Balance Drag Tires?

-
Northern Grit

Northern Grit

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2020
Messages
247
Reaction score
357
Location
Michigan
Started a new job about 6 weeks ago witch has put me in closer connection with all types of racers... stubborn, opinionated, outspoken racers. Anyway here is one debate that has been circulating through the shop lately and I was just curious how you guys feel about this.


Driver "A" states. "Never balance drag tires":
.The extra weight (potentially several pounds depending on tire size and other variables) is just additional rotational mass.
.If there is a vibration it will only come in over 55mph and phase out around 75mph.
.Drag tire should not be driven on long enough to suffer any wear from out of balance issues.
.You don't want a weight coming off at speed and blowing a hole right through the top of your fender.

Driver "B" states. "Always balance drag tires":
.Even though they deform a properly balanced tire will maintain better contact.
.Weights installed on the inner rim surface (sticky weights) will be held against the wheel by centrifugal force which will hold them tight to the rim eliminating the chance of "throwing a weight".
.The harmonics of an out of balance tire will negate any benefit that the otherwise reduced/saved rotational mass could possibly have.

I can see points from both sides, what do you think?
 
Driver B is smarter than driver A.

I have a friend who made big money with a bubble tire balancer at Divisional and National events. All the dudes who didn’t balance their **** ended up balancing their ****.
 
As long as you make sure the tire doesn't move on the rim, (glue, screws, beadlocks, whatever), why would you NOT balance a tire?
Driver B, for the win.
Edit: if your drag tire needs "several POUNDS (!?!) of weight to balance" your tire has a SERIOUS problem!
Well under a pound to balance a 14x32 on a 15x15" rim. 5 to 8 oz, on mine.
 
Last edited:
^^^^ that is exactly what went through my head when I read post 1
 
"B" - I always balanced my slicks and while they usually did move a bit on the rim (no screws), I swapped them side-to-side after every race weekend so they would move back a bit! Rear brake adjustment was also checked while swapping. It wouldn't hurt to check the balance after a while but I didn't go that far. But a racer friend who owns a tire store and is VERY competitive balances his race car tires too.

If it's out of balance, it's out of balance, even if you don't feel it or the tire is out-of-round, particularly on the launch. It gets "rounder" as you go down the track.
As 33IMP mentioned, tires can be off themselves but wheels can too. If the off-balance points happen to line up after mounting, it will be even worse. Sometimes you can cancel out some tire & wheel imbalance by rotating the tire on the rim. (Use less weight to balance.) Yea, extra work, but like everything else on a race car, little bits add up. (i.e.: To gain 1/10, take 1lb from 100 spots on the car instead of 100lbs from one spot - which isn't always possible.)

At the races whenever I bought Hoosier slicks at their trailer, they bubble balances them too!

Cover stick-on weights with duct tape to help keep them on, on the inner halves.
 
Last edited:
My dad and I never balance our slicks. Not sure what brand he ran back in the day, but I pretty much have only used M/T tires. I tried a set of goodyears around 2004/2005 and they were horrible. At the time I ran like 11 lbs in my M/T but had to go to 8 lbs in the Goodyears because they shook so bad. After that pair I went back to M/T. Around 2010/2011 I got my 1st set of M/T that weren't smooth feeling so I bubble balanced them. Ever since then we bubble balance all of our slicks. Didn't notice any ET difference in adding the extra weight, and sometimes they do take a decent amount of weight to balance correctly.
 
After missing a race years ago because of listening to someone that said slicks didn’t need balanced i bubble balance all of my tires. I used to put Duct tape over them but now I use Gorilla Tape.
 
Last edited:
Locomotion said:
Cover stick-on weights with duct tape to help keep them on, on the inner halves.
Click to expand...
Yes. Even with rims that have lips that will take pound on weights,
I still use stick on's and tape over them for track use.
 
