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[QUOTE=Tommychu;325704]The only balancer I will mock is an on-car balancer.
Spin-up balancers can do both static balancing and dynamic.
Static balancing has it's place. Bubble balancers aren't the best way to achieve a static balance, but they don't require any power.
QUOTE]
I think the on-car balancer would be better on older cars, ie with drum brakes. That way you are spinning the whole wheel assembly, hence balancing the the whole unit. I reckon nowdays, everything is pretty precise, so it wouldn't be necessary. Plus they were commonly used back in the day of bias ply tires and I think they would not have been as balanced from the factory as radials are these days.
As far as bubble balancers, I think they would do just fine for a Fester that is driven at legal speeds. Now, if I were going to turbo one and have custom wheels and lo-pro tires and hi-speed rated tires that would encourage me to break current legal speed limits, then a spin balancer would be a must. But, for a 12 inch tire or a 13 inch tire for normal driving, I highly doubt you could tell the difference between a bubble balance and a spin balance.
The main problem ppl have with balancing is they do it when the tires are new and never again. And they don't rotate them. The front tires wear much faster than the rears. The rears, essentially, just follow along. The fronts are wearing down by spinning the tires, going around corners etc. As they wear, they go out of balance. As they go out of balance, they out of balance even faster, cupping the tire or causing uneven wear. So your front tires end up wearing really badly and your rears are like new.
I owned a tire shop for several years. I believe I had ppl come back in for balance and rotate every 5,000 miles (check with your local tire dealer for exact mileage). So, lets run some numbers. 4 balances at $7-10 each and 4 rotates at $3-5 each, using low numbers that equals $40 every 5,000 miles. Now, let's say that Karl gets a bubble balancer and it does such a bad job that he only gets 1/2 the tread life of his 60,000 mile rated Kuhmos...........btw, there is absolutely NO way you would lose that amount of tread life due to the inferiority of a bubble balancer........he would do his own rotate and balance 5 times. 5 x $40 = $200. The money he saved he could just go buy a new set of tires, plus he gets the satisfaction of doing it all himself!
Every time you go to the jy, take some wheel weight pullers and pocket you some free wheel weights to cut your cost even more. Torque them bad boy, HF removed tires and ghetto bubble balanced wheels to 69ft lbs and you are in business!
And THAT is how Midwest Festiva Inc rolls!
Spin-up balancers can do both static balancing and dynamic.
Static balancing has it's place. Bubble balancers aren't the best way to achieve a static balance, but they don't require any power.
QUOTE]
I think the on-car balancer would be better on older cars, ie with drum brakes. That way you are spinning the whole wheel assembly, hence balancing the the whole unit. I reckon nowdays, everything is pretty precise, so it wouldn't be necessary. Plus they were commonly used back in the day of bias ply tires and I think they would not have been as balanced from the factory as radials are these days.
As far as bubble balancers, I think they would do just fine for a Fester that is driven at legal speeds. Now, if I were going to turbo one and have custom wheels and lo-pro tires and hi-speed rated tires that would encourage me to break current legal speed limits, then a spin balancer would be a must. But, for a 12 inch tire or a 13 inch tire for normal driving, I highly doubt you could tell the difference between a bubble balance and a spin balance.
The main problem ppl have with balancing is they do it when the tires are new and never again. And they don't rotate them. The front tires wear much faster than the rears. The rears, essentially, just follow along. The fronts are wearing down by spinning the tires, going around corners etc. As they wear, they go out of balance. As they go out of balance, they out of balance even faster, cupping the tire or causing uneven wear. So your front tires end up wearing really badly and your rears are like new.
I owned a tire shop for several years. I believe I had ppl come back in for balance and rotate every 5,000 miles (check with your local tire dealer for exact mileage). So, lets run some numbers. 4 balances at $7-10 each and 4 rotates at $3-5 each, using low numbers that equals $40 every 5,000 miles. Now, let's say that Karl gets a bubble balancer and it does such a bad job that he only gets 1/2 the tread life of his 60,000 mile rated Kuhmos...........btw, there is absolutely NO way you would lose that amount of tread life due to the inferiority of a bubble balancer........he would do his own rotate and balance 5 times. 5 x $40 = $200. The money he saved he could just go buy a new set of tires, plus he gets the satisfaction of doing it all himself!
Every time you go to the jy, take some wheel weight pullers and pocket you some free wheel weights to cut your cost even more. Torque them bad boy, HF removed tires and ghetto bubble balanced wheels to 69ft lbs and you are in business!
And THAT is how Midwest Festiva Inc rolls!
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