Bubble Balancer

[PolarisX]

I had a local new to me indy mount my new Yokohama Avid Ascends on my Impala in 225 55R 17.

To my shock he put them on a bubble balancer. I asked him about it, and he insisted I'd get a great result. He's a younger guy, probably a hair short of 30. I said alright, go for it. He had a high speed balancer as well. His dad is an old time engine builder and I assume learned from him.

I can't believe how well it came out. He took his time, he would place a weight, look, wait, place weight, remove it, place it different, remove it. He would then apply the weights and put the tire back on 180º off or so to check it. I don't think he put more than .75 oz on any wheel and one got zero weight. As it turns out the place doing my rotates and balances before was just balancing around the existing weights. I had inside weights, and outside in 3 or even 4 spots that made no sense, not just weight spacing. The whole shop came to see this balancing non sense and it was almost embarrassing.

 

[bluestream]

I used one back in the 60's...they work but not the best

 

[PolarisX]

I left very leery of the result, but got right on the highway and was thrilled.

 

[robertcope]

I have one that I've used to balance tires on a race car and trailer. It seems to work. It's not perfect and certainly not a good as a modern balancing machine, but it's cheap and easy and better than nothing. IMHO, of course.

robert

 

[DerbyDave]

I used one that my high school auto shop had 20 years ago. I had a car that had a wicked wheel imbalance. After the bubble balance it was as smooth as could be. Recently I purchased a bubble balancer from Harbor Freight thinking it would be like the one I used in high school... Biggest POS ever! that thing ended up being returned. I think the only bubble balancers worth having are the old ones they don't make anymore.

 

[Linctex]

Bubble balancers only balance across one plane/dimension - the horizon through through the tip of the fulcrum.

I don't see how they could POSSIBLY work with a modern wheel that has 6"-7" of backspacing/offset.

 

[CapriRacer]

I've estimated that static balance (what bubble balancers do) is 60% to 70% effective. Dynamic balancers add another 20% to 30%, and RoadForce balancers handle pretty much what is left over. (Please note: There are some situations where even a Road Force balancer will not be 100% effective - and I'll talk about that if people want, but it's complicated.)

So it should be no surprise to find people advocating bubble balancers as a result of their experience. They do most of the heavy lifting.

 

[PolarisX]

CapriRacer,

I ended up at your site to read a bit while he was installing my tires on my phone. Small world.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: PolarisX
CapriRacer,

I ended up at your site to read a bit while he was installing my tires on my phone. Small world.


Your phone needed new tires? That's a first for me!

 

[PolarisX]

Early AM typos! I meant while he was installing my tires I was USING my phone to visit your site.

 

[funflyer]

It's been my understanding that a dynamically balanced rotating mass will always be in static balance but rarely the other way around. At least that's what I remember when learning to balance turbine rotors.

A shop that only did a static balance is probably still using a hand pump to air them up also, I'd go somewhere else.

 

[Traction]

A dynamic wheel balancer is usually operated in coarse mode which rounds up/down to the nearest 1/4 ounce, and can end up with over 1/2 ounce static imbalance if the light spot inboard/outboard points are directly across from each other, with the display reading all zeros. If the 2 light spots are 180 degrees from each other, only then would it have zero static. That is why I always balance with the machine in fine mode, and can also switch it from dynamic to static mode to double check the static imbalance if needed and get the assembly under 1/8 ounce total, which is less than what a pebble in the tire would weigh. Can't do that with a bubble balancer.

 

[bunnspecial]

I usually request that wires be bubble balanced as few shops have the correct adapter to mount them correctly on a machine(or the know how to do it if they have the adapters).

Granted, I've also requested on-car balancing for both wires and RoStyle wheels-the RoStyles are lug centric and not hub centric, and not all shops have a pin adapter to mount them correctly on the machine. Truth be told, I like on-car whenever I can get it although few shops have a machine any more. That's why I deal with specialty shops for old cars even if they charge more.

 

[PolarisX]

Originally Posted By: funflyer
It's been my understanding that a dynamically balanced rotating mass will always be in static balance but rarely the other way around. At least that's what I remember when learning to balance turbine rotors.

A shop that only did a static balance is probably still using a hand pump to air them up also, I'd go somewhere else.


Nope, the coats machine handled all that. Like I said he had a high speed balancer. I think it was just some old school thinking passed down?

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: PolarisX
I left very leery of the result, but got right on the highway and was thrilled.


I'd say you lucked out.

I worked at Chrysler Canada in the 1960s and the wheel/tire assemblies were bubble balanced, not dynamic.

 

[Bgallagher]

bubble balancers suited a need back in the day but any modern high speed or road force balance machine will yield far more accurate results.