Wheel balancing
Author
Discussion

Zyp

Original Poster:

16,102 posts

219 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
Just had a pair of tyres fitted to the rears, and having just got home to give them a quick clean I notice one wheel has no balancing weights.

I didn't really get the car above 60 mph on the way home but didn't any vibration/wobble - is it unusual to not have any weights?

(there were weights on it originally as I've just broken a nail trying to scrape the old adhesive off smile )

SFO

5,190 posts

213 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
Zyp said:
is it unusual to not have any weights?
I would say yes, as no weights mean tyre and wheel are perfectly balanced .. which is unusual.

mrdemon

21,146 posts

295 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
if the tyre fitted knew what the coloured dots mean (none seem too)

they could mount your tyre to use the least weights.

but fitterd don't take any notice of the dots and bung em on any how.

FactoryPilot

1,352 posts

246 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
If my GT2 is anything to go on, the wheels are always out of balance within 10 mins anyway, as the tyres rotate on the rims frown

Zyp

Original Poster:

16,102 posts

219 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
Spoken to them - apparently the machine said that wheel didn't need any.

I guess the fitter was just lucky to put the tyre bob on on the wheel!

Will see how it goes on the run down to Silverstone.

The fitter was quite good actually - young lad, but didn't use the air-gun at all.
All nuts removed and refitted by hand and even used a torque wrench.

Eta - I looked for the dots myself but couldn't find them.

Edited by Zyp on Tuesday 12th February 20:18

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
mrdemon said:
if the tyre fitted knew what the coloured dots mean (none seem too)

they could mount your tyre to use the least weights.

but fitterd don't take any notice of the dots and bung em on any how.
Not strictly necessary though, the wheel will still balance OK.

More likely that the balancer was on a 5g threshold and the fitter got lucky.

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
bodgerben said:
No weights - quite rare but not that unusual.



As for tyres turning on the rim, for the correct size tyre/rim and properly inflated tyres - sorry but I've never seen that. I'd say bks, but would not want to upset any powerful people/cars, so I won't.
I think he was being facetious, but you're quite right, a tyre would break traction long before it turned on the rim.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

281 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
With equipment like this you would see how pointless dots on the side wall are.

mrdemon

21,146 posts

295 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
With equipment like this you would see how pointless dots on the side wall are.
why ?

the less weights the better, they look naff when you see a car with 8 weights all in a line.
when the wheel and tyre manufacturer goto the effort to balance their products, it's just lazyness by the tyre fitter what ever the machine.

thegoose

8,077 posts

240 months

Tuesday 12th February 2013
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
With equipment like this you would see how pointless dots on the side wall are.
That looks like a great idea, I just hope someone near me buys one.....

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
I use one at Imperial tyres in Swindon - once tried, nothing else will do!
Not had a problem with our 997 but my 5 series BMW is a nightmare vibration wise unless the wheels are perfectly balanced - and the Road Force system gets them perfect every time.

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
REALIST123 said:
I think he was being facetious, but you're quite right, a tyre would break traction long before it turned on the rim.
Depends - tyres on race / track cars turn a lot on the rims.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
mrdemon said:
why ?

the less weights the better, they look naff when you see a car with 8 weights all in a line.
when the wheel and tyre manufacturer goto the effort to balance their products, it's just lazyness by the tyre fitter what ever the machine.
You either did not look at the page properly or do not understand the technology involved after reading the page. Still if anybody in Cornwall area wants their wheels balancing properly I have one wink

mrdemon

21,146 posts

295 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
You either did not look at the page properly or do not understand the technology involved after reading the page. Still if anybody in Cornwall area wants their wheels balancing properly I have one wink
both

:-)

the people who make nice high end wheel put the valve hole in the correct place to balance the wheel as much as possable.
the tyre people who make high end tyres put coloured dots on the tyre to help reduce the weights needed, so you can line them up with the vavle hole.

both these things should be look at 1st before it even goes on your machine.

at the end of the day that machine is still a blanace machine where you add weights !!!

what am i missing ?

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
drmark said:
REALIST123 said:
I think he was being facetious, but you're quite right, a tyre would break traction long before it turned on the rim.
Depends - tyres on race / track cars turn a lot on the rims.
No they don't. Years ago you might get that with tubed tyres but not for a long time. As said, traction will break long before a tyre turns.

Unless there is a major issue with sizing, pressure, quality or condition.


anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
mrdemon said:
Matt Seabrook said:
With equipment like this you would see how pointless dots on the side wall are.
why ?

the less weights the better, they look naff when you see a car with 8 weights all in a line.
when the wheel and tyre manufacturer goto the effort to balance their products, it's just lazyness by the tyre fitter what ever the machine.
There is never the need for that number of weights. That would point to a problem in the assembly or a really incompetent fitter.

Most OE specs would limit the Imbalance of a tyre to within 100g or so and a decent rim won't be far out so one should never need more than 1 weight per side.

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
mrdemon said:
both

:-)

the people who make nice high end wheel put the valve hole in the correct place to balance the wheel as much as possable.
the tyre people who make high end tyres put coloured dots on the tyre to help reduce the weights needed, so you can line them up with the vavle hole.

both these things should be look at 1st before it even goes on your machine.

at the end of the day that machine is still a blanace machine where you add weights !!!

what am i missing ?
It's funny I have referrals from a local Audi and Ford dealer to correct vibrations on car that balance alone can't fix. They sure as hell don't ask me to align dots on side walls.

The main problem with excess weight is either Chinese ditch finder quality tyres, poor fitting (i.e. poorly seated beads) or flat spots in wheels. The car manufacture will reject tyres that need more than aprox 30g of weight inside and outside on the wheels. But they can fit tyres to rims until they get what they want. I am also happy to offer this service to customers if they would like to pay be by the hour on top of paying for the tyres.

Innocently when we fit mid range or quality tyres to a customer’s car we always force match tyres to rims to achieve the best possible vibration control this doesn't mean the lowest weight count on a wheel though. But what are you looking for when wheels are balanced the least weight or least vibration? For me as long as it’s not getting silly with the amount of weight then I want least vibration and that's what we do.

The other thing we do when fitting new tyres or just balancing wheels is we will split the weights behind the spokes of the wheel to hide weight as best we can. Because you are not fitting the weight in the optimal position you are likely to need more weight than if you put the weight in the best place. The outcome is the same you balance the wheel but you need more weight the way we do it. If anybody who would like us to fit them new tyres would want the absolute minimum amount of weight on their wheels please tell us before we start work on their car and sign a disclaimer that vibration is not what they are bothered about and vanity is. wink

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Oh and to the O.P. yes we do see wheel and tyre assemblies that don't need any weight on them. So it may not be anything to worry about.

thegoose

8,077 posts

240 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
Matt Seabrook said:
The other thing we do when fitting new tyres or just balancing wheels is we will split the weights behind the spokes of the wheel to hide weight as best we can.
Matt Seabrook then said:
If anybody who would like us to fit them new tyres would want the absolute minimum amount of weight on their wheels please tell us before we start work on their car and sign a disclaimer that vibration is not what they are bothered about and vanity is. wink
I get your points but why hide weights behind spokes if not for vanity? wink

Matt Seabrook

563 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th February 2013
quotequote all
thegoose said:
I get your points but why hide weights behind spokes if not for vanity? wink
The point about vanity I was making was about little or no weight and vanity being to only thing that matters.

Having the car look good is important but not at the expense of good engineering practise.