Krazy George's Wheel balancing tips.
I looked everywhere the prior set of instructions might have been, but they were not to be found.
So, I'll start again. As I always say, my instruction posts are encyclopedia length because I try to
anticipate questions in advance.
It just occurred to me....we could have a balancing clinic at the convention. I'd be glad to use the
Lowrider as a guinea pig in a demonstration...I always take tools and a jack on trips like that.
It is possible to injure yourself doing this, if you are not careful, so pay close attention where I have
mentioned caution, as I don't want anyone to take out an eye, or get run over, because a bit of
caution wasn't observed. You also need to make sure you are not in the path of a loose weight, as
it is going moocho mph as it flies off the rim if it isn't fastened securely, and they have sharp
corners.....goodbye eye!! Goggles or some sort of eye protection is a good idea.
Rotating assemblies as heavy as our tires and wheels can be out of balance in two ways, Dynamic
balance, and Static balance. Static balance is the simpler to fix, and simply means that there is a bit
more weight in one sector of the tire tread than anywhere else, and must be compensated for on the
opposite rim. This type of imbalance can be corrected with a bubble balancer. Anything more than
a half ounce or so should be split, half on the inside, and half on the outside. This splitting
procedure prevents the occurrence of Dynamic imbalance, where one sidewall of the tire/wheel is
heavier than the other, (inner vs. outer) which can cause high speed wobble, in and out, of the tire.
This type of imbalance usually is only noticable at speeds higher than 60 mph or so, due to the
stiffness of the tire's sidewalls. Dynamic balance is only discernable by spinning the tire. A tire can
be statically correct, but grossly out of balance dynamically. With the advent of steel belts,
dynamic balance has become more of a problem because of automated mass production of tires and
inability of human operators to insure each belt is laid on the carcass exactly in the center, or
overlapped exactly the same amount everywhere around the circumference of the tire. As
technology has advanced from the old days of bias plied junker tires, the complexity of tire
construction today has kept the balance problem from completely going away, although it is less
likely to be a significant one, except to SHO owners!
OK....to the meat of the situation.
Materials required...: Outside, flat concrete, floor jack, 2x4 or 4x4 blocks, piece of carpet or other soft
material to kneel/sit on while addressing the tire, brake or carb cleaner, rags, weights, wheel weight
pliers if you use clip on weights, a short handled sledge hammer to apply them, and most
importantly, one or more SHOs with possibly out of balance tires, and a soda. The wheel weight
pliers have a hammer face to apply the weights, but I ALWAYS slam my fingers with it because I
must hit them so hard, because it is small and has no inerta. A short handled 3 or 4 pound hammer
is much better...you can control it easier by going slower, missing your fingers, and not damaging
the wheel or weights. A nice addition would be a tire crayon, which you can mark the tire while it
spins out of balance if you have another person that can operate the car while you sit by the tire.
This will save a LOT of time by finding the heavy spot much quicker than trial and error, which is
the only choice you have if you are alone. You can get the tire crayon at a mass production type
auto store, like Grand Auto or Pep Boys, that have rows and rows of car stuff. NAPA or Kragen or
Chief might not have them, due to lower inventory. A tire shop may not have an extra one to give to
you. A regular child's crayon usually doesn't work as it is not dense enough to make a visible mark
on a black tire. You will also want a hammer and cold chisel, to mark the stud nearest in line with the
valve stem. After you do all this work, your wheels are 'keyed' to the hubs, since you have
balanced the hubs too, so you want to put the wheels on the hubs the same way every time you
take them off. Marking the stud end with an 'X' allows you to know which one is the 'stem stud'.
CAUTION.....
If you have a limited slip differential, chances are you will not be able to do this operation on the
fronts unless you jack up the entire front end and remove the other tire. Ford rear wheel drive
differentials with limited slip can be balanced one wheel off the ground at the time (at least mine can)
but I don't know about the Quaifes....I'd REALLY tread lightly at first. If you do need to take the
other wheel off, leave the rotor on, and snug down all 5 lug nuts. You will be spinning that side as
well, and it needs to be as balanced as you can get it.
CAUTION.....
If you have a car with an automatically released emergency brake, you must exercise additional
caution, and insure that the car is blocked securely, as it could roll when you are not prepared and
cause injury.
To balance front wheels mounted on the car using the engine to spin them......:
Apply the emergency brake. In addition, block the rear wheels, both of them, with wood blocks
high enough that it would be extremely difficult for the car to climb over them. If it should fall while
spinning, the emergency brake ain't gonna stop it, buddy!!! Jack up the corner desired using the
jack pad just behind the rear of the front fender. On Gen 1's at least, there is a flat area just right for
a floor jack. Use a wood spacer to avoid the jack denting the underbody, and to spread the load of
the jack over a wider area. About 1 inch off the ground is sufficient. A jackstand is theoretically
required to insure the jack is not the sole support for the car. If it falls off the jack while spinning,
obviously it is instantly underway out of control, although you are in the driver's seat, but not
prepared to be driving and steering, so damage could occur. If you need to take it higher to get the
jackstand underneath, that's fine. I suggest putting it directly under the rear bolt for the subframe
on that side...that's a nice strong location that holds the jackstand in place.
Remember that the tire will spin twice as fast as the speedometer indicates, because the differential
is multiplying the engine speed times 2. If you have a MTX, start in 4th gear and spin the tire up
gently, so the car doesn't try to leap off the jack via the other front wheel. It will have a small
amount of traction to the ground at first. Spin the tire up to 30 or 40 mph on the speedo...that's 60 to
80 actual wheel mph. If you have an ATX, start very slowly, and let it shift up to 4th gear, or third if
you want to lock out the O/D. The car will rock as it shifts, so don't take the speed way up until it is
finished, or it might fall off the jack. Change speeds slowly while searching for imbalanced speeds,
to give it a chance to tell you if there are any particular speeds where the vibration is stronger. You
need to balance it at these lower cruising speeds before you go way up to over 100, otherwise you
will spend too much time at the high speed, when it wouldn't be necessary if you got it close at a
slow speed first.
Now the subjective part begins.....how much, and where? Experience has taught me how much
weight to start with, and I always start at the valve stem...that part is easy. If there is just the
slightest shimmy in the wheel, it usually will be taken care of with 1/2 ounce or less. If there is a
noticable shimmy in the wheel, and the seat and/or door, which should be open, shakes just a little
bit, then start with one ounce. You can get a good indication of exact balance from the driver's seat
by using the door as a guide. If it is open, the outer end is away from the center of shake, the
centerline of the car, and will move the most, even with a small amount of imbalance. It is the
equivalent of the balance technician holding his finger out from the fender back in the old days
when everyone used Hunter equipment. So, if the door edge bounces up and down noticably, start
with an ounce and a half, split between the front and back of the rim. If it is any worse than that,
you have a big job ahead, and you have to get the static balance problem taken care of first, then fix
any dynamic problems later. You cannot go as fast at first when there is this much imbalance, as it
will be impossible to tell how much to use. Only use the minimum speed that give you a definite
steady shake, and fix that, then work up in speed from there.
End of Part 1....
Created: Sept 09, 2000
Updated: Sept 09, 2000