on car wheel balancing

[seniorchristo]

A few weeks ago I noticed a vibration in the steering of my S3. Sensing a wheel balance issue, I swapped wheels and tires front to rear in an effort to isolate the problem. This did not make much difference in the steering wheel shake. I am running 13X5 Minilites and 155X80 with knock off hubs. I understand sometimes the Minilite hole centers are not concentric with the peg circle diameter resulting in improper machine balancing. Does anyone have experience with on car balancing and furthermore can someone suggest a shop that can perform this operation in the Northeast USA?
Thanks,
Chris

[nomad]

Few left doing car tires but we have had local success with a truck tire shop. That is if you can put up with the "trucker" language and itty bitty car criticism!

Kurt.

[rgh0]

A few weeks ago I noticed a vibration in the steering of my S3. Sensing a wheel balance issue, I swapped wheels and tires front to rear in an effort to isolate the problem. This did not make much difference in the steering wheel shake. I am running 13X5 Minilites and 155X80 with knock off hubs. I understand sometimes the Minilite hole centers are not concentric with the peg circle diameter resulting in improper machine balancing. Does anyone have experience with on car balancing and furthermore can someone suggest a shop that can perform this operation in the Northeast USA?
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris
With the knock on wheels they will always centre on the knock on taper when installed on the car. The dive pegs have sufficient clearance for this to occur. If the wheel is not centered on the knock on taper when installed for some reason it will almost certainly cause the knock on nut to come loose.

As long as the off car wheel balancing uses a taper that also centres on the knock on taper, off car balance should always be adequate.

It is really only a potential problem with bolt on wheels that dont have a central spigot for location on the car, as off car balancing normally picks up the central hole in a wheel which may not be precisely centered compared to the stud holes on a bolt on wheel.

cheers
Rohan

[seniorchristo]

Thanks for the response Nomad. Rohan, my understanding is that if the wheel is balanced based on the center taper and the mounting pegs are offset, then there could be an imbalance. You are saying the wheel will center itself on the hub regardless of the peg position?
Thanks
Chris

[rgh0]

Thanks for the response Nomad. Rohan, my understanding is that if the wheel is balanced based on the center taper and the mounting pegs are offset, then there could be an imbalance. You are saying the wheel will center itself on the hub regardless of the peg position?
Thanks
Chris

Yes the knock wheel will always centre on the hub. There should always be enough clearance in the peg holes for this to occur. If this did not happen then the knock on nut would only seat on part of the hub and it would rapidly come loose and lack of balance would be the least of your problems

cheers
Rohan

[seniorchristo]

Thank you sir!

[RichardHawkins]

Chris,

Sometimes wheel balance can be confused with a twisted or buckled wheel. The wheel can be balanced whilst it is free to spin on the machine or on the car. When the car moves down the road, the wheel moves from side to side rather like a snake and feels like the wheel is not balanced.

Richard Hawkins

[yvesmontreal]

One thing should set straight: the goal of balancing is to correct uneven weight distribution, and not to correct geometrical defects. An off-center wheel will move the hub up and down in a cyclical manner. A bent rim will make the tire pull the wheel left and right, again in a cyclical manner. Adding weights will not change these motions. It may help minor cases to a degree, but do not expect miracles.