At home wheel balancing

Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for motorcycle tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard bubble balancers are not acurate.

Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont live near a shop. (Amish country).

I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets inside a tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate themselves at the appropriate places centrifically to balance the tire. I assume this is similar to the liquid tire balancer you can purchase for large trucks.

I appreciate any advice.

> wrote in message
...
Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer baalancer? I
have seen at harbor freight kits designed for motorcycle tires, bubble
balancers and the like. I have heard bubble balancers are not acurate.

Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont live
near a shop. (Amish country).

I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets inside a
tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate themselves at the
appropriate places centrifically to balance the tire. I assume this is
similar to the liquid tire balancer you can purchase for large trucks.

I appreciate any advice.
**************

Here's a type of technique that adequately accomplishes the
intent w/o any special tools. You need not necessarily remove
the wheel from the MC, but I'd recommend such preliminary
steps as first verifying (tire,wheel, hub, spokes ...) cleanliness,
riding it to heat the bearing grease and removing, retracting
or disconnecting anything (cables, chain or drive shaft, brake
pads or shoes ...) that affects rotation before attempting to
balance. http://www.youtube.com/v/WgZlWqj0gl4

On Jul 30, 8:35*am, wrote:
> Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for motorcycle tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard bubble balancers are not acurate.
>
> Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont live near a shop. (Amish country).
>
> I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets inside a tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate themselves at the appropriate places centrifically to balance the tire. I assume this is similar to the liquid tire balancer you can purchase for large trucks.
>
> I appreciate any advice.

I recall a shop I worked next too back in the 80's that used a strobe
light to balance the tire while it was on the car. Not sure how it
works though.

wrote:
> Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer
> baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for motorcycle
> tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard bubble balancers
> are not acurate.

They are as accurate as the operator makes them. The computer units
simply take less skill and time.

>
> Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont
> live near a shop. (Amish country).

Buy a bubble type. find or make a small pad where the balancer can set
where it is clear and level.
Place the balancer on it and check it over for level.

>
> I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets
> inside a tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate
> themselves at the appropriate places centrifically to balance the
> tire. I assume this is similar to the liquid tire balancer you can
> purchase for large trucks.

And it does the same thing, screws up the inside of the tire.

>
> I appreciate any advice.


--
Steve W.

If you do it yourself I think it is a good idea to first remove all of the rocks/pebles from the tire treds. I have a little stepped cone lawn mower balancing device I use for when I sharpen my lawn mower blade. I wonder why somebody doesn't make a larger version for do it yourself wheel balancing?

m6onz5a wrote:
> On Jul 30, 8:35 am, wrote:
>> Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer
>> baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for
>> motorcycle tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard
>> bubble balancers are not acurate.
>>
>> Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont
>> live near a shop. (Amish country).
>>
>> I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets
>> inside a tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate
>> themselves at the appropriate places centrifically to balance the
>> tire. I assume this is similar to the liquid tire balancer you can
>> purchase for large trucks.
>>
>> I appreciate any advice.
>
> I recall a shop I worked next too back in the 80's that used a strobe
> light to balance the tire while it was on the car. Not sure how it
> works though.


That style worked a lot like the early spark dynamic types. The strobe
would trigger when the heavy spot was passing a pointer. You would then
stop the rotation and put a chalk mark on that spot. You would then turn
a dial while watching the mark. When the strobe didn't trigger you read
the dial for the weight needed. Add the weight by splitting it into 1/4s
then two were added to each side of the rim at your mark. Then spin it
back up and check it. Might take a good operator two cycles to really be
sure they were balanced.

What amazes me is how bad some tires are that people bring in to be
balanced. Cupped, flat spotted, weather checked to the cords, edges torn
up from under inflation, broken belts, obvious heat damage. Many of them
I turn away simply because of the safety concerns.

--
Steve W.

