Balancing 18" Wheels

kenewagner

kenewagner

Registered User
I have had an annoying vibration it seems like forever. I had thought that it was the rear end since I swapped out the pumpkin for one with 3.73 gears. A friend suggested it might be the wheels out of balance. I took them off this morning and slipped my old wheels on the back and took it out for a spin. It was as smooth as silk, no vibration. My good wheels are 18" with Nitto,s mounted all around. I had them balanced when they were mounted at a cost of 40 bucks. Another tire dealer had told me it would cost 150 bucks to balance 18" alum wheels because it is not easy to balance big wheels. What have you guys out there done to balance your wheels and what did it cost. I want that smooth ride back

Ken
 
there ripping you off i work for a tire store
18s are easy to balance they use sticky weights
the balancer has to be staged right so the amount of weight needed goes on the inside of the rim with weights that have a glue on one side
 
titanium89scguy said:
there ripping you off i work for a tire store
18s are easy to balance they use sticky weights
the balancer has to be staged right so the amount of weight needed goes on the inside of the rim with weights that have a glue on one side
Click to expand...

What is the best way to balance tires? Spin balance? I really dont know much of anything when it comes to balancing tires. Whats a fair price and what should I be asking for?
 
spin balance is the best way they mount it on a machine and the machine turns the wheel
our shop charges 25 to mount and balance 4
 
titanium89scguy said:
spin balance is the best way they mount it on a machine and the machine turns the wheel
our shop charges 25 to mount and balance 4
Click to expand...
Try this link. That a link to find a Hunter GSP9700 Road Force balancing machine. One of these machines was the only way I could get a good balance on my tires. It will probably cost a bit more for a balance, but I doubt you'll be dissappointed.
 
I checked the link to find a hunter balancer. I will be taking it in this week. Thanks for the help

Ken
 
kenewagner said:
I checked the link to find a hunter balancer. I will be taking it in this week. Thanks for the help

Ken
Click to expand...


Ken,
If they have already been balanced once chances are it was a decent job...Before I spent the buxxx on a road-force job I would make sure that the wheels are hubcentric or corrected to be hubcentric.

I have seen this too many times...Go from one shop to the next thinking its a balance issue and a $30 set of rings solves the issue...I have no idea what wheels you are running, but most of them are not hubcentric.

Good Luck,


Brad
 
cudaz101 said:
Ken,
If they have already been balanced once chances are it was a decent job...Before I spent the buxxx on a road-force job I would make sure that the wheels are hubcentric or corrected to be hubcentric.

I have seen this too many times...Go from one shop to the next thinking its a balance issue and a $30 set of rings solves the issue...I have no idea what wheels you are running, but most of them are not hubcentric.

Good Luck,


Brad
Click to expand...
Good point Brad, I just assumed hubcentric.
 
cudaz101 said:
Ken,
If they have already been balanced once chances are it was a decent job...Before I spent the buxxx on a road-force job I would make sure that the wheels are hubcentric or corrected to be hubcentric.

I have seen this too many times...Go from one shop to the next thinking its a balance issue and a $30 set of rings solves the issue...I have no idea what wheels you are running, but most of them are not hubcentric.

Good Luck,


Brad
Click to expand...

Can you explain hubcentric to me. I guess I have always assumed you buy wheels, slap on weights to balance them and your done. I bought the wheels from a guy in Florida. They are zenneti mystics. What do I need to look for to determine what type of wheel they are (hubcentric)
 

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Sure thing Ken..

So let me explain what the rings accomplish. It may not even be relative since it IS possible that your wheels are hubcentric. Hubcentric simply means that the wheels center/Hub bore mates to your Tbird hubs with little to unnoticable slop...Similar to the way your stockers fit to your hubs. Most wheel companies cast their wheels with a larger hub-bore and then correct this with rings because the one cast can then appease the masses enabling them to cover so many more vehicles per bolt pattern/style. So lets move on to how you decide if your wheels are hubcentric.

If you measure the inside diameter of your center-bore it should be close to 63.90MM "64.00MM would be acceptable"...If the centerbore is close to 63.90MM then forget I said anything and off ya go to the Hunter Road-Force balancer...heh If it is 1MM or more larger then you need some rings to correct it..

Here is an example of a common wheel application for me.

Tbird/MarkVIII hubs = 63.90MM
ADR 18X8 Kasai hub-bore = 73.00MM

So the outside diameter of the ring will be snug with the wheel and the inside diameter of the ring will be snug to the hub...Have not had one single vibration issue with any of them nor any other application where rings have been required.

Hope that clears things up a bit. Take your measurment and let me know what it is. I have a few ring sizes laying around for the Tbirds & Marx..I might have what you need.

BTW...All the hooplah about 18's being any differant to balance is rubbish...I can;t believe the things people will say...Aluminum wheels are a bit more expensive to balance than steel wheels simply because of the special wheel weights required for all the differant lip styles of aluminum wheels. Steel being pretty much genaric making it a cheaper service. Also the extra precaution and liability involved with a aluminum wheel...But none of that makes them apples and oranges...



Brad
 
cudaz101 said:
Sure thing Ken..

So let me explain what the rings accomplish. It may not even be relative since it IS possible that your wheels are hubcentric. Hubcentric simply means that the wheels center/Hub bore mates to your Tbird hubs with little to unnoticable slop...Similar to the way your stockers fit to your hubs. Most wheel companies cast their wheels with a larger hub-bore and then correct this with rings because the one cast can then appease the masses enabling them to cover so many more vehicles per bolt pattern/style. So lets move on to how you decide if your wheels are hubcentric.

If you measure the inside diameter of your center-bore it should be close to 63.90MM "64.00MM would be acceptable"...If the centerbore is close to 63.90MM then forget I said anything and off ya go to the Hunter Road-Force balancer...heh If it is 1MM or more larger then you need some rings to correct it..

Here is an example of a common wheel application for me.

Tbird/MarkVIII hubs = 63.90MM
ADR 18X8 Kasai hub-bore = 73.00MM

So the outside diameter of the ring will be snug with the wheel and the inside diameter of the ring will be snug to the hub...Have not had one single vibration issue with any of them nor any other application where rings have been required.

Hope that clears things up a bit. Take your measurment and let me know what it is. I have a few ring sizes laying around for the Tbirds & Marx..I might have what you need.

BTW...All the hooplah about 18's being any differant to balance is rubbish...I can;t believe the things people will say...Aluminum wheels are a bit more expensive to balance than steel wheels simply because of the special wheel weights required for all the differant lip styles of aluminum wheels. Steel being pretty much genaric making it a cheaper service. Also the extra precaution and liability involved with a aluminum wheel...But none of that makes them apples and oranges...



Brad
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed explaination. I will check it out tomorrow and let you know
 
cudaz101 said:
Ken,
If they have already been balanced once chances are it was a decent job...Before I spent the buxxx on a road-force job I would make sure that the wheels are hubcentric or corrected to be hubcentric.

I have seen this too many times...Go from one shop to the next thinking its a balance issue and a $30 set of rings solves the issue...I have no idea what wheels you are running, but most of them are not hubcentric.

Good Luck,


Brad
Click to expand...

The wheels are hubcentric. I took them into day and had them rebalanced. I found they were severly out of balanced. One of them had a screw in it. Just took it out for a spin and the diffrence is amazing. Thanks for the help

Ken
 
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