wheel balanceing

[carolinamudwalker]

Ok now that we have all our wheels trued up and tires mounted how can we convince the tire shops to balance them by mounting the wheel by the lug nuts? I have very expensive 19" radial tires from Coker tire. They say to make sure they are balanced using the lug nuts and not the hub. I have not found a tire shop yet that has the adaptor to mount a tire by the lug nuts. Why is this important? Well we just trued up the wheels mounted by the lug nuts. Any thoughts on using the balance beads? I know all the 18 wheelers and motor homes use balance beads. Bob

[tbirdtbird]

Bob, I would think such an adapter to be made of unobtainium.
I had my tire shop high speed balance mine centered on the hub, and have had no problems.
I suppose it the wheel is damaged or bent or something this won't work, but they will know that from runout when the spin it.
Ford made good quality stuff, and I am convinced the center of the hub was true to the lug holes when new. If someone has wheels where the lug holes wallowed out and were welded up, then all bets are off

My tires were not the radials you speak of (darn I didn't know about them then), but i don't see why it would matter.

Give it a shot, what could possibly go wrong? (our shop motto!)

[carolinamudwalker]

Dave, I did not think about it at the time but I could have checked the hub to see if it was true while the wheel was mounted with the lug nuts . That would have removed any doubt. Bob

[Denis4x4]

Fortunately, my neighbor has a Snap-On machine that allows wheels to be balanced using an adapter that uses the lug nuts. Too, we balance the brake drums separately and with the wheel mounted. Really makes a difference. I can see that a shop would be hesitant to go thorough the process unless you were willing to pay for the time.

[tbirdtbird]

Is that an older machine....

[Denis4x4]

Yes...at least 25 or 30 years old.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here's a picture of my homemade balancer to check for runout and to balance my wheels. Be sure to remove the grease and use light oil on the bearings.

[carolinamudwalker]

That looks like you could carry around the flee markets when shopping for wheels. Nice work Bob

[Dennis]

That's nice Tom. We have a club member working on a project to check runout and straighten bent wheels.

[CarlG]

I just used the balancing beads. They work just fine for me. I have about 3,000+ miles on the Coker Radials that way now.

[BNCHIEF]

Same for me they do a good job

[carolinamudwalker]

I might give them a try but I bet they are a pain in the a-- to get back out if you don't like them Bob

[Mitch]

These are available for most wheel balancers, but not all shops purchase this accessory

It's a universal fit for odd ball issues

[carolinamudwalker]

Mitch, that's it. That is what Coker tire was talking about. Gonna print it out and carry with me next time . We have a member that owns 3 family tire shops. I am going to shame him into getting one. Bob

[Mitch]

We have one for my Hunter Smart Weight Balancer.....Cmon up!!! It's Free

[tbirdtbird]

That's one hell of an admin, right there!

[BNCHIEF]

Amen to that Tbird he is the best.

[plyfor]

We use a static bubble wheel balancer from JC Whitney ( 1960's) on A and other classic wheels with clamp on wt.s on the back side. These are still available on the net, etc. Most of our local shops won't touch these wheels and we find the result to be very acceptable given no tire chatter, scuffing,etc.. Even the new repro. wheels need weights.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Can you believe, Minerva had 19" Firestones, with NO balance weights & was TOTALLY smooth from 0 to 70 MPH!!!
Dad Hmmmm

[Mitch]

Same here but never hit 70

[Kevin in NJ]

First point, the Model A does not have to be perfectly balanced. They have a lot of unsprung weight which limits the effects of imbalance.

You do not have to do a complicated balancing to obtain something reasonable.

I set up a hub on oiled bearings (like Tom shows, but not so fancy) and mounted the wheel with mounted tire. Then marked the tire position and deflated the tire and moved the position on the rim, inflated and checked the balance. I did this a bunch of times for each wheel and put the tire in the position where it was best balanced. One tire was almost perfectly balanced and another close. They are on the front.

Of course that is a lot of work, but one way of doing things.

Dyna beads are use quite sucessfully by many guys.

I would do a best balance by above and then see how it is on the highway. If you have a problem you can always add in Dynabeads.

[tbirdtbird]

Kevin, just how do the dynabeads work? How do they find a home and what makes them stay in position? I have never seen them. It must take a couple handfuls per tire....

[BNCHIEF]

Tbird I used them they work great but i mounted radials on my car makes it seem like it has power steering, look at the thread do radial tires improve steering it is full of good info and fact, I can also give you a good tip on how to get these beads in easily. If you need something just pm me.

[tbirdtbird]

Thanks, LOL, what I need is a magic wand to turn my bias Firestones into those nice radials!
I loaned mine out and the guy never brought it back

[carolinamudwalker]

Dave, you don't need a magic wand just $$$. Remember, you cant take it with you. Bob

[Curly]

I followed forum member Carl G. for a good part of our 600 mile roadtrip this summer across a big chunk of Alaska. Dirt roads, frost heaves, uneven bridges, his little truck drives straight as an arrow. I think there’s a lot to be said about his radial-bead combination. It’s not cheap or easy but the results seem well worth it.

[plyfor]

Here's the bubble balancer form Harbor Freight, similar to the older ones. The balancer hub fits classic car wire wheels. .For a slimmer look, one can use the stick -on wt.s more readily available than the lead types..

[Art Ebeling]

That's one hell of an admin, right there!

There is no one like him!

[Dennis]

I worked in a shop years ago we had an old guy in his 80's that would show up once in awhile to do front alignment and balancing. He did it all his life. He used an oncar spin balancer. He's do all 4 wheels with it in a matter of a few minutes. I'd take me several hours to figure just one of them out. There's no substitute for experience...

I noticed a slew of balancing bead kits on Amazon. Where do you buy these from and how many oz. per wheel. Also noticed filtered cores and stainless beads. Anybody use the stainles? Can these be used with bias ply tires, I assume they work in them also?

[BNCHIEF]

snyders sells the glass ones they give a recommendation Dennis take a look at that it will give you some guidelines.

[CarlG]

The beads that Snyder's sell are pre-packaged -- one package per tire.

[carolinamudwalker]

The glass beads are really tiny and not magnetic, takes a long time picking them up one at a time with tweezers. Don't ask how I know.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Dave, you don't need a magic wand just $$$. Remember, you cant take it with you. Bob

Yes, the government will see to that.

[Ted Duke]

I worked in a shop years ago we had an old guy in his 80's that would show up once in awhile to do front alignment and balancing. He did it all his life. He used an oncar spin balancer. He's do all 4 wheels with it in a matter of a few minutes. I'd take me several hours to figure just one of them out. There's no substitute for experience...

I noticed a slew of balancing bead kits on Amazon. Where do you buy these from and how many oz. per wheel. Also noticed filtered cores and stainless beads. Anybody use the stainles? Can these be used with bias ply tires, I assume they work in them also?

I had a 1966 IH Travelette (four door pickup) that I bought new. ONLY spin balance on the truck worked if you were going to drive over 50 mph. After those machines started disappearing I had to go to truck stops to get them balanced. Not sure if they still use them at truck stops.