8 replies to this topic

[dklawson]

In this age of everything computerized I anticipate everyone on this board has their tires computer spin balanced.  I am doing a tire change on the cheap and was going to start with a nearly free bubble balance. If I like the results, I'm done.  If I'm not happy it's off to find the cheapest garage to spin balance the Mini's 10" wheels.

 

Has anyone ever done a bubble balance on 10" rims.  If so, do you know if the tape-weights will clear the 7.5" disk brake parts on the front wheels?  Are there ideal/good locations on the rim for adding the weights?  And I know this varies for each wheel/tire combination but how much/many weights have you noticed are typically required for any balancing method?  For the record, these are a new set of Yoko A008s and I am mounting them on a set of steel Dunlop (factory style) rims.

 

Thanks,

[Yoda]

I used to have a bubble balancer, but only ever used it on steel wheels. Mind you, that was over thirty years ago. so no, i cant help this time. But, i will say that it worked fine when i had it.

[AlexMozza]

Ive always used a bubble balancer on wire wheels and old wheels. Seem to get a better result than a digital one. 
Ive had from wheels needing no weights, to having 150g on one! Never able to guess. 

[dklawson]

I spent the morning working with the balancer.  I also took each rim and spun them against a dial indicator to check for runout.  One wheel ended up with about an 50 grams of weight, most of the others seemed to balance at around 30 grams.  I had nothing to worry about concerning clearance between tape weights and the brake parts... plenty of clearance.  I'll be headed out to the store shortly.  If the car doesn't shake I will consider this a success.  If my teeth chatter on the drive I'll shop until I find a place that does inexpensive spin balancing.

 

Yoda, it has also been 30 years since I mounted and balanced tires.  I didn't do it a lot back then.  I was a starving student on a very tight budget and luckily my future father-in-law had both the mounting tool and balancer.  

[dklawson]

We are back from today's errands.  

 

WOW !!! I am simply amazed.  I knew my old tires were hard and at least one had something akin to a slipped belt that made it go "thump, thump, thump" at almost any speed.  The new A008s are as smooth as silk and the bubble balance is certainly close enough for my purposes.  We got the car up to 55 MPH driving around on local roads and there was absolutely no vibration.  It's amazing how a new set of tires can transform a car.  I wish I'd replaced them a year or so back!

[Yoda]

Fresh rubber is always a good thing my friend, LOL

 

still do tyre mounting now, but no need for balancing, i work mainly on high end pro grass machinery with a Max speed of 25mph so no need for balancing. I have been thinking about buying one for my son as he does drifting in his  BMW and gets through tyres like i get through tea bags.  Oops, am i supposed to say "Tires"

[Captain Mainwaring]

They're fine for a basic static balance which with good condition rims and new tyres may be enough.

 

I've spent quite a bit of time balancing rotating assemblies on 3 axis and you really do need dedicated gear - 

[dklawson]

Oops, am i supposed to say "Tires"

 

Only if their "colour" is black and the wheels they are mounted on have removable "centres".  You can thank Mr. Webster for our different spellings.  

 

Captain, years ago I worked with balancing high-speed spindles.  We had equipment that used a photo-electric sensor and multiple accelerometers to determine exactly where to add or remove mass from the rotating assemblies to get acceptable performance from our machinery.  I guess that's why I was surprised at how good the results were from my static bubble balance.  I fully expected to drive home and start telephoning to see who had the best price on dynamic tire (tyre) balancing.

[Captain Mainwaring]

 

Oops, am i supposed to say "Tires"

 

Only if their "colour" is black and the wheels they are mounted on have removable "centres".  You can thank Mr. Webster for our different spellings.  

 

Captain, years ago I worked with balancing high-speed spindles.  We had equipment that used a photo-electric sensor and multiple accelerometers to determine exactly where to add or remove mass from the rotating assemblies to get acceptable performance from our machinery.  I guess that's why I was surprised at how good the results were from my static bubble balance.  I fully expected to drive home and start telephoning to see who had the best price on dynamic tire (tyre) balancing.

 

 

 

My balancing equipment is what you may call 2nd generation - in that it is 3 axis with phase angle, but I use a bit of 3rd party software to calculate the phase angle (you can do it equally well with a bit of graph paper and a protractor to draw out the parallelogram of forces. Newer balancers are pretty incredible and will give angle and weight straight off the cuff. What is interesting is what else can be determined by a balancer - shafts out of true, bearing defects etc...

 

One thing I have learned is never to try and balance a turd - in other words if you've got to start by adding huge amount of weights to something like a mini wheel - the you may well struggle to get a good dynamic balance.