Balancing Procedure

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You will need some weights, masking tape, a piece of chalk, some alcohol or contact cleaner and the balancer. It is probably helpful to mention that most tire makers mark the lightest spot on their tires with a paint mark on the sidewall. Metzler, as an example, uses 2 little red dots. When you install your tire try to get the paint mark as near as you can to the heaviest spot on the wheel. It will save weight later. If you haven’t previously marked the heavy spot on your wheel you will want to do that before mounting the tire. To find the heavy spot remove any old weights, clean the wheel and install the tire valve and cap. Mount the bare wheel on the balancer. Give it a slight spin and allow it to settle. The spot that settles at the bottom is the heavy spot. Permanently mark it in such a way that you'll be able to find it each time you mount a new tire. I use three small punch marks as a locator.

It usually takes about 5-10 minutes per wheel balance including mounting the wheel on the balancer. If you haven't done it before it will probably take a bit longer.

  1. Remove any old weights from the wheel and clean it thoroughly. Make sure the valve stem and cap are installed.
  2. Mount the wheel on the balancer and place it between your equally tall supports so the wheel can move freely (see the instructions on the website).
  3. It is not necessary to spin the wheel. The wheel will start moving on it's own and stop with it's lightest point at the top. You might want to move it to another position and let go again just to verify that it stops in the same place.
  4. Once you've verified the lightest spot, mark it with chalk on the tire.
  5. Take a couple of weights and tape them to the inside of the rim at the chalk-marked spot.
  6. Now take the weighted area and put it at the 3 or 9 o'clock position. If the weight is too heavy the wheel will start turning and end up with the weighted spot at the bottom. Conversely if the weight is too light the weighted area will end up at the top.
  7. Adjust the weight by adding or removing weights until the wheel can be placed in the 2, 4, 8, 10 o'clock positions without moving. Sometimes you will get a very slight movement. Since the balancer has so little friction you can make yourself crazy trying to get it perfect. Based on your level of anality, don't knock yourself out J
  8. The next step is to attach the weights to the wheel while still mounted on the balancer. Try to position the weights as close to the center of the rim as possible. If there is a ridge in the middle then try and divide the weights equally across the face of the rim. Clean the area where you are going to put the weights with alcohol or contact cleaner to insure that its free of oil residue. Peel the backing from the weights and stick them on.
  9. Re-check the balance and once you're satisfied give yourself a pat on the back. You just saved a trip to the dealer and some money. Besides that you know the job was done right.

                                     Copyright © 2003-2008 Marc Parnes Products
                                              Last modified: 07/09/2010