Is tyre balancing a myth ?

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fatboy · #1 Post by **fatboy** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:17 pm

I recently repaced both tyres but had them fitted in a 'car' place, no new balance weights were added. I mentioned this to my mate (who knew the tyre fitter )
He said Dont need balancing,just run them a bit low for a few miles then inflate to full pressure and you will have balanced the tyres yourself.
Tyre fitter was in full agreement,said balance whiegts are a quick fix.
Any opinions .........

D-Rider · #2 Post by **D-Rider** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 6:59 pm

Never heard that one before!

Salty · #3 Post by **Salty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:43 pm

Tyre fitter was in full agreement,said balance whiegts are a quick fix.

Think I'll stick with the quick fix.

Gio · #4 Post by **Gio** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:14 pm

aren't most wheels cast?

I think i'd rest my case on that premis rather than on some tyre fitter (judging by the intelligence of the ilk like Quick Fit).

#5 Post by **Kwackerz** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:42 pm

I'm in agreement with Gio for once.

davebms · #6 Post by **davebms** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 10:17 am

i think that's rubbish !! when i fitted my pirelli 11, they have a red dot on
the tyre.. this goes opposite the valve .. i have fitted others that have 2 small blue marks , they were to b fitted in line with the valve .. SO if the tyre manufacturers admit that there tyres are slightly out of balance its probably true the most likely reason that he did not balance BIKE WHEELS DO NOT FIT ON MOST CAR BALLANCING MACHINES

#7 Post by **Kwackerz** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 11:30 am

thats interesting, I never knew that Dave! Learn something new every day!

BikerGran · #8 Post by **BikerGran** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 11:39 am

My local very reliable and trustworthy tyre place doesn't do bike tyres for that very reason.

back_marker · #9 Post by **back_marker** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 12:56 pm

I was under the impression that modern tyres need little or no balancing hence the printed dot to align the valve as davebms said.

Will let you know shortly when my pet metalsmith has finished making my balancing stand.

lazarus · #10 Post by **lazarus** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 3:27 pm

only way you will get a sensible answer to this question is to have the tyre fitted with the red dot where it should be and then see how much they are out of balance when put on the machine. Personally I doubt the story since it implies that the tyre maker is capable of adjusting the tyre construction in manufacture top compensate for the weight of the valve.

In any case the weights needed are often way more than a valve would weigh. And the tyre maker could only ever compensate for tyre balance - what about the wheels themselves?

D-Rider · #11 Post by **D-Rider** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 3:47 pm

I while back I lost the balance weight off of one of my car tyres - you could certainly feel the vibration.
On my bike wheels, I've always had them balanced and different tyres have required significantly different balance weights.
I'm sure that some of them that required more weights weren't so far different to the car tyre - and I'm sure that difference would have been noticeable on the bike.

That said ..... the balance weights are fitted to new tyres .... would we expect things to change a bit as the tyres wear down (unless nearly all the imbalance was in the rim and the carcass)?

I've only ever seen balance weights put at one place on a rim. That will take care of the primary imbalance but is it not likely that there will be other (slightly lesser) imbalances around the tyre - so why don't we need to balance these too?

Perhaps I'd better stop thinking about this or the canned worms will all escape before I can get the lid back on.

fatboy · #12 Post by **fatboy** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 5:49 pm

Interesting replies. I knew about the 'dot' marker but if you look at any number of car or bike tyres Im sure 98% of em wont have the dot marker oposite the valve. must admit didnt know about the blue dots.
Just to confuse things further, I dont recall ever having balance weights fitted to anything with spoked wheels......
None of our commercial vehicles at work have balance wieghts ( 5tonne vans to 32 tonne refuse wagons ), why not ?

davebms · #13 Post by **davebms** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 6:00 pm

lazarus wrote:. Personally I doubt the story since it implies that the tyre maker is capable of adjusting the tyre construction in manufacture top compensate for the weight of the valve.

its not a story please google it

#14 Post by **Kwackerz** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 6:42 pm

Yanks are erring towards balancing

http://www.msgroup.org/forums/MTT/topic ... IC_ID=7512&

Trumpet riders seem to go for balancing..

http://www.triumphrat.net/speed-triple- ... -tire.html

I may drop an email to A & R racing who used to do the trackside wheels and tyres. Im sure Alan used to balance the wheels as I remember sticking gaffertape over the balance weights to stop them (reduce the risk) of them flying off..

#15 Post by **mangocrazy** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:05 pm

I'm of the opinion that front wheels definitely need balancing, but not so sure about rears. The rear wheel has a bloody great big piece of articulated metal (a chain, in other words) flying around it that would surely cancel out any out-of balance vibrations.

For the last 2 or 3 years I've been using EasyBalance compound instead of balance weights, and it's been brilliant. When I put a set of SportSmarts on my Oz wheels earlier in the year I used this stuff, and I haven't even thought about them until this topic came up.

In most cases, I think the tyre manufacturers are getting better at providing us with well-balanced tyres, although they do still provide a marker which should be aligned with the valve. The main problem I've found is that some wheels can have poor balance, and if that's the case you will always require balance weights (or EasyBalance).