Had my tires balanced today.

I've always just had someone like Pep Boys or Tire Kingdom balance the tires on my hot rods and for the most part that has worked well. But I plan on racing my 27 at the Billetproof Drags Oct 23rd and since I will be going faster than I ever drive on the road I wanted to make sure everything was right.

I have been noticing a slight vibration in my steering wheel when going down the road, not bad, but there. So today I found an old truck tire/alignment shop that has been around for 33 years and who is about the only place in the whole area that balances the tires on the car by spinning the whole rotating assembly.

The tires on the front of my car are 5:60 x 15 bias plies from US Royal and I have bolted on the 8 inch x 15 Firestone slicks from my rpu project just for the day I race. I thought I might need the tires shaved to true them, but the technician said they were fine, but they were way out of balance. Surprisingly, my rear slicks were right on the money and needed nothing done.

It only cost me $ 44 plus a tip for the tech, and I was out the door, and what a difference ! No more vibration in the steering wheel and I can watch the front tires rolling down the road with no hop whatsoever.

The tech thought I was nuts taking a picture of the process, but I thought it might help anyone on here who has been having similar issues or thinking about having this done.

Don

 

i've always found that taking it to the guys that have been around awhile will actually take the time to make sure your stuff comes out right, hence the reason they have been around awhile. the shop that does my alignments have been around for over 50 years and i have'nt had a problem with them for the 23 years i've been using them. i try to avoid chain stores as much as possible and frequent the mom and pop type businesses when ever i can. good luck at the track!

 

There's a guy here in Long Beach or Signal Hill,or something,who does that also. I hear he's fantastic.

 

Where is the head? He must have just been setting it up. That's the same Hunter machine that I learned on but there needs to be another fixture that clamps on the wheel that spins with course and fine adjustments.

 

For drag racing some old tips for some extra speed;
Use more air [psi] in the front tires,about + 15,will drop rolling drag / but check to be sure the tire stays round[don't do it on old tire,but ya should not race on old tire anyway]
Don't race with hubcaps or rings on wheels,don't have any extras in car,likev spairtire or jack/tools,cooler and so on.
If you have hood or windows, close your windows on a coupe or lay down or remove windsheild on roadster,close hood if ya got one,better air flow around car,it will go faster.

 

I believe that is a complete and running machine, I had learned on them as well and the roller gets pushed up into the tire. You can't beat an old truck shop for know-how and the right equipment.

Bob

 

He is either spinning the wheel/tire up before he puts the hub on it or he is checking his work after he pulled the hub back off and put the cap back on. Or maybe just posing for a photo after everything was done.

 

I don't think I have ever seen anyone race with the hood up, well not on purpose.

Most tracks even outlaw tracks require that you run a windshield of some sort to keep fuel etc off of ya.

Don,
You did good. On an older vehicle especially it is best to have the tires balanced on the car. brake drums and hubs are often out of balance and it is a good way to get everything balanced out. there is a down side that wheel needs to stay on that hub unless you rebalance.

 

Here is the complete setup. Different adapters for 14",15" and 16" wheels with the red head that when adjusted by the tech while the wheel and tire are spinning, tells you where the weights go on the wheel and how many OZs. The picture must have been taken before the balancing process was started.

 

I always tip the guy who does the actual work, if he did a good job. I managed marine techs for years and know how much they appreciated a little "thank you" at the end of the job. They also remember you when you come back and take extra pains to make you happy. It wasn't asked for or expected in this case, but I felt better because the guy really did a nice job.

And yes, that machine was completely set up in the photo, not sure what the extra piece you mentioned was, but it was all he used.

Don

 

I remember trying to figure out how to use one of those machines back in my high school days. I just didn't have the touch or enough time to develop the feel for when the tire was balancing. There's no better way to balance the rotating assembly.

 

The one reason I wanted to have this done was that years ago I had a Toyota and had new tires mounted. Right away I started getting a vibration. They rebalanced the tires, still no good. I was demanding my money back and the owner of the shop said "Give me one last chance and if I can't fix it I will refund your money." He used one of those machines and balanced it all up and the problem was gone.

Like I said, the job today really made a huge improvement in my car.

Don

 

The one I learned on had a sensor box that was placed under the axle and a strobe light the box triggered. The motor spun up the wheel and the box triggered the light when the heavy spot hit the bottom of its travel and stopped the wheel... well the light made it look like it stopped.... and you could see were to place the weight.
There was still a lot of operator skill required to do a good job. But with the right guy its the best way to balance.

