Tire Balancing ???

Hey All:
I was wondering everyones thoughts about tire balancing. I'm finding it harder & harder to get my tires accurately balanced. I had a friend who along time ago used one of those very basic bubble balancers & did his own with great sucess. Any thoughts? Also what about those centrifugal disks that go behind the wheels.
Centramatic (?) is the company I think... Anyone familiar with them?
I'm just try'n to find another way to skin that cat....
Thanks !!
Curt (aka Xtreme XJ)

if your running anything over 33s they will be very dificault to balance, the bigger the tires the slower they will spin, if they are big bais ply, forget balancing cuz youll be waisting your time. as long as you get them to a respectable margin you wouldnt have a problem, may best friends dad runs a balance at his shop, his been balancing wheels for a long time. he tells me that "the big tires wouldnt be much of a problem cuz of ther slow rate of rotation, they are not race tires so I wouldnt worry about them"
thats along the lines of what he said if I remember correctly. Just do as much as you can and call it good. i doesnt have to be on dialed '0' balance for it to be good.

just my opinion

Bubble balancers can address only static balance, not dynamic balance. They are useful generally only for smaller, lightweight, narrow tires. Off-road tires have a lot of material spaced way out from both the rotational axis and the lateral axis of the tire, requiring a GOOD dynamic balance.

I emphasize "Good," because many technicians can't use the machines. There have been numerous posts by people who have had death wobble problems, and they swear their tires are balanced. Some have gone to two, three, and even four tire shops before finally getting them balanced right.

Be careful when do get em balanced. I just balanced one tire through 4 different shops. Anyways it turns out it was outta round to start with so I had to get a new one. I take moine to truck stops and they do an excellent job since they are doing tires like that all the time. I like in a town that is kinda like a truck stop so I get lucky.

If you drive on the street with "big" tires...tire balance is important...but before the tires can be balanced, they must be round...have them trued before you do the balance...I had DW because one of my front tires was out of true...it could be spun up to over 80MPH and exhibit no vibration at all...it was balanced just fine...BUT it had a high spot...after truing and rebalancing all is good..

Trueing is a good tip and something I may look into if mine act funny on the road.

There are several in-tire balancing compounds that you can simply install through the valve stem or at your next tire change. These are a good option for the bias ply guys (like me).

vintagespeed said:

Trueing is a good tip and something I may look into if mine act funny on the road.

There are several in-tire balancing compounds that you can simply install through the valve stem or at your next tire change. These are a good option for the bias ply guys (like me).

Click to expand...

I ran equal....It was inconsistant at best...read the lil I wrote about it here...

http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=405604&highlight=Equal
And by the way...the Equal Valve stems SUCKSUCKSUCK for airing down...take you a month of sundays from 30psi to 10...no REALLY, like 10 minutes a wheel!!!

I never thought about a truck stop..I've had tires egg out before I don't really have the time OR money to run all over town to only get them close... (32" MTRs) I agree on the static balancing only with the bubble balancer but, my friend used his for 30 yrs. on 31 & 33s on true 12" wide wheels on a stretched flatfender towing a 28' Airstream probably 100K miles, thats why I ask. Finding a "Good" technician is a challenge.....
So no experiences or thoughts on those Centramatic disks?
Thanks for all the thoughts guys.....
Curt (aka Xtreme XJ)

I have worked at a truck tire shop for 6 years and I have seen every thing from equal to golf balls used to balance tires .
Those centramatic disks olny work if the tire has been properly balanced. equal is not for stop and go or slower speed under 25 mph.golf balls well??? The best thing to do is go to a shop that will let you watch them do the balance so you can see if they hop or are out of round it may be tuff to find a shop that will let you watch but call around a bit there out there

I too work in a tire shop, and I agree with freak. Look at your tires as they spin. If you have more than 1/8" to maybe 3/16" of total hop in the tread, you are going to feel it, balanced or not. How tolerable it is is up to you.
ALWAYS get a dynamic balance if you can. Eagle is right, static balances are only very good on a narrow wheel (like 5" or less wide!). Dynamic balances are ones that use weights on both edges of the wheel. I hear ALOT of mixed results about Equal and the like, so I don't trust them.
When you buy tires, see them spun on a balancer before you drive on them. If they are not pretty darn round, return them and demand a round tire. Most good shops will take care of you. I know we do.

Jared