Wheel Balancing

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pbar
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Wheel Balancing

Post by pbar »

Forever on my quest to be as self sufficent as possible, and combined with continuing troubles with tyre places, has anyone here ever tried balancing wheels themselves? You can get various machines for home use, just wondering if anyone has any experience of them.
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by SCP440 »

Dont waist your money, I was given a home balencing device a few years ago and after several goes I relaised the reason I was given it.
The devices most tyre fitters use are calibrated and if you think you are going to get this level of accuracy with a kit that is probably not on a level surface and has probably had a few knocks it is not going to happen.
If you are having trouble with getting tyres balanced find another tyre fitter, if you have already done that it could be the tyres, I know my tyre fitter was telling me some budget tyres need a lot of weights. I prefer to use small independent tyre fitters, much better service usually and will treat you like a valued customer rather than just another invoice.
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Bug
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by Bug »

pbar wrote: Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:43 pm has anyone here ever tried balancing wheels themselves?
Yup! Managed to get 9 high, but then they all fell over and nearly flattened me. :xd:
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by Mc Tool »

You can still buy manual tire balancers, I thought some racing car owners still ballance their own tires trackside. I had a friend ( married a total #ucking bitch ,aint seen him for years ) who worked in a used car yard for years , he reckoned the manual balancer worked well just took lots more time and a bit of actual skill to get a good result .
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pbar
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by pbar »

Mc Tool wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 6:30 pm You can still buy manual tire balancers, I thought some racing car owners still ballance their own tires trackside. I had a friend ( married a total #ucking bitch ,aint seen him for years ) who worked in a used car yard for years , he reckoned the manual balancer worked well just took lots more time and a bit of actual skill to get a good result .

Do you mean like a bubble balancer (as they seem to be known), such as this one -

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61f ... L1200_.jpg
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by SCP440 »

That is similar to the one I was given, after half a dozen goes I had an improvement it was no where as good as getting it done properly. You also need to consider that some wheel tyre combinations need to be balanced a lot more accuratly than others. I remember a Calibra I had many years ago that would wobble if the balance was more than 5g off where as my MG can be way off and still feel fine.
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by Mc Tool »

Yeah , thats probly the modern equivalent , from memory ( like 40 years ago )his one had a lot more cast iron and steel and no plastic.
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by Major_Tom »

Bug wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 2:52 pm
pbar wrote: Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:43 pm has anyone here ever tried balancing wheels themselves?
Yup! Managed to get 9 high, but then they all fell over and nearly flattened me. :xd:
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pbar
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by pbar »

SCP440 wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 9:33 pm That is similar to the one I was given, after half a dozen goes I had an improvement
Mc Tool wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:24 am Yeah , thats probly the modern equivalent

Thanks guys, they start from around £60 so for that I'd love to try one, maybe it's worth a punt for curiousty. Some people online reckon they get great results with practice/technique, curing wheel wobbles at speed and doing other peoples tyres even. Would be interesting to do a couple and see how they compare with a balance check at a tyre place.
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by Mc Tool »

Id like to know how the electronic ones work . The two are wildly differing in method , kinda makes sense that one may work better in certain situations , like for example one might have a persistent oob (out of balance )wobble that an electronic balancer wont detect ......but the semi retired guy with the old fashioned bubble balancer fixes 1st try ......maybe 😁
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by nigecapri »

Also consider any wear in the steering rack. I bought a rack from Raldes and it would shake like a spin dryer. The rack was shiny black but the gubbins hadn't been serviced. I de-shimmed it enough to tighten and it was all good.
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Re: Wheel Balancing

Post by pbar »

Thanks for your input Nige, that's definitely something to always keep in mind.
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