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Author Topic: Wheel balancing  (Read 5395 times)
Matraman
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« on: November 27, 2020, 11:11:30 am »

Now that I'm 350 miles into running in my restored 2.2 I'm venturing onto motorways and finding out that the wheels have never been balanced since being refurbished by the previous owner. There are no weights on them at all, so once I reach 60 things start wobbling.

After several attempts locally in Manchester I can't find anyone who can balance the thick alloy solid centre wheels. Can anyone give me any help on how to find somewhere in the UK which can do these 1980's wheels? Meanwhile I'll have a look for classic tyre suppliers to see if they can help. ATS can do solid centre wheels but their machine can't cope with the thickness of the Murena wheels apparently.
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Andrew
suffolkpete
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« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2020, 11:17:27 am »

I find that surprising, I can think of at least three suppliers who can do it within 20 miles of my home in rural East Suffolk.  All it requires is an adapter for the standard balancing machine.  Surely there must be someone in Greater Manchester.
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Matraman
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« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2020, 01:29:19 pm »

That gives me hope! I'm pursuing Citroen Saxo / 90s Peugeot people at the moment, but most of them seem to have thrown away the adapters for these types of wheels now. There's one potential place near me but the guy I spoke to managed to put me off going near them; the whole job sounded like a PITA to him. I've also looked at balancing them on the car and my nearest place for that seems to be Bicester, which is a long way from here in a car with unbalanced wheels! Longstone Tyres at Bawtry might be able to do them off the car, which is quite a way to go if it turns out they can't do them, but at least I could take them off the car and take them over there in another car.

I like a challenge, so I'll keep searching.
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Andrew
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« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2020, 05:12:18 pm »

Have you tried e-tyres?  You may or may not be lucky as I think they are franchisees, my local man had the kit to do it but he's quit.  I find it surprising that Peugeot/Citroen dealers have not got the adapter as current models have solid centre wheels, our 2013 C3 does, as have all bar one of the nine Peugeots Citroens and Renaults that my family has owned over the years.
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roy4matra
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« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2020, 01:03:02 pm »

Now that I'm 350 miles into running in my restored 2.2 I'm venturing onto motorways and finding out that the wheels have never been balanced since being refurbished by the previous owner. There are no weights on them at all, so once I reach 60 things start wobbling.

After several attempts locally in Manchester I can't find anyone who can balance the thick alloy solid centre wheels. Can anyone give me any help on how to find somewhere in the UK which can do these 1980's wheels? Meanwhile I'll have a look for classic tyre suppliers to see if they can help. ATS can do solid centre wheels but their machine can't cope with the thickness of the Murena wheels apparently.

Check the alloy wheel refurbishers in the Manchester area and there is one in Preston which is not too far, as they have to be able to balance wheels.  Of course if it is the tyres that are out, they need to be fitted to check the overall balance, so check first if they can balance wheels with tyres on.  Also you only really need to do the two front wheels and the spare.  The rears would have to very seriously out (unlikely) to cause any problem as the rear suspension constrains them more, and since they are never going on the front, it is a waste of time to bother balancing them.  I've never bothered balancing my rear wheels/tyres and never had a problem either.

One tip that might still be useful: truck places used to balance the wheels and tyres on the vehicle, partly because they are too big and heavy to put on a normal wheel balancing machine, and also because the rotating mass of the drum or disc could be a major component of the out of balance. Balancing them on the vehicle, balances the whole of the rotating mass, but you must mark the wheel to the hub so that its always fitted in the same place to retain that balance.  I always used to balance my Murena front wheels on our truck on-vehicle balancing machine myself when I worked at Mercedes and it was easy, quick and spot-on.  Like Peter says though, if I had to take mine elsewhere there are lots of places near me that can do these wheels with no hole in the centre and I'm amazed no one near you can do them.

One more thing concerning wheels and balancing: New tyres usually have a red spot one of the sidewalls and sometimes a yellow spot too.  If it has a red spot, the tyre should be fitted on the rim such that the red spot is next to the tyre valve.  Basically the red spot is the thickest point of the tyre so placing it next to the valve where the wheel is compromised by the hole for the valve places it where it will help.  However, I have heard that this is to do with the runout of the tyre i.e. slight ovality but either way, the red should be next to the tyre valve.  The yellow spot is where the tyre is lightest and the valve is where the wheel might be a fraction heavier, so if there is only a yellow spot that should be by the valve which will help initial balance. If it has both spots ignore the yellow spot, as the red always take precedent.  These days I have found some tyre fitters don't understand what these signify and fit them anywhere!

Roy
« Last Edit: November 29, 2020, 01:49:19 pm by roy4matra » Logged

Matraman
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« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2020, 03:29:25 pm »

Success at last! I got the wheels balanced today by Hometyre, who have 18 franchised vans round the UK and can service north Manchester, where I live. I had 2 new 55 profile Firestones fitted to the front and all 4 wheels balanced and the car has been transformed into a very smooth cruising machine up to just over motorway speed. Low speed steering is also lighter, which is an added bonus.

The adapter plate used by Hometyre had to be modified slightly to space it out from the balancing machine by about 5 mm, so that the centre spindle didn't foul the inside centre of the alloy wheel. This allowed the wheel to sit properly on the adapter plate and then they could all be balanced easily.

So anyone in the UK who is struggling to get these alloy wheels balanced, like I was, could give Hometyre a try, but bear in mind the slight modification they need to do with the adapter plate. I suspect this modification would have allowed ATS to balance them as well, but without any customer input they just gave up trying!
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Andrew
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