When I look at our ratio's of size to speed and our cars are going over 200 mph. I think about how the wheel balance becomes more and more important. I have maximum-velocity's wheel balancer but it seems to only work on non lathed wheels and degrades with the lighter wheels. Am I off on this or is it trully important? Is there a trick to balancing these lighter wheels?
Wheel balancing
- Thread starter The Iceman
- Start date
My personal experience with wheel balancing, its pwd voodoo. If you are buying machined wheels then I would move on to other areas to improve; alignment, weight placement and prep. IMHO wheel balancing in general will not give you any speed improvements.
I have a balancer as well, and it might be one of the only tols I still use from DW. That being said, I can say wheels straight out of the BSA kit are horrible when it comes to being in balance. I do balance my wheels without a doubt, and it has not seemed to hurt me any, although, I can not say for sure it has significantly helped me either. Key word - significantly.
For MA, I purchased the MA Nitros that John was selling. I did check the balance of those as well. They were either very well balanced or too light to tell (approx 1.31g to 1.33g or so), but either way, I was not prepared to take a knife to them. Probably the smartest thing I did that day...
I have many sets of Cheetas on the way; by habit, I will check them. I think they are supposed to be 2.4g each - we'll see if I take knife to them, but my guess is if John made them, my prep will be far more important than the balancing.
My two cents from an aspiring pro...
For MA, I purchased the MA Nitros that John was selling. I did check the balance of those as well. They were either very well balanced or too light to tell (approx 1.31g to 1.33g or so), but either way, I was not prepared to take a knife to them. Probably the smartest thing I did that day...
I have many sets of Cheetas on the way; by habit, I will check them. I think they are supposed to be 2.4g each - we'll see if I take knife to them, but my guess is if John made them, my prep will be far more important than the balancing.
My two cents from an aspiring pro...
Balancing typically adds or removes weight from the wheel. Strictly thinking about the Intimid8r wheels, there is no place to do any of this.
I'm with Reso on this, work your magic elsewhere on the car. Perfect your alignment, weight balance and prep. This will get you your biggest return for your time invested.
PWD "Wheel Balancer" = gimmick IMHO
I'm with Reso on this, work your magic elsewhere on the car. Perfect your alignment, weight balance and prep. This will get you your biggest return for your time invested.
PWD "Wheel Balancer" = gimmick IMHO
I wish there was a truly good method balancing these wheels. I'm not sure if it would help, but when my tire on my car is out of balance I feel it big time.
- Nov 24, 2011
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I made my own wheel balancer by mounting two parallel razor blades side by side in slots I cut in a block of wood. I spaced them apart a little more than the total wheel width. I put a snug fitting drill rod through the wheel bore long enough to span the two blades. You need to place the device level on a table then you can see how the wheel rotates on the blades. I remove material from the portion of the wheel that comes to rest at the bottom when it stops oscillating. Tiny amounts removed will change how the wheel rotates and come to rest. I really only check the balance on wheels I machine with holes drilled after they come off the lathe for making them light - like 1.0 oz. I don't bother balancing the wheels I make on my lathe that are not drilled. With the OD, ID, and bores all machined concentric they should be in balance. I haven't checked the balance of stock BSA wheels yet, but I will do that.
I'm curious what you find. In my experience, they are horrible. When I build a graphite car using the parts out of the BSA kit (not using lathe wheels), I spin the wheels with a buffing wheel/drill for 15 to 20 seconds each to break in the graphite, especially if I know that the car only needs to make 3 or 4 runs. While spinning a wheel, a badly balanced wheel will vibrate, even if riding on the axle head.cycrunner said:
People are right, it is hard to argue with the results QT and Kinser and the other pros have had; however, I'm more than sure they are not ever considering of using wheels straight out of the BSA kit, with only a wheel bore prep. I would bet that the line of BASX wheels that John is offering do not exhibit a balancing problem like what I have seen. I'll probably stop checking as well as I now buy most of my parts from John.
When I want to check my wheels for balance, this is what I do;
Slide the wheel on a smooth, shiny axle.
Hold the axle on the end in a horizontal position.
Jiggle the axle in a rapid left, right movement.
If the wheel is significantly out of balance the heavy part of the wheel will settle to the bottom. Do this several times to see if the wheel always ends up in the same place.
Slide the wheel on a smooth, shiny axle.
Hold the axle on the end in a horizontal position.
Jiggle the axle in a rapid left, right movement.
If the wheel is significantly out of balance the heavy part of the wheel will settle to the bottom. Do this several times to see if the wheel always ends up in the same place.
Cam-Car said:
What are to doing to remove or add weight? I spent a very short time playing with a Dynasty Cheetah v3 the other day but it was very noticeable out of balance. I tried to scratch out with a razor knife 2 or 3 times and it didn't come around (limited time though) I might add a little weight with nail polish or something on the opposite side next time. (is that against the rules?)
The rules state that you cannot remove material from the wheel to bring it under weight and then add material to bring it back up to weight. That would leave you with the option to only add material to the opposite side. I use nail polish like you mentioned, but it would also make the wheel a little heavier than 2 grams. I don't know if the heavier wheel would offset any gain you might get in balancing the wheel.
Personally, I don't bother trying to balance 2 gram wheels.
Personally, I don't bother trying to balance 2 gram wheels.
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