then i ask the technician to remove the existing weights and run the wheel again on the machine and stick whatever weight it instructs.

It has happened that the first time the machine asked for lesser weight than the second run which was done with the weights removed. I do not have a problem with this. I do not prefer to keep adding new weights keeping the old weights on. How long can one do like this,right? Another thing i observed is that the location suggested by the machine for the run with old weights removed was different from the location suggested with the old weights on. This implies that the point of imbalance has shifted to a new location which was being masked by the old weights.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by naut

@nikhil, is it necessary to remove the pre-existing weights before the balancing is done on a wheel? The reason I am asking is because most of the times (not always though!), I end up with slightly higher weights than previously existing ones.

Makes me wonder, if we can just retain the old weights and do balancing on top of them. Can you please share your thoughts on the right approach.

I too follow the same method as Sagarpadaki has mentioned above. First they check if the existing weights are sufficient enough for balance or not. If not, then they remove all the weights and add new weights as per the machine. In your case, if the weights are removed and added back in the same position, then it would have been a better idea to retain them. However, there will usually be a change in the position of the weights in addition to the change in the weight itself. Hence, more weight does not necessarily mean you could have retained the earlier weights.

[keroo1099]

Decided to get a new set of shoes for my Jet at Madhus last Saturday as my Hankooks had started to wear thin, and with the rains approaching I didn't want to take a chance.

I would have gone for the same set of Hankooks, but unfortunately they are no longer available in Bangalore. So based on discussions on chat groups and on this site I zeroed in on the Michelin Primacy 4 ST though the MRF Perfinza came a close second. Took a little more than an hour to change, balance and align the car.

First impressions are very good. I thought the Hankooks were quiet, but these Michelin's take it up a notch or two. Ride is nice and pliant, and I love the way they round off sharp edges. Not taken it on the highway as yet so no idea about high speed behavior.

All in all, very pleased for now.


Hankook Ventus Evo V12 (inset) and the Michelin Primacy 4 ST



The tyre looks like it has a rounder and taller sidewall compared to the Hankooks which looked flat from the side.



This has to be a really rare occurrence. Two T-Jet's getting worked on at the same time

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by naut

@nikhil, is it necessary to remove the pre-existing weights before the balancing is done on a wheel? The reason I am asking is because most of the times (not always though!), I end up with slightly higher weights than previously existing ones.

Originally Posted by audioholic

First they check if the existing weights are sufficient enough for balance or not. If not, then they remove all the weights and add new weights as per the machine. In your case, if the weights are removed and added back in the same position, then it would have been a better idea to retain them.

Quoting my post above since this became a very relevant occurrence. Last weekend I got WA and WB done for my Celerio. I had got the alloys painted sometime back and wanted to get the balancing checked, since the paint does add some fine weight all over the alloy. Keeping the existing weights in place, the imbalance shown was in the range of 5-10gms. However, the target position of these weights were almost opposite of the existing weights. Hence, after removing the existing weights, the balance became perfect. So three of the four alloys now have no weights on the inner side of the rim. The outer side had no change in weight compared to the last time.

[aquarian1502]

Visited Madhu's this weekend for new shoes on the Ecosport. Chose Michelin Primacy 4 ST in stock size (205/60 R16) after much research. The stock Goodyears had completed 5.5 years and had started to crack and frequent punctures off late meant it was time.
Mighty impressed with the Hunter Roadforce balancer and the workmanship of the installation.
End of the day, a happy customer here.

[KiloAlpha]

Went to Madhus this morning for getting new shoes - MRF Perfinza - for my S-Cross. I had been using Continental MC5 from the past 35K kms, and they had worn down to the treadwear indicators. This was pointed out last week during routine alignment/balancing, but due to time constraints I could not get the new tyres fitted last week.

As always, excellent service. They have always put "do the job right" ahead of "do it quickly", which is much appreciated. They took the time to get the tyres mounted perfectly so that the imbalance and pull is nil. I learned today that it is not just tacking on weights that does the job, but even the way the tyre is mounted on the wheel matters!! I am not sure any other tyre shop would have bothered about such detail.

[Sebring]

Is that a free backpack promotional material that you got? Even my car is riding on the phenomenal Primacy and recently drove all the way from Marathahalli to Madhus for some alignment work. I was facing a peculiar problem, in that the steering was not truly centred.

The steering was off-centre but the tyres were driving straight. The staff here are knowledgeable and I used to visit them regularly in the 90s and 00s. Tyre Empire, Marathahalli (regret going there) tried their best, but couldn't correct it. They attributed it to the new tyres' "stickiness". Madhus put it through Roadforce and alignment but still, the first time around I was just not satisfied. The steering was still - to the left by an mm.

The second time around, I was 'more or less' okay with it but since it was closing time, and the staff were packing up, I let it be for the time being. It's much better than before and since I'm really finicky it does bother me a bit. Paid the bill and came away. But another visit is certainly pending. No one else in Bangalore was able to correct this so in a way I'm happy. I'm also planning to move to 17-inch MOMOs very soon. Should I stick with Michelins or try Pirelli/Yoko/Nexen/Conti? Pondering on it

Originally Posted by aquarian1502

Mighty impressed with the Hunter Roadforce balancer and the workmanship of the installation.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by naut

Had been to Madhu's today to cater to a puncture ...

Do they do Mushroom plug puncture repair from the inside or the regular external strip based puncture repair?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Do they do Mushroom plug puncture repair from the inside or the regular external strip based puncture repair?

They do both. Mushroom plug is preferred for larger holes or a wide cut. For most of the nails, regular external plug is sufficient.