Tire Balancing

[JTG]

How are most of you guys balancing the wheels on your car, Static or Dynamic? A large number of cars I see don't have any wheel weights visiable on the outside lip of the rim which would indicate Static balancing, I thought Dynamic was the far superior method for wheel balancing.

 

[TrailBeast]

How are most of you guys balancing the wheels on your car, Static or Dynamic? A large number of cars I see don't have any wheel weights visiable on the outside lip of the rim which would indicate Static balancing, I thought Dynamic was the far superior method for wheel balancing.

From what I have seen and heard, some people forgo some of the quality of the balance to not have the weights visible. (balanced only using inside weights)
Of course there are the stick on weights for the types of wheels that support or require it.

Personally dynamic balancing with rims that have the lip for it is worth having weights showing.

 

[Abodybomber]

From what I have seen and heard, some people forgo some of the quality of the balance to not have the weights visible. (balanced only using inside weights)
Of course there are the stick on weights for the types of wheels that support or require it.

Personally dynamic balancing with rims that have the lip for it is worth having weights showing.

This.. Dynamic with actual weights on both bead lips ,are the most efficient. I run polished no lip mags, it's a pita with stick on weights...

 

[RustyRatRod]

As long as the tire is mounted correctly on the wheel and the bead line runs straight with the wheel lip and the tire is round, a computer static balance with weights on the inside is fine. This is why all modern spin balancers have a static setting. Although it does require that the tire run very true and you may have to break the tire down on the wheel and "turn" it on the wheel to get it to run true, once that is accomplished, a good static balance is sufficient.

 

[Abodybomber]

As long as the tire is mounted correctly on the wheel and the bead line runs straight with the wheel lip and the tire is round, a computer static balance with weights on the inside is fine. This is why all modern spin balancers have a static setting. Although it does require that the tire run very true and you may have to break the tire down on the wheel and "turn" it on the wheel to get it to run true, once that is accomplished, a good static balance is sufficient.

Got a good one,for ya ,Rob... About '96-'97, a lowrider enthusiast came in with off brand whitewall "lowrider tires " to install & balance on the usual Dayton spokes. They were bias ply white walls,bought through a Lowrider magazine advertisement. I kid you not,the minimal weight amount of one wheel out of the four: 12 ounces, and the rest were much worse.... The kicker: He paid like,three bills for these tires mail order.

 

[JTG]

From what I have seen and heard, some people forgo some of the quality of the balance to not have the weights visible. (balanced only using inside weights)
Of course there are the stick on weights for the types of wheels that support or require it.

Personally dynamic balancing with rims that have the lip for it is worth having weights showing.

I'm running stick on weights at the moment, because I can get away without them being visable as I'm running full wheel covers. I want to change to dog dish which leaves me with two options, do the dynamic balance and maybe paint the wheel weights black so they don't stand out like a sore thumb on the lip of my black steelies, or just do the static balance like Rusty Rat Rod says.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Got a good one,for ya ,Rob... About '96-'97, a lowrider enthusiast came in with off brand whitewall "lowrider tires " to install & balance on the usual Dayton spokes. They were bias ply white walls,bought through a Lowrider magazine advertisement. I kid you not,the minimal weight amount of one wheel out of the four: 12 ounces, and the rest were much worse.... The kicker: He paid like,three bills for these tires mail order.

Somebody sure saw him comin. lol

 

[67Dart273]

Here's the other end of the story. When my Mom was still alive, was one, and two of my own "trips" to the tire joint, came back I had to go back and have them RE balanced

One was the first and LAST trip to this store. I had decided to abandon Les Schwab because of the mistakes they'd made, and I prefaced my dealing with this "new" (soon to be old) joint with:

"Now is your chance to be my tire dealer. I'm done with the last one because of mistakes they've made etc etc etc"

They put 4 tires on the old Ranger, and I DIDN'T MAKE IT 10 MILES. Had to go back, sit in their stupid waiting room, and fiddle around while they decided to balance them like they SHOULD have in the first place!!!

(end of rant)

My point? If the damn tire stores aren't gonna balance them RIGHT you might as well static balance them yourself!!

 

[toolmanmike]

Go to a reputable dealer with newer equipment. Some of the new balancers can even re-position weights behind spokes so they can't be seen.

 

[harrisonm]

I have had VERY good luck with Goodyear stores. You can get tires for less, but the customer service at the Goodyear store at 21st and Fairlawn in Topeka has been superb. The one time a mistake was made, they apologized profusely and made it well worth my time.

 

[famous bob]

I have had VERY good luck with Goodyear stores. You can get tires for less, but the customer service at the Goodyear store at 21st and Fairlawn in Topeka has been superb. The one time a mistake was made, they apologized profusely and made it well worth my time.

goodyears make my truck ride like-----------a truck. getting away from them was one of the best things I`ve done to it !

 

[jbc426]

I had the static balancing done on my '68 tires and wheels. They had the tape weights that you could not see on the steel rims. I am chasing a wheel speed vibration in my driveline right now, so I paid to have all the wheels rebalanced. This time I asked for them to use the rim lip weights.

All four wheels had been balanced from new using the tape on weights. The tech said they are balanced as good as they can be using the static method. Once they rebalanced the wheels with the weights on both sides of the rims, the car drove noticeably smoother. The tire shop said this is always the case with static balancing. It's close, but not as close as the weights on both sides of the wheel. I saw it myself on the machine, and feel it on the road.

I run black steelies with dog dishes and don't mind seeing the weights. If it ever starts to bother me, I'll spray them black.

 

[toolmanmike]

I got out a little model car paint and painted mine.

 

[rod7515]

On my Hunter balancer I can choose to balance them static or dynamically. In the dynamic mode I can choose a location just inside the tire outer bead (hidden from site) and also on the inner bead rim areas. I find that the best way to get a true balance is to use both outer rim beads to mount weights. I recently had a set of GY tires on a 2012 1500 ram that the owner didnt want to see wheel weights. I balanced them for him 3 times before I finally convinced him to go with weights on the outside. Once I did that all vibrations went away. Yes they give us other options but I agree I find the best balancing by using the outer rim for weight placement. Oh and I find the GY tire to give me the most vibration problems of all tires I sell.
Rod

 

[harrisonm]

goodyears make my truck ride like-----------a truck. getting away from them was one of the best things I`ve done to it !

I usually buy Dunlops at the Goodyear store. Anyway, I had the same thing happen with some Michelins about 15 years ago. I put a set of fairly expensive Michelins on a 95 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The ride went from pretty nice to lumber wagon. Worst tire experience ever. After that, you could not give me a set of Michelins.

 

[lilcuda]

The shop I used for my Barracuda steelies did a "road force" balance. They number the tire/wheel assemblies and give you a sheet with what position you should mount them on the car for the least amount of pull.

 

[69DARTS]

I got out a little model car paint and painted mine.

now thats a good idea