Bubble wheel balancer?

[Elkins45]

You can buy these for <$60 from a variety of vendors. Are they worth having for things like snow tires or trailer tires? I already have a manual mounting tool and thought it couldn’t hurt to be able to do at least a minimal amount of balancing to stuff I mount myself.

 

[oldcodger]

I do not know how good they are but as I was growing up that was the only type of balancing device the service stations and Western Auto had. We used them and never seemed to have a problem. Seems to me the center hole in some wheels will not work.

 

[JavierH19]

These are fine for a basic balance. On anything that has to go faster than 90 you'd probably feel at least a little vibration. Without a balance of any kind you'd likely feel vibrations at 60-70 on good brand tires if not 40-50 on cheap brand tires that aren't molded as well.

 

[FZ1]

You can buy these for <$60 from a variety of vendors. Are they worth having for things like snow tires or trailer tires? I already have a manual mounting tool and thought it couldn’t hurt to be able to do at least a minimal amount of balancing to stuff I mount myself.


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You could just get some 1/10 ounce clip on weights, jack the trailer up, and spin balance them yourself. Not perfect, but better than not balancing your trailer tires.

 

[The_Jeff]

I could never get them to work to a level I was confident with. Seems like the hub bore got "sticky" and I didn't think it was on there right.

I preferred using a hub without axles or brakes like FZ1 describes.

 

[dishdude]

You might as well just guess where to put the weight on. Not worth the cost or hassle, imo.

 

[FZ1]

I could never get them to work to a level I was confident with. Seems like the hub bore got "sticky" and I didn't think it was on there right.

I preferred using a hub without axles or brakes like FZ1 describes.

This^^^^^^+ You have an extra "tool" to mess with and store.

 

[Trav]

I cut my teeth on these things back when a Coats 10-10 tire changer was modern. I have not used one in decades but if I got near one memory alone would kick in. They were okay and the resulting balance was pretty good. The trick is to get the balancer level, on the one I used daily you could lock it and adjust the feet on each corner to level the bubble when unlocked.
Lock it again and mount the wheel before unlocking it, add 4 weights to the sides of the tire next to the wheel and draw them in slowly until the bubble was centered then lock it and put 2 weights on the inside and 2 outside and check it again.
for dynamic balance there were electric on the vehicle wheel spinning contraptions that were a huge PITA to use. It did balance the whole assy, tire, wheel, brake drum but only until the tires were rotated.

 

[oldhp]

Grew up using these. When we got the newest Coats balancer we checked a bubble balanced tire and was only off 1/4 to 1/2 oz each time. The difference was the inside / outside weight split.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Always had my tires mounted and balanced by a shop. Never owned one of these. Cheap enough to let the shop do it. But, I do agree it would be great for trailer tires.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I bought one from J.C.Whitney many years ago and a VW wheel adapter since those had the wheel mount on the outer edge of the drum. It worked good if you had it leveled and centered. I have been using the yellow dot on the tire and puting that closest to the tire valve and I have not had any balance issues. Put 4 tire on my 65 VW Bug without removing the wheels and using the yellow dots and so far there is no problem even at 70 mph. Original wheels have a deep enough center to just squeeze together and pull the tire off.

 

[ripcord]

I have one of those balancers and haven't had any wobblies with any of the tires I've used it on... not driving 100mph very often, though.

 

[thescreensavers]

I tried one of these on my XJs wheels with 33s. I greased the pivot point but the wheel assembly was too heavy and it never floated freely. There was too much drag at the pivot so I returned it.

 

[repairman54]

I bubble balanced tires at the Esso station in my younger days, pre Exxon. That's all we had back then.
They work fine, just need to get it level on the floor first which can be a PITA all the time if you move it around.
Once I started bubble balancing my little 10'' rim snowmobile trailer tires I never had a roadside failure again. You would be surprised how much weight one of them needs. Especially how fast they spin at 65 mph.

 

[Lenny5160]

I have one that I use for my dragster wheels. The 16" wide wheels won't fit under the hood of most shops' spin balancers.

Seems to work fine, although balance is of questionable importance when the car doesn't spend any time at a constant speed.

I have read that some of these have a needle that sits too deep into the pivot point, so that it artificially limits the tilting range. You can use a large drill bit to shave down the 'walls' that the pivot needle sits between.

 

[Dave Sherman]

I bought one of those for the MG's wheels, since they won't fit any of the balancing machines that shops use now. Must have worked, because after following a couple of Youtubes and sticking on a couple of weights, it rides fine. Not doing highway speeds in it, though.