Balancing tires. Taking opinions.

Well, I know I'm going to get shot down for this, but I've recently started (skeptically) using Dyna-Beads and have had incredible success with them.

Just remember to remove the old counter weights from wheel if you use the beads.

Oh ... and the warranty thing ... Michelin only cares if the material has a high water / moisture content or affects internal material of the tire.

https://www.michelinb2b.com/wps/b2bcontent/PDF/TB_BalancingMaterials.pdf

 

The document mentions truck tires. I wonder if this is a global statement or just specific to truck tires?

 

NM ... just proved myself wrong ... LOL

http://motorcycle.michelinman.com/advice/faq/about-the-purchase-and-use-of-my-tires

 

Well, based on this information, is everyone who runs the Michelin tires going to dump their Dynabeads?

 

Now that Jeff is less stove up and down to his last few Oxys and has new duds and a new bike, could we maybe think the dude in the semi who smacked Jeff was running those beads?

 

Some of that polish I use on me toenails. As an advocate of ATGATT, few of my brother bikers know of this and only until I change into flipflops around the old campfire , do they know.

Near perfect match on the wheel weights. I use "Crossfire" a type of automotive paint that dries with or without the catalyst/hardener. Putting a little away is great for doing not only wheel weights but fixing nicks and chips.

This one is not always valid, but sometimes with Honda a given color is used or very close to the colors used on their cars. Touch up paint can be purchases in small amounts from Honda car dealers.

Yeah that's three reasons but WTF, five minutes from now SOW will post up how he mixes his paint with cat shit.

Best when buying any paint is to at least do a rough estimate on coverage. Car and bike paint is pricey!! A mistake that homeowers make is getting the idea at a full line paint store the sale dude is BSing them when

It's suggested to over buy. Two good reasons to listen:

Packaging... four quarts of wall paint are more pesos than buying a gallon. Same with buying a five instead of five individual gallons. Run oot of paint when ya got maybe another 10-20 sq.ft. and running to the store for another quart of so aside from leaving lap marks, that new quart ain't gonna match.

Lots: Paint is not all synthetic fractions. One biggie is Titanium Oxide or Titanium Dioxide. its a mineral,mined all over the place. When the shit hits the fan and some old religious dude decides that everybody that doesn't think the way he thinks they should should lose their heads. Some of the headless may be the dudes that were mining the Titanium and the buyers go a different source. Being a mineral the raw materials contain traces of all sorts other things that affect color in the finished product.

Error: The computer scanners and associated software for color matching are great in general. Cuts the by guess and by gollly shit to a minimum. Tints are added by a tinting device. Tints can be synthetic and many need agitation on a daily basis, They are dispensed by hand in various amounts to "bases" that run to clear to solidly opaque. Crank in that human factor a dirty tinting machine or a stoned employee, and therreason we can still buy a Tshirt with "SHIT HAPPENS" takes on even more meaning.

 

Meh. Still going to run mine ... tire warranties are shit anyways on most tires. I've only once gotten a tire warranty and it was a fight to the bitter end.

LOL!

 

Going back to OP's question. I used a No-mar wheel balancer. Anything similar will work. Your wheel bearing will do most of the work, unless they are bad. I watched them use this same method on the team yamaha race bike at Laguna a couple weeks ago. They had super smooth bearings. Probably ceramics.

 

Going further back than the OP's question, anybody here except a few dudes ever lace up a spoke wheel, balance the spokes with a spoke wrench, a chunk of plumbing pipe, a couple of notched lengths of angle iron and a dinner fork? Or if ya got a shitload of pesos a salad or oyster fork.


Many of the "tools' used by factory and heavily sponsored race teams may look like regular tools but they ain't. Same deal with race teams on the NASCAR circuit. The cars look like Chevvys and Fords. They ain't even close. Tires and fuel in 10-20 seconds is real hard to do with tools from Pep Boys and JC Whitney.

 

Thanks fellas.

 

I use two jack stands with V tops, the factory axle in the wheel. I put the axle in the V blocks and make sure it is level. Then stick it in the wheel and then on the stands like this.


This is a wire wheel of a CB550SS. I also tightened the spokes and checked run out with the dial indicator. Total run out was .010" when done. Has worked for me since 1975 and up to 140mph. Didn't have a bike any faster. I do now.

 

LOL funny thread, I use the factory clip weights. they work great, never any hassle, never any question. I re use em over and over. side note; when doing the balance I use one of those computer controlled sensor type getting down under1 gram to spot on. Good for flying under radar

 

My wheels were Cereani's. (sp??) Had to drill out the holes for the spokes on the rims . Good deal on using the dial indicator. Never hit that 140 mark even on a mile.. Pushrod thumpers....I had at one time six sets of wheels and a seventh 21' front for miles.

The cast wheels then were not all that good and way too heavy. Now they are way to expensive and going 140 on anything except a plane or train is for fast guys and harleydoods that lie aboot how fast a hog is..

A few dudes on VRS's too..

 

I know people will be shaking their heads while reading this,but anyway.
After checking that my rims were balanced, I mounted a set of Michelin PR 2 and rode them unbalanced, carefully at first. Seemed normal so I continued to ride, with never a shake, wobble, or the slightest vibration , in all conditions at all speeds.
Now on my third set of Pr2's and don't see the need to balance this particular tire.

 

Michelin will actually tell you that the reason there's no "marking" on the tire to show the balance is because their tires are perfectly balanced from the manufacturing process they use.

 

I agree. I also believe every claim made by every company and everything I read on the internet.

If a wheel is oot of balance does the Michelin correct for this too?

 

LOL ... not saying they're right, just saying what they will tell you. I always balance / use beads.

 

If those beads don't work oot, maybe the local hookers recycle them.

 

Work for a tire manufacturer, there is no way they can guarantee perfect balance because it becomes part of the wheel assembly. There are many many variables that go into making a tire. Even the best robotic tire machines are subject to variances in the material hat goes in them. And good heavens lets not talk about the human setting up the machine. 80% of maintenance calls are due to setup. The rest of the problems are found during testing. The race tires are built by hand by the best people of their craft. Street tires aren't. I use the harbor freight balancer and made my own adapters. I use the nylon tire irons. I had pressur sensors on the last bike and did not trust them to anyone. Oh yeah the Harbor freight bead breaker. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and never had a problem with any tires I put on or scratched my rims. Its not rocket science.

 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned about balancing tires: How to remove any adhesive residue from stick on wheel weights? The last shop that mounted a set tires for me used brake clean to remove the residue. Apparently the brake clean reacted with the powder coat on my rim & turned a small portion of it a yellowish brown. I've used plenty of various cleaners on my rims in the past & never had an issue. Mothers & Meguiars wheel cleaners, Simplegreen, WD-40...etc. A nearby body shop was able buff the area out so no real damage was done. They now use a 3M adhesive remover that's "body shop safe". Meaning it won't react with paint or coated surfaces. The shop felt pretty bad about the mistake & didn't charge me for mounting & balancing. Just about every auto parts store sells some kind of adhesive remover that won't damage paint or finished surfaces.