so what is the best balancing method

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trudysduster

trudysduster

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so if you are going to have a new set of tires put on and balanced, what is the best type of machine to have this done on. some say static balancing and some say other. maybe I need to find another shop to do mine. The last shop used the stick on weights. I have had 2 of them come off. I have read up on Dyna beads to put in the tires. Anyone use these. When I was driving a semi, I used to put about a quart of 60/40 antifreeze mix in each tire. I never had a problem. Don't know how that would work on car tires though. What kind of machine are you getting yours balanced on. I want this new set of tires balanced dead nuts. Thanks,Bill
 
Bill I have no good advice, just like alignment shops, you have to find someone who actually GAF about their job

I started having troubles with Les Scwab tire, and gave up on 'em. Went into Perfection to buy a set of tires for the old Ranger. Told them, "now is your chance to impress. I'm PO'd at Scwab because they can't do things right, etc etc etc."

New set of 4 tires, supposedly spin balanced. Went out to Post Falls and back and it bounced around like a ball with the Globetrotters. Took it back and had to waste another 2 hours cooling my heels in their stupid waiting room while they rebalanced them. Not even an apology.

I'll never go back there and it only took one trip.
 
One thing you can do is to add some duct tape over the weights to hold them there.

Find a reputal shop that will let you watch. Make sure the tech cleans the area well before putting the weights on then tape over them! It is not a great way to do it with the stick on weight, but sometimes the only way depending on your wheel style.
 
yeah, that's getting hard to do anymore. I was more interested in finding out the best method of balancing. spin, static, dynamic. stuff like that. I don't want weights on the outside of the rims because of them being American Racing. Don't like sticky stick ons either after losing some and didn't know they came off. I am just tired of chasing a vibration and want it done right so I can eliminate this and move on. I am really thinking about these Dyna beads. Hell, I may even put anti freeze in each wheel like I did on my semi. I know the centrifical force will balance them out for sure.
 
As far as I know, spin balancing , witch means typically weight on both side's of the rim to get the best balance. if you do not like weight's on the out side, you automatically lose the possibility of getting the best balance.
 
Dynamic, or "spin" if done correctly. But you cannot always get a decent balance without outside weights.
 
spl440 said:
as far as i know, spin balancing , witch means typically weight on both side's of the rim to get the best balance. If you do not like weight's on the out side, you automatically lose the possibility of getting the best balance.
Click to expand...

67dart273 said:
dynamic, or "spin" if done correctly. But you cannot always get a decent balance without outside weights.
Click to expand...

bingo!
 
The local guy here balanced all four of my aluminum wheels, he used the weights that tap onto the rim edge and non on the outside.

They darn near zeroed out.
 
Modern tire balancers all have a setting for inside only weights. If there's an issue then it's most likely with a tire or wheel....

Wheel weights are not normally seen on the outside of newer wheels :)
 
As long as the wheel is straight and the tire is mounted correctly and has little to no runout, there's not a thing wrong with a good static (weights on one side or in the center) balance. Sometimes it is necessary to "turn" the tire on the wheel to get it to the best position and run true. normally, as long as the tire and wheel run nearly perfect on the balancer, you can get away with static.
 
Dynamic (moving) balance is clearly superior to static (stationary) balance.
The wider the tire, the the more pronounced the difference becomes.
A tire that is dynamically balanced is automatically statically balanced but a tire that is statically balanced is not necessarily dynamically balanced.
Consider the first sketch that shows a tire with a heavy spot. [We are looking 'down' at the tire through the fender.] The weight tries to turn the tire 'left' but half of a rotation later, it's turning the tire 'right'. There's a similar 'up' and 'down' thing going on.
Note if we added a weight like the second sketch,, the assembly would be statically balanced but the imbalance would actually be far worse.
 

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Static balancing does NOT have to be stationery. Static balancing also refers to putting weights in one spot on the wheel.
 
I used a tire machine at one of the shops I worked at when I was way younger that ran the tire on a drum (kinda like a chassis dyno at 10mph) but for one wheel at a time and shaved the tire perfectly round under rolling load conditions and then spin balanced it.
You couldn't even feel that there were tires there, let alone spinning.

It was the computerized big brother of those old hand operated tire rounding machines.

To the question, static works, but spin is better (if the person doing it has a clue)

IMO
 
Modern spin balancers have a static option to balance on the inside or in the center. Over and out.
 
thanks guys, I will check around and see what kind the big guys have. one of them does the clip on type on the inside of the wheel. wouldn't mind that. the tape kind.......no likey.
 
Find a shop that does roadforce balancing. That is the best way to balance tires period. I've been in the industry for 10 years. There is forced applied to the wheel/tire that simulates the tire being on the road. It tells you everything about the tire and wheel. Hunter makes the machine.
 
I've been doing wheel alignments and wheel balancing for years.
The best balance is dynamic for sure, you can either do this with knock on weights on the outside, use stick on weights on the inside or a combination of knock on and stick on weights. The key to keeping stick on weighs on is to thoroughly clean the area where the weight goes on with tyre buff.
I wouldn't go putting antifreeze on the inside of your tyres, not good for today's rubber compounds. Bags of weight beads in truck tyres works ok, but not on passenger cars.
 
I located a shop that has the Hunter GSP9700 machine that does road force balancing. I will probably go there and have it done.
 
Little trick that I've seen at the drag strip.After installing stick on weights guys put duct tape over them to help the weights stay on. Just a thought.
 
not going with stick on weights anymore. Learned my lesson on that. Talked to my tire shop guy today and he told me I had enough room to do clip on weights on the back side. told me he could get it dead on. so I am going to try that. He has a Hunter machine.
 
Also it depends on the style of wheel, traditional steel wheels can be balanced with hammer on weights on both inner and outter lip or set up for the weights to be placed only on the inside lip, now your machined lip wheels that have a flat outter lip and a curved or hammer on weight type inside lip can be balanced with sticky weights or a combination of hammer on and stick on weights,
Your wheels that have a inner and outter flat lip are made for sticky weights only weather it be on both the side behind the spoke and the inner side or just on the inner side,

Traditionally a good balancer should first off be recalibrated at least every couple months
(Some on the fancy newer ones dont require calibration) but a traditional spin balancer should do fine, however for the best balance i would try to find a shop with a road force balancer.
Call around to the local dealerships and see if they have one, an expirienced tire technician is key also there are at least 8 different style of hammer on weights that fit different wheel lips, if incorrect ones are installed they may become loose and come off resulting in a out of balance tire
 
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