Road Force Balancing 14-inch Magnum rims (yes or no) ?

[67CBodyGuy]

I just found out a few days ago about this Road Force Balance stuff. Very few places in my town actually has the balancer that can do it.

I will be mounting a pair of new tires (215-75-14 Hankook Kinergy) to a pair of old (likely 1970's) magnum rims. These can't be hub-centric balanced, instead they must be lug-centric. But that's a side issue. Does anyone have any experience with these old steel rims, in terms of how accurate they are, and if road-force balancing has solved vibration problems for you?

 

[Dana67Dart]

Get a front hub. Have it checked for balance then bolt it to the wheel and hub centric balance?

If unsure have the hub then the hub and wheel and then hub wheel and tire chdcked

 

[RustyRatRod]

Sounds like the same kinda hoorah as filling tires with nitrogen.

 

[67CBodyGuy]

Get a front hub. Have it checked for balance then bolt it to the wheel and hub centric balance?

If unsure have the hub then the hub and wheel and then hub wheel and tire chdcked

It's my impression that most/all wheel balancers have the correct jigs for lug mounting, it's just a matter of the tech using them.

Checking a hub for balance? Who does that? Nobody within a hundred miles of me. I'm not concerned about my hub. I'd get more milage out of checking my drums for balance, but again who does that today?

 

[Dana67Dart]

Checking a hub for balance? Who does that? Nobody within a hundred miles of me. I'm not concerned about my hub. I'd get more milage out of checking my drums for balance, but again who does that today

My point was if you are going to use a hub to balance tire wheel better be sure the hub is balanced.

Just get a bubble level balancer off of temu and your golden

 

[Professor Fate]

It's my impression that most/all wheel balancers have the correct jigs for lug mounting, it's just a matter of the tech using them.

Checking a hub for balance? Who does that? Nobody within a hundred miles of me. I'm not concerned about my hub. I'd get more milage out of checking my drums for balance, but again who does that today?

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He meant using an old/spare hub to mount the wheels on the spin balancer. But to do this, you need to make sure the hub is in balance first so you can be sure the wheels & tires are getting a correct balance.

 

[67CBodyGuy]

He meant using an old/spare hub to mount the wheels on the spin balancer. But to do this, you need to make sure the hub is in balance first so you can be sure the wheels & tires are getting a correct balance.

Do none of these balancers come with hubs with various bolt-circles for this sort of thing?

 

[Vaanth]

Do none of these balancers come with hubs with various bolt-circles for this sort of thing?

Yes, the spin balancers can be fitted with the lug-centric adapters provided by the manufacturer. If the shop has them, you might have to request their use if the worker is not familiar with these wheels. I just had a set of 14x6 five-spoke wheels done. The worker started to set up with a regular hub adaptor and I advised he needed the lug-centric version. He was not familiar with them, but I knew the shop had them from prior use. The owner was there, and knew about them and how to use them so he set it up and showed the new guy how to use it. The adapter has multiple holes and movable pegs to configure whatever lug pattern and size is needed and looks like the following:

Road force balancing balances the tire, wheel, hub, and drum or rotor, and potentially wheel cover or trim ring, as an assembly and can balance more finely and dynamically than just spin balancing depending on the condition of the parts as a whole, but is not usually needed. Most shops around here that I have seen have the equipment nowadays. I had it done once in the early 80s. The shop was the auto section of a Zayre store that sold tires and I knew the guy running the shop. He had just got the balancer and was keen on showing it off so he did my front wheels/tires for free. Typically, it was an added cost over spin or bubble balancing because there is more involved in the checking/weight attaching/re-checking.

 

[67CBodyGuy]

Not just vintage rims, but also modern plastic-clad rims (some of my 300m's have plastic-clad rims).

 

[MV8]

They can be balanced by the hub, it just may not be as accurate as using the lugs. Some lugcentric wheels cannot. I have the geared adapter head and it is more work taking it off and putting it on each rim being balanced with all the lugs. They just don't need to be very tight. I would not bother with force balancing. I suggest you have them balanced hub centric and if you have a problem with any, they can always be rebalanced.