The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Issues Balancing Tires

I took my new Wheel Smith rims and old tires (Cooper Cobras Radial GT, with about 500 miles on them) to get them mounted and balanced on my new rims. I didn’t want go down go my local discount tire store to have my new rims damaged so I found a local RNR store that specialize in custom rims and tires. I had to make an appointment a week in advance to get this done and things didn’t go according to plan. Two out of four of the tires they couldn’t get to balance stating that they thought the rims were bent. You could see a slight wobble but to me it did not seem excessive. When I got home, I ran an indicator on the rim, on both sides of the rim in the axial and radial positions. Now the tire is still mounted so I can’t get to the bead area which is the proper place to get the measurements so these measurements were taken as close to the bead area as possible. The worst I had was less than .060”. The other rim they couldn’t get to balance was less then .045”. I tried one of the rims that they were able to balance and that was also out about .050”. All there measurements were TIR (total indicator reading).

I called Wheel Smith and they said that their tolerance both axially and radially is .030” collectively, meaning you don’t count little bumps and dips, which is something I didn’t account for. Then he asked if the mechanic removed the tire, installed it 180° out and tried to rebalance. I wasn’t there so I couldn’t answer that question. I suspect that he didn’t since he didn’t say so.

I had these tires balanced before on the old rims. If I recall correctly, one tire required a bit more weight to get it in spec.

Looking for insight/advice to evaluate my next step.

I spent a lot of years teaching wheel alignment and balancing, and rotating the tire to different locations on the rim is a good way to minimize the weight necessary to bring a wheel/tire assembly into balance. Due to manufacturing tolerances, some tires can be very difficult to get into acceptable balance. Another sneaky trick is to static balance the wheels separate from the tires, using stick-on weights inside the barrel area of the wheel. Then all the spin balance does is correct the dynamic imbalance of the tire. I have a very sensitive set of ball bearings on a support shaft to static balance wire motorcycle wheels, using solder or lead wire wrapped around some of the spokes.
Jerry

Ya, most people today just stick the tires on a rim and add a pile of weights wherever the machine says too.

When I had my Wheelsmith rims and new tires installed, the guy showed me where the machine said to place a ton of weights. He didn't want to use that much weight so he did what HRL said to do. He rotated the tire on the wheel and it took only a small amount of weight.

Another trick I picked up recently is to fill the tire, set the beads, deflate the tire, then refill. It relaxes the tire and ensures the beads are evenly seated.

I have had good success with load force or road force balance, most auto dealerships have the equipment now. The trucks I drive as daily drivers have all been 3/4 ton or 1 ton 4x4 with appropriate tires - 10pr, they typically aren't as smooth as the lighter tires and the road force does a good job.

My Discount Tire dealer just did a road force balance job on the wife's Toyota Highlander.

I think the road force equipment is more common now than it was 10 years ago. I used to service the HVAC equipment on the roof at Discount Tire headquarters in Ann Arbor.

A google search for places that do road force balancing near me turned up nothing. Does any ‘bolter know of any place around Albany NY that does it?

Most GM dealers were "encouraged" to get into the tire business a few years back, had to purchase fancy Hunter tire machine and road force ballancer. They do help with the "problem child" wheel balance issues.