On Monday, July 30, 2012 9:52:15 AM UTC-5, Steve W. wrote:
> wrote:
>
> > Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer
>
> > baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for motorcycle
>
> > tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard bubble balancers
>
> > are not acurate.
>
>
>
> They are as accurate as the operator makes them. The computer units
>
> simply take less skill and time.
>
>
> I read that the bubble balancer only gives "static" balance, not "dynamic" balance"???? I got on you tube last night, someone said they balanced with a bubble balancer then a computer balancer and the computer said it was off. I have no idea if these things are true or not. I wanted to ask you guys here.

DOes anyone balance their daily driver strictly with a bubble balancer?
> >
>
> > Does anyone have any idea on "good" redneck ways to do this? I dont
>
> > live near a shop. (Amish country).
>
>
>
> Buy a bubble type. find or make a small pad where the balancer can set
>
> where it is clear and level.
>
> Place the balancer on it and check it over for level.
>
>
>
> >
>
> > I have also heard of people putting some sort of rubber toy pellets
>
> > inside a tire. Supposedly as the tire spins these pellets locate
>
> > themselves at the appropriate places centrifically to balance the
>
> > tire. I assume this is similar to the liquid tire balancer you can
>
> > purchase for large trucks.
>
>
>
> And it does the same thing, screws up the inside of the tire.
>
>
>
> >
>
> > I appreciate any advice.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Steve W.

JR wrote:
> If you do it yourself I think it is a good idea to first remove all
> of the rocks/pebles from the tire treds.
> I have a little stepped cone lawn mower balancing device I use for
> when I sharpen my lawn mower blade. I wonder why somebody doesn't
> make a larger version for do it yourself wheel balancing?
>


There have been a bunch of styles. My favorite is the old Wards unit my
father had. It had a small center bubble mounted on a large plate with
holes in it. The holes have letters next to them with a chart for the
letters. The chart listed which set of letters to use for each wheel
stud pattern. Into the holes you put short cones. The cones went into
the lug holes and then you balanced the tire.

--
Steve W.

wrote:
> On Monday, July 30, 2012 9:52:15 AM UTC-5, Steve W. wrote:
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer
>>> baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for
>>> motorcycle tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard
>>> bubble balancers are not acurate.
>>
>>
>> They are as accurate as the operator makes them. The computer units
>>
>>
>> simply take less skill and time.
>>
>>
>> I read that the bubble balancer only gives "static" balance, not
>> "dynamic" balance"???? I got on you tube last night, someone said
>> they balanced with a bubble balancer then a computer balancer and
>> the computer said it was off. I have no idea if these things are
>> true or not. I wanted to ask you guys here.
>
> DOes anyone balance their daily driver strictly with a bubble
> balancer?

I know a lot of folks who do. I do if I don't feel like messing with the
machine. Never had a problem.
I have even balanced them with the bubble then tossed them on the
machine to see how close they were. Only had one that was off and was
corrected by simply sliding the weight by 1/4" .





--
Steve W.

On 7/30/2012 9:47 AM, Steve W. wrote:
> wrote:
>> On Monday, July 30, 2012 9:52:15 AM UTC-5, Steve W. wrote:
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is there a way to balance wheels at home without a computer
>>>> baalancer? I have seen at harbor freight kits designed for
>>>> motorcycle tires, bubble balancers and the like. I have heard
>>>> bubble balancers are not acurate.
>>>
>>>
>>> They are as accurate as the operator makes them. The computer units
>>>
>>>
>>> simply take less skill and time.
>>>
>>>
>>> I read that the bubble balancer only gives "static" balance, not
>>> "dynamic" balance"???? I got on you tube last night, someone said
>>> they balanced with a bubble balancer then a computer balancer and
>>> the computer said it was off. I have no idea if these things are
>>> true or not. I wanted to ask you guys here.
>>
>> DOes anyone balance their daily driver strictly with a bubble
>> balancer?
>
> I know a lot of folks who do. I do if I don't feel like messing with the
> machine. Never had a problem.
> I have even balanced them with the bubble then tossed them on the
> machine to see how close they were. Only had one that was off and was
> corrected by simply sliding the weight by 1/4" .

I had some new tires put on my car and was surprised at how many weights
they added. My thinking is that if it needed so many weights, they
should have dismounted the tire and put it back on 180 degrees rotated.
Does this make any sense?