BJL
Member
- Messages
- 1,364
I must admit to being a bit anal about wheel balance, even the slightest shimmy gives me the hump.
When the car is parked in the man cave after a blast the tyres are hot and as a result if the car is left to stand for a week or more the tyres will develop flat spots which disappear again after driven on for a few miles. Only then can you tell if it's wheel wobble or flat spot vibration. anyway.............
I spoke to a wheel wobble expert and he told me that in most Tyre Bays that have high turnover they set the balancer to a tolerance that allows a speedy balance ie '0' '0' comes up quite quickly so they can cope with turnover. To me that sounds like my delicate 10" & 8.5" rims could be in perfect balance or not to the tune of 5 - 15 Grammes maybe.
I don't know about anyone else but often after a balance I drive away thinking I can still feel a little shimmy. The pat response is ' the hub might be out of balance' or ' the wheel might be buckled' etc etc. Stuff this I thought so I got myself the bees knees of track day balancers. The Hoffmann pic att.
What a difference, my wheels now feel like perfectly round items on each corner for the first time ever and it's great to do your own as often as you like, almost therapeutic especially when you can balance to one gramme acuracy. Best thing I've done for a long time, Yeh yeh I know I should get out more but if anyone wants their wheels to feel round again come down to my place and do them yourself. I've even got Hoffman slimline racing weights, how cool is that? Maybe a group day out in Dorset??
When the car is parked in the man cave after a blast the tyres are hot and as a result if the car is left to stand for a week or more the tyres will develop flat spots which disappear again after driven on for a few miles. Only then can you tell if it's wheel wobble or flat spot vibration. anyway.............
I spoke to a wheel wobble expert and he told me that in most Tyre Bays that have high turnover they set the balancer to a tolerance that allows a speedy balance ie '0' '0' comes up quite quickly so they can cope with turnover. To me that sounds like my delicate 10" & 8.5" rims could be in perfect balance or not to the tune of 5 - 15 Grammes maybe.
I don't know about anyone else but often after a balance I drive away thinking I can still feel a little shimmy. The pat response is ' the hub might be out of balance' or ' the wheel might be buckled' etc etc. Stuff this I thought so I got myself the bees knees of track day balancers. The Hoffmann pic att.
What a difference, my wheels now feel like perfectly round items on each corner for the first time ever and it's great to do your own as often as you like, almost therapeutic especially when you can balance to one gramme acuracy. Best thing I've done for a long time, Yeh yeh I know I should get out more but if anyone wants their wheels to feel round again come down to my place and do them yourself. I've even got Hoffman slimline racing weights, how cool is that? Maybe a group day out in Dorset??