 

I think he might have had something like that because he kept looking behind the wheel and rocking it back and forth until he found some sweet spot, then he would tap on a weight and do it again. I didn't want to get in his way too much so I just stood back a little and really didn't pay attention to the process.

Don

 

Yep, that's the strobe lamp equipped one. The unit that has the head that is attached is the 'twelve piece hammer' version.

 

That brings back some memories, I learned on that same machine back in the early 70's. You would put a hand on the fender with your index finger hanging in the air and learn to watch and feel the movement of your finger to know when you were getting it right. Quite an art really. Some guys couldn't do it for anything

 

I ran one of these back in the middle '60's & early '70's It was the best ballancer on the market...Did a lot of Mustle cars back then...
Jim

 

That's the ONLY way to balance tires...

 

That'll be Nate Jones's. Neat watching a tyre being shaved and balanced on the car. But allow plenty of time and take water, food and sunscreen if you're going to wait around. Great work, cool place without frills.

Chris

 

Nate Jones, 1837 Reservoir Dr., Signal Hill, Ca. 90755, (562) 597-3369 is the ONLY guy I will to use around L.A. He trues 460mph Bonneville car tires. He did my '33 Ford pickup with bias ply front motorcycle tires (6:00/16) and Radir bias ply rear (non-recapped) 16" 9 inch wide slicks. The slicks took a lot of weight. Ignore the looks of the place - he has the best attention to detail that I have ever seen. I usually expect the mechanic to drop my hubcaps but not Nate.

On all 4 wheels he:
1. Spun the wheels, (on the car), to identify where the problems were
2. Shaved each tire on a lathe, (off the car)
3. Balanced each tire, (off the car)
4. Fine-tuned the balance job (on the car) while spinning the wheels fast with a magnetically triggered strobe light to balance the whole hub-brake-wheel-lug nut-tire assembly.
He can shave tires off or on the car but does not do alignments. Start with round tires, then balance. Nylon tires will tend to flat spot from sitting still, especially when cold, which is another problem entirely.
All the guys there are true professionals. I liked the job they did so much that took my 2006 Corvette there the next week for truing and balancing. Their work seems pricey, but worth it when you figure out how much longer life your suspension, shocks, tires and fillings will have with round tires.

 

My T used to have a mild shimmy at around 55mph. I tried everything. Finally took it to a "hole in the wall" tire shop. The guy balanced the tires and no more shimmy. He's the only guy I use.

 

I need to find someone around here that really knows how to balance tires,I usually get it done where I buy the tires and had issues in the past.

 

We used to balance rear wheels with the adjuster only. Run the car up on a lift put it in gear and adjust away.

 

in the garage i used to work in,i regularily calibrated the electronic balancer.there was a optimizer setting where you would break the bead and spin tire on rim several times to minimize weight required.it worked well on bigger tire/wheel assemblies.
i havent been there for three years,bet it hasnt been calibrated since i left.
i remember in the early 80's the ford dealer used the on-car balancer,seemed to work well with the right operator.i should ask him what ever happened to that balancer.he may have kept it when they retired it.lol retired.....

 

Haven't seen one of those old spin balancer's in years, I busted tires to eat beans and pay room and board going to college, ran one many times and yes they are/were very accurate for as primitive as they now are by balancing the whole enchilada in place on the vehicle.

 

i used one of those at Frank Weaver Pontiac in Waco, Tx in the mid 70's They are hell for accurate if you know what you are doing and you don't have to worry about the hub coming off the wheel like you do with the hunter when you have your fingers in contact with the knobs in the center of it plus you don't have anything in contact with the wheel so you don't risk damaging an expensive wheel or don't worry about what size wheels the vehicle has as long as the width of the tire will fit against the drive wheel of the spinner.

With the hunter with the hub that fastens on your wheel you can tell if the guy knows what he is doing if he sets his chin on your fender to feel the vibration smooth out when he is adjusting the hub. Another check is setting a half glass of water on the hood or deck lid and getting the water to fully settle down in the glass. It isn't a stunt, it shows that the tire is spinning as smooth as you can get it.

 

I ran one of these at a local gas station back in the early 70s, used to set my hand up on the top of the fender with my index finger straight out, you could tell really easy when the tire came into balance, the fender would stop vibrating causing your finger to steady. I'd love to buy one somewhere, tired of bad balance jobs on computer balancers

 

It's an old thread but deals with something that we with older cars run into every day and that is hubs or even hubcaps that are out of balance themselves.

The past few Hunter on the car balancers I've seen for sale went for pretty good money but there should be plenty of Hunters and the strobe style collecting dust in back rooms of tire shops because they are "obsolete" to the guys with the wam bam get them out the door attitude.