High-Speed Strobe Balancing

[TAF]

So I've had some concerns since the install of the Baer Brakes of getting the front tires properly balanced. The main reason being the lack of clearance between the 14" front Rotors and Baer Calipers and the wheel. There is about a 1/16" clearance to the inside of the wheel and no room for weights.

We've tried several times using a static balancer including putting weights on the insides of spokes if necessary. The machine would say the tire is balanced...but there would still be a shudder between 70-90MPH (which is were my car "lives").

So...this morning I went to Butler Tire, here in Buckhead - http://www.butlertire.com/ - for those of you in the area...I couldn't recommend them any higher. They peformed a high-speed strobe balance which apparently balances the entire tire/wheel assembly along with the rotors and she is solid as a rock at all speeds now. The whole process is done on the car taking the speed up to 130MPH (I didn't realize that a normal static machine only goes to 45-55MPH).

I couldn't recommend this process any higher if you can find someone in your area with similar equipment....go and do it. I was only charged $35 per wheel.

Also...they have all the Hunter adaptor equipment with their state-of-the-art alignment equipment.

Hope this is helpful to someone...

[Dr Caleb]

I'm having difficulty picturing this. I've always used inside tape weights, because the thought of having someone hammer weights on the outside of my beautiful rims is like chewing on tinfoil and broken glass for me.

How do they balance them? How do they attach weights if there is no room for clearance?

[CRUZTAKER]

The static balancers in the cheap garages only spin at 25 mph!!!

The folks at 'the Tire Rack' will give everyone the phone number to their recommended intallers, particularly, shops that perform what is known as a 'Road Force Balance', which is either the same as, or similiar to what Todd speaks of.

Quite a bit more expensive, but very well worth it. This machine will actually tell you if there are bad belts within the tire, making them un-balancable. The static machines miss this everytime, and the tech merely piles on the weight.

Any weight over 2 oz. per tire is wrong!!!!
There is something wrong with the tire or rim if you need more than 2 oz's of weight.

*Tire Rack exchanges ANY tire that fails a Road Force balance.....been there...done that. Had 3 of 4 performance Michelins fail for the wife's LS.

[SILVERMARAUDER]

HI TAF I used the BUTLER TIRE off or 41 and still have front vibe need to go back but nice guys!

[TAF]

Originally posted by Dr Caleb
I'm having difficulty picturing this. I've always used inside tape weights, because the thought of having someone hammer weights on the outside of my beautiful rims is like chewing on tinfoil and broken glass for me.

How do they balance them? How do they attach weights if there is no room for clearance?

Glenn,

It is balanced with stick-on weights...maybe I wasn't clear with that. The point is...even most "road-forced balances" are done on a machine with your tires removed. And...they only spin the tire to the equivalent of 40-50MPH. These guys do a high speed spin on the car (up to 130MPH) and they use a strobe light that calculates and balances the entire frontend assembly. Wheel, tire, brake rotors etc. ALSO...they had these REALLY thin stick-on weights which are virtually invisable. The Ford Dealer (as good as they are with everything else) uses the standard stick-ons that are about a 1/4" in height.

Maybe I'm the last one learning about this...if so...sorry to you guys but it worked and I thought it was great for those of us with cronic balance problems.


Originally posted by SILVERMARAUDER
HI TAF I used the BUTLER TIRE off or 41 and still have front vibe need to go back but nice guys!

SILVER...you need to drive down here to these guys in Buckhead. It's where all the "bling-blings" and the BIG money Ferrari/Porsche/etc. cars get done. The guys had about $750K in cars sitting around there this a.m. getting stuff done.

[SILVERMARAUDER]

THANKS WILL DO!

[67435animal]

Originally posted by SILVERMARAUDER
HI TAF I used the BUTLER TIRE off 41 and still have front vibe need to go back but nice guys!

I had a bad experience with Butler Tire on a Corvette of mine about 12 years ago so I have not been back. I may try them again, but, I have had excellent service from Weaver Tire on Manget behind the Cobb Civic Center. They do an outstanding job of alignment and balancing. On my 442 and the 67 Corvette, the weights are mounted on the inside of the wheel.

Once they have peformed a static balance, they fine tune the balance of each wheel on the car at 7-80 MPH.

However, I must say that Todd's description of the machine at Butler is intriguing and I may have to give them another try.

Bob

[uwsacf]

All my wheels are balanced on the car - have been for 30 years....

The tire shop I go to bought one of those Hunter 'Road Force Balance' machines.... (which they stole from Coats btw)

We tried it on the imp - ha ha ha..... didn't even get close....

They called me in to test it for them, because they know how anal I am....

Put 'em back on the car and strobed 'em - good to 145 so far.... LOL

I pay them by the hour ($30) to do my tires ever six weeks or so...