How many here balance their own wheels?

[BentValve]

I have a few questions for those of you who balance your own wheels.

Id like to buy a balancer and start balancing my own wheels, is it pretty easy to do and what is a good balancer? I dont mind paying a little more more a quality balancer.

So far I have been eyeing the balancer from Handy Industries but id like to find a Metzeler.

Can the rear wheel benefit from a dynamic balance or is a static balance enough?

Are stick on weights good enough, do you need to ruin the finish on the rims to get them to stick properly?

thats about it for now , thanks

 

[PACIFICBUSA]

Ping the Rythm-nator hisself.....homeboy fabricated a home-made balancer. Think it was about $15 of Home Depot parts...

 

[cache]

I dont balance my tires..... and every weekend it goes over 150mph.

but then again I am not making 2000 mile trips.

 

[Rhythm]

Stand fast while I search fo da link for ya.

 

[Rhythm]

Answers to your tire changn blues  

Click onto the below address to view.



Heres a photo of my homemade static tire balancer sitting on a pair of car jackstands.

Here she is being tested for levelness

You can choose to spend $15 making this tool or you can spend $115 on this beautiful piece of work.

Choose your poison !



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[BentValve]

Thats cool Rythym but id rather just buy a balancer, if nothing else for the fact that I dont have to make sure everything is level and I can balance tires where ever I want without much hassel.

This one looks interesting:
LINK

 

[PACIFICBUSA]

just like the Rythm-nator sez...

 

[Rhythm]

just like the Rythm-nator sez...  [/QUOTE]

Choose your own poison

Its all good Bent, with whatever you go with. To me a balanced  static tire balancer is just that. The only thing separating them are  their LQQks and price tag.

On the photo I posted with the level on top of my homemade jobbr I made was placed there to show the viewers that its leveled like the rest of the online or store bought tire balancer.
Providing your existing bearing arent shot you shouldnt have any problem jerry riggn your own with successful results as with the one you posted a link too or others.

 

[cache]

dayam I want that chrome jewel....

 

[Rhythm]

cache Posted on June 06 2005,06:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dayam I want that chrome jewel.... [/QUOTE]

Nothing but the best for my Medusa.

 

[BentValve]

You have a point , have you tested out your balancer for accuracy by taping a small weight on a balanced wheel just to see if it works consistantly?

 

[BentValve]

Where are the berings on your arbor? Are you just spinning the pipe on the jack stands, I hope not.

 

[Rhythm]

Yep, gave it the old spin wheel test on the homemade T/B, and she spun as smooth as glass. BuT I havent road test the bike since the balancing of the tires because she been undergoing some serious sleepr modz. I truthfullly feel when I get her up and run'n I wont have any wobblie tires

 

[Rhythm]

Where are the berings on your arbor? Are you just spinning the pipe on the jack stands, I hope not. [/QUOTE]



Take a look inside you rim, Playa

As long your bearings in your  rim arent shot you can just use those (no removing of course).  The bearings inside the rim will rest on the balancing bar once it has been inserted ,locked and loaded for spinn'n. Read the link I posted earlier, all  the question you have will be answered there, believe me.  Aint that right Pacman.

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[pure_ego]

i've always read/heard that as long as you line up the little red/yellow dot on the tires with the valve stem more than likely you aren't going to need to balance them anyway.

I know I watched the local dealer change several times while I was there and to the best of my knowledge they never changed anything on the balancer.. just popped em' on there.. checked em, and put em back on the bike.. no changes..

I asked em' once and said unless the wheel weight comes off your going to be fine unless you got a screwed up tire as long as you put it on right.

 

[BentValve]

Not true at all your dealer is full of ####, though youd probably be fine but balanced is balanced. There is a such thing as close to balanced and id wager alot of cash that thats what most people get.
...if you want perfection then do it yourself.

Since I posted this thread I purchased a Metzeler wheel balancer and am extremely happy with my purchase....after a few hours of fussing with it ,everything came together and made sence. The factory front was off by 7 grams and the weight location was wrong...was it fine for 3800 miles? You bet. But now my front is perfect, I can tell the difference @ high speeds.

I changed the rear tire before I got the balancer so I dont know how far it was off exactly. But I have 28 grams more than the factory put on and its in a different location.
A perfect static balance takes time though..surely no dealer has that kind of time for the money they are charging.

 

[pure_ego]

I dunno.. $40 just for the labor should buy nearly an hour per tire.. haha.. how long are we talking here?? days?

I'm about to take the plunge and start changin my own tires... (FWIW i never paid the dealer that much to change mine... just asked,, i got a local bike shop guy that'll do it for $5 if I bring the wheels, and buy the tires from him $260 total last time for pirelli diablos) I would have done it this last time but it was.. put the tires on, go to a track day... tires had 0 miles on em' when i pulled onto the track.. I thought it prudent to let the pro's handle it when I had immediate plans of high speed cornering.

 

[BentValve]

I think a good half hour per wheel is about right...I took longer because this is my first static balance, I have been using automobile dynamic balancers for 15 years though so I have a good idea of what a balanced tire is all about.

$40 for an hour? Shops around here get $70 an hour.

 

[BentValve]

Oh and if you dont know then ill tell you now...shops love to charge and hour for 20min worth of work...happens all the time , everyday everywhere , automobile and motorcycles alike.

 

[PACIFICBUSA]

Aint that right Pacman.

Ain't nuttin' but the truth, dawg....

If ya really read through the Rythm-nator's posts, he takes care of ya. Detailed walkthroughs and it's not hard to understand.


Most people pay good money for stuff like that...ova here, Rythm does it for free.