Balancing Tires

[bbuckler]

So my tire changer is in I got it mostly to do atvs and trailer tires but I might do a few of my own vehicles. I have no room for a big balancer so I was wondering if a bubble one would work ?

 

[MiCarl]

To a certain extent it will.

The potential problem is on a wide tire/wheel at high speed the inside and outside need to be balanced independently to prevent a wobble. A high speed spin balancer does that.

To understand that think of a long balanced tube (like the tube in a roll of paper towels). Put a heavy weight at 6 o'clock on one end and an equivalent weight at 12 o'clock on the other. Then spin the tube fast on its axis. The tube is balanced but the two ends will move away from the axis in opposite directions creating a wobble.

 

[Cvans]

I have an old Coats bubble balancer and it works fine but I don't use it on wide tires. Mostly for trailer tires. Looks like this one. It has been used for cars also and worked OK.

 

[Arti]

Spin is best however it is expensive for home use and takes up a lot of shop area. I have used bubble balancers with good results on motorcycle tires I used balancing beads and they seemed to work well, I don't know if beads work on wider tires ?

 

[Cvans]

I don't know if beads work on wider tires ?

They use them in truck tires without any issue. I put them in the front tires of the 30 DeSoto and it made a big difference.