Balance

[Will]

Is there a way to balance the tires on my touring car? I get much past 35 mph she starts shaking. I put the left rear up and ran it and before half throttle you can see the tire start to shake.

[DanTreace]

If wheel is shaking, check hub nut first. Could be loose hub on axle.

[Dennis Prince]

Yes you can balance them. What wheels do you have? You can use regular wheel weights on 21 in split rims and stick on weights or solder wrapped around spokes on clincher and wire wheels. Mount the rims and tires on a front wheel and use it as a balancer. This will work if the rims are straight and not out of round, also check the wheel that you are using as a balancer for runout and out of round before starting.

[Allan]

Do your tyres have flaps? Adding such heavy weight at the perimeter of the wheel will not help. If you have the type with overlapping ends, the overlap will add to any unbalance. One end of the overlap is usually held in place by the valve stem, resulting in adding weight where there is already added weight.

Allan from down under.

[Will]

Dennis, Thank you. I will try that tomorrow. I have the normal clincher wheels. Allen, I do not use flaps, But I do use bicycle flaps glued together.

[aDave]

Dyna Beads
https://www.innovativebalancing.com/

[nicklm]

We thought we had a balance/wheel problem with our 26 touring. Rebuilt the wood wheels and could not make them work and changed to wire wheels. Still had the problem and replaced the spindles to find that was not the problem also. Come to find the tires were the problem.
If you take jack up the car and spin the wheel and keep a screwdriver rubbing on the tread. If it rubs evenly on the tread all the way around, ok. We had two Universal tires replaced on the front and both tires had a low area of about 6 inches from bead to bead.
The manufacturer said we had worn down too much to be covered by their warrantee. So it may not be a balance problem. You may not to check if the tires are round.
Nick

[Allan]

Nick, did you buy more Universals?

Allan from down under.

[brendan.hoban]

Balance beads!

I have wood spoked wheels with demountable rims, 30 x 3.5 with flaps. They all had wobble, wabble, wobble and wobble (there must be such a thing.)

Balance beads fixed them all.

[Allan]

I have 7 T's presently, and have moved on another 5. I have never had the need to balance any of the wheels on any of the cars. Perhaps it is down to the fact that I have always used tyres manufactured no later than the early 1970's. Those people used to produce a quality product, which lasted many years. I did have one set of 30 x 3.5" Universals come my way on a running chassis I bought. This became my shooting brake. The Universals did less than 5000km before the rears were almost worn out and the fronts had developed sidewall cracks. It now has a set of old stock Olympics.

Perhaps too, it has to do with the speeds at which I drive. 30 mph is usual, less in Henrietta and up to 40 in my widebody roadster with the 3.25: 1 rear axle.

Out of balance wheels should not be a problem to be solved.They are a symptom of something being wrong, be it out-of-round tyres, buckled wheels, poorly mounted or bent demountable rims, improper seating of tyres. Balancing the wheels is treating the symptoms.

I have just finished fitting 5 new Blockley tyres, thick Michelin tubes, and rim liners on the nicest set of clincher rims I have seen in a long time. Fitting them with tyre lube makes the job easy and helps the clinchers seat well in the rims. A nice bonus is the mould mark on each sidewall just above the rim. It allows the fitter to see that the tyres are seated as they should be. I will be interested to see how they run when I can spin them on the front wheels.

Allan from down under.

[Adam]

The biggest problem with Blockley is how they look. The tread pattern is “Ham Tread”!

[TMiller6]

https://www.motor1.com/news/711767/go-p ... nce-beads/

Live action camera. Just in case you want to check your balancing beads.

[TXGOAT2]

My car has balance beads installed and it does not shake, tramp, or shimmy at any speed up to and beyond 50 MPH. The car has Ford wire wheels and Lucas 4.40/4.50 X21 4 ply tires, Made In Viet Nam. The tires are a number of years old and show no cracking. I've driven the car about 17,000 miles and worn 2 of the tires to the cord. (Rear) None were new when I got the car, but all had good tread. Rear tires wear faster than fronts. The car has hydraulic shocks (VW?) front and rear, which probably helps extend tire life and prevent wheel bounce. These tires have stood up well to very aggressive, coarse, washboarded, crushed rock roads and sub-standard pavement. I routinely drive the car at 40 to 45 MPH (Garmin) on pavement. Based on my experience, these tires are worth their comparatively low price. (I do have to add air about once a week, which seems to be a common fault) All four tires will lose 2 or 3 PSI over a week to ten days. I run them at 26 PSI cold. Tread wear is uniform across the tread.