Northern Grit said:
Started a new job about 6 weeks ago witch has put me in closer connection with all types of racers... stubborn, opinionated, outspoken racers. Anyway here is one debate that has been circulating through the shop lately and I was just curious how you guys feel about this.


Driver "A" states. "Never balance drag tires":
.The extra weight (potentially several pounds depending on tire size and other variables) is just additional rotational mass.
.If there is a vibration it will only come in over 55mph and phase out around 75mph.
.Drag tire should not be driven on long enough to suffer any wear from out of balance issues.
.You don't want a weight coming off at speed and blowing a hole right through the top of your fender.

Driver "B" states. "Always balance drag tires":
.Even though they deform a properly balanced tire will maintain better contact.
.Weights installed on the inner rim surface (sticky weights) will be held against the wheel by centrifugal force which will hold them tight to the rim eliminating the chance of "throwing a weight".
.The harmonics of an out of balance tire will negate any benefit that the otherwise reduced/saved rotational mass could possibly have.

I can see points from both sides, what do you think?
Click to expand...
tell the critiques to drive a really fast car then say they dont need to balance , dumbest dam thing I`ve heared today .....
 
Extra POUNDS of weight? it usually takes less than 2oz per tire, even on bad ones...
 
pittsburghracer said:
Not on a 14-32 slick.
Click to expand...
Now you're gonna make me go out and check mine. Answer (for mine anyway) to follow......

Edit; pair of Hoosier 10/28x16 slicks, on tt2's 4oz, and 6oz.
pair of M/T 14/32x15 on 15x14 centerline prostocks .... 8 Oz, and TWO POUNDS!! Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't checked. They ran fine, but I sure should have had them bust the bead, turn the tire and rebalance!
2nd edit,and counterpoint..... how would they have run at 135, TWO FREAKIN POUNDS out of balance?
 
Last edited:
Good topic. Taking Krusty's wheels to McCormack Racing. Gotta get the front 28's removed, and install the new 26's. I'll have them balance all 4 new tires while I'm there.
 
I had my Hoosier DR 29x13.5 balanced at stupied discount tire, told them dynamic balance with tape weights, and they did static cause the machine told them too, so they place the wreight right in the center where my rotor and calipers run so had them move it over. Never going back to that place again, bunch of dumb ***'s there. I worked at an American tire back in the day and if any tire needed more weight we broke it down real quick and rotated the tire 90* in the direction the weight needed and would drop the required amount needed to balance. Guess those days are gone.
 
33IMP said:
Now you're gonna make me go out and check mine. Answer (for mine anyway) to follow......

Edit; pair of Hoosier 10/28x16 slicks, on tt2's 4oz, and 6oz.
pair of M/T 14/32x15 on 15x14 centerline prostocks .... 8 Oz, and TWO POUNDS!! Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't checked. They ran fine, but I sure should have had them bust the bead, turn the tire and rebalance!
2nd edit,and counterpoint..... how would they have run at 135, TWO FREAKIN POUNDS out of balance?
Click to expand...


Nobody is going to break mine down and rotate them with all that High-Tack all over the bead. Lol
 
I hope I can get my weights on the 2.5 inch back space part of the rim, I don't wanna see any bs on the polished part
 
MOPARMAGA said:
I hope I can get my weights on the 2.5 inch back space part of the rim, I don't wanna see any bs on the polished part
Click to expand...
Can do dynamic balancing tape weights on the inside part of the backside of the wheel and then normal or tape on the outer edge of the inside if that makes sense.
 
Then you don't want them balanced properly. Even Formula one cars ( can cost in the millions) have weights on front and back if needed. It is either balanced or it isn't.
Putting all the weight on only one side or the other can cause a bad wobble/shimmy.
 
I always balance mine front and back.. and add silicone around the stick on weights to keep them on
 
TT5.9mag said:
Measure it at 150mph
Click to expand...
I hvent run 150 o a dragstrip ,(not far off tho) , with and without balanced tires . Have run faster than that on the 4 lane .
The one time I did without balancing , I made one run and hung it up for the day
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top