[Gen3AntiqueAuto]

dynabeads!!!

[Will]

I just ordered 4 new tubes from Coker and balance beads from Dyna Beads. Hopefully it will work out.

[nicklm]

Allen,
We have balance beads in the tires and that didn't seem to help. And no we did not repurchase Universal tires to replace the original ones. The supplier said we could buy new ones only to find the new ones are with the same problem. Didn't like the odds. Rather get a better tire and not have the problem.
Nick

[Allan]

Well done Nick. There is no good reason to support vendors who have little faith in their own product.
Adam, The Blockley tread is very similar to the early Good Year tyres, probably not a coincidence. Others don't like the big Blockley script on the sidewalls. Big script too was common on some early tyres. Then there's those horrible oversize brass valve stems that others don't like. They are in fact the most common size used on old cars and they can be covered by the most common sized Schraeder nuts and dust covers.
Me, I like the tread pattern and I am not fussed with the valve stems. What I do like is the thick Blockley and Michelin tubes which hold air! Who'd have thought it possible? No checking and re-inflating these every week.
Each to his own.
Allan from down under.

[Gen3AntiqueAuto]

Will I tried replying to your message - did you get it? Anyway - I'm a dynabeads dealer, seems I missed a sale! ha. There's a trick to installing them, I'm here if you need help.

I'm putting my business card below so you can email me directly and we can pick up where we left off on our transmission work conversation.

I just ordered 4 new tubes from Coker and balance beads from Dyna Beads. Hopefully it will work out.

[Harvey Bergstrom]

I am having difficulty getting the balance beads into the tubes on my ‘24 Touring. It seems there is an obstruction in the valve stem. Has anyone encountered this problem? No trouble getting air to flow into or out of the tube. Just trying to get Henry to ride a little sweeter than he already does. Thank you to any responders!

[Oldav8tor]

Prior to tire installation I installed 6 ounces of balance beads in each of my tubes. I'll have put 10,000 miles on my Universal T drivers by the end of this season. I'll probably replace the Universals with Blockleys when they wear out but the balance beads will stay. The tires wear evenly and the car doesn't shake.

To install beads, I remove the valve (don't laugh, a guy I know forgot) and take a plastic condiment bottle with a piece of plastic tube attached to the spout and slip the end over the valve stem. Pour the beads in gradually and to help them along, vibrate the stem by holding the end of a vibrating engraving tool against it. It takes me about 10 minutes per tube.

[DHort]

Many tire places do not have the right equipment to balance your skinny tires. Take them to a cycle shop. Their equipment is more suited to narrow tires.

[Gen3AntiqueAuto]

You need a long drill bit to clear the rubber at the bottom of the valve stem. I used to sell a complete kit, with the drill bit and "filtered valves". If there is a market for it I'll start back up. Drilling the valve stem is nerve wracking but required on some. Next trick is using a vibrator to pursuade them to enter in an orderly fashion. I'll be doing a video on this in the near future.

I am having difficulty getting the balance beads into the tubes on my ‘24 Touring. It seems there is an obstruction in the valve stem. Has anyone encountered this problem? No trouble getting air to flow into or out of the tube. Just trying to get Henry to ride a little sweeter than he already does. Thank you to any responders!

[Gracie'sDad]

I balanced the front wheels on my '23 with detachable rims. I used 4oz lead duck decoy strips placed in the empty space between the wheel and the rim. To determine how much weight needed, wrap a weight strip around the spoke opposite the heavy side. You can then "nip" off small pieces of the weight with heavy wire cutters until the wheel settles wherever you move it. To affix the weight you may be able to place the strip underneath the lug bolt if you flatten it some with a hammer. Otherwise use JB Weld, RTF Silicone or some other strong adhesive.
I'm sorry I don't have a solution for balancing the rear wheels.