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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:41:42 AM EDT
[#1]
In my experience, its not a must but if you are hauling heavy loads or towing something, you might be able to notice.
Keving67 |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:46:03 AM EDT
[#2]
Yes, All tires need to be balanced. No tire is perfect and will just vibrate if not balanced. Driving you nuts and causing wear and possibly damage to suspension and who knows what else. Semis' use powder balancing. They fill the tire with a special powder that moves around constantly to keep the tire in balance.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:46:54 AM EDT
[#3]
back when my dad used to run his own big truck for a while, he only ballanced the stearing axle and would put 3 golf balls inside the tire and centrifigal (i know i cant spell) force would keep them where they need to be and would ballance the tire.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:47:25 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted: Right now I have a small fleet of 6 trucks.They all use the same size tire,215/85/16. Every time I get a flat it cost me 25-40 dollars to repair it. What I wish to do is buy a tire machine and do tire install and flat repair myself. Got stand up compressor and lots of juice to power it in my warehouse. [red]The bugger is do tires used in this type app need to be balanced??[/red] I once had a road side replacement done and the tech could not/did not balance the tire and I have seen no difference. I also don't notice any weights on semi trucks. so whats the scoop?? Thanks What app would that be? Big difference between construction tool-trucks and day-trip delivery trucks. Also, how big are your trucks? You said large but 215/85/16 is only a tall skinny tire like would be found on a 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck. Jake |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:59:36 AM EDT
[#5]
Sorry.Mitsu 16000 GVW type trucks.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:04:21 AM EDT
[#6]
I'll say no for performance, but possibly yes to prevent pre-mature tire wear.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:06:11 AM EDT
[#7]
Oh OK, well to save wear and tear on your trucks, as well as drivers, balancing will be a must. Otherwise you'll be putting undo stress on your front end components and tires decreasing the amount of time between service/replacement. Save a few bucks now on balancing but spend that much and more later for repair/ replacement.
Jake |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:22:55 AM EDT
[#8]
Meat-man: I would definitely have your wheels/tires assemblies balanced. I used to work at my uncle's gas station, and we used to use the Hunter wheel balancer where we would spin the truck wheel/tire at road speeds of appox. 70MPH and we would get quite a bit of vibration and shake in an unbalanced wheel until we add weights to balance to smooth it out. I'm not an expert at truck tires, but I have seen my uncle dismount & mount a tire on a split truck rim without one of those fancy/expensive tire changing machines just by using a two long metal bars, it is a LOT of work, but it can be done.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:44:45 AM EDT
[#9]
Most of my experience is w/ large, heavy work vans (we call them armored cars, but there's not that much extra steel and I think the windows are lighter than glass). We get the tires balanced and rotated about every 8K miles. It has made a tremendous improvement in the tire life. Granted, we're using absolute junk tires (Michelins, owner's wife works for them and gets a discount so we have to use their garbage). We probably should do it more often since the tires seem to change more often than that. That's just my experience. Balancing might not be as important w/ tires that stay in round.z
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Posted: 6/27/2002 10:04:24 AM EDT
[#10]
If you are worried about the expense of a balancing machine, why not buy 5 or 6 extra rims and tires and put your own tires on at the shop and then take them out to be balanced. When you get a flat use one of the balanced tires that you have on hand and then replace the blowout yourself and have it balanced at your liesure, that way you always have good balanced tires on hand. I'm sure the cost of blanacing is a lot less than the tire change, so I think you would still be saving time and $$ Just a thought...
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Posted: 6/27/2002 10:25:07 AM EDT
[#11]
The tire size you use is smaller than my daily driver but the answer to your question is yes...
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Posted: 6/27/2002 10:35:01 AM EDT
[#12]
Finally, something I can talk about!
OK, every QUARTER ounce of imbalance equals about 150-300lbs of radial stress on the tire at 55 MPH (Depending on the tire size and mass). It goes up by a power of two function. You suspension, steering machanism and wheelbearings are what takes that stress, the frequency of the stress equals the RPM of you tires. Out of Balance tires pound the shit out of your vehicle. |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 11:11:10 AM EDT
[#13]
You do not have to balance tires. You should have it done to prevent unnecessary wear on the truck as a whole
If you do not balance the tires the following will happen 1. Accelerated wear on the following parts a)Steering gear (ie) tie rod, balljoints etc.. b)suspension related parts c)Tires 2.Your driver's will notice the difference in the driving ease. |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 11:15:02 AM EDT
[#14]
Thanks for the input.I am really thinking of adding a balancer to this equasion.
The last time I brought a truck down for rotation and balance it cost me 125 dollars. Took them an hour. I occasionly see tire machines and balances for sale in ads. Are there any negatives to buying a used tire/balancer machine? They seem pretty simple to use. Thanks |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 11:26:31 AM EDT
[#15]
I always read thru posts to see who repeats what...
The one thing I only saw once was the powder balancing.... We have 100+ trucks in our fleet. Powder, Powder, Powder.... [url=http://www.imiproducts.com/imi_htmlcode/imi_equa/imi_equa_faq.html]Equal Powder Tire Balance[/url] |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 8:12:52 PM EDT
[#16]
TWO things:
If you are going to rotate rear tires to the front someday (not sure if you will), wouldn't you want to go ahead and balance them now, and save a little wear on the rear shocks, etc.? I just discovered that the tire shop I use got rid of their spin balancer, and now use a bubble balancer. I'm pissed - I don't believe that a bubble balancer really does a decent job. Is there any chance these trucks are using the kind of wheel that has a ring that had to go over one side of the rim? If so, watch out. Those suckers will kill you - all it takes is poor seating and that ring will come flying off in a flash during inflation or reinstalling on the truck. I believe the safe way to deal with these is a tire cage. Some say if you lay it on the floor with the ring side down (facing the floor)while inflating it will protect you, but I'm not so sure about that. I once saw a guy down on the floor doing this. Anyone? |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:01:03 PM EDT
[#17]
Most race cars and racing bike's tires are balanced with a bubble balancer.
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Posted: 6/27/2002 9:40:37 PM EDT
[#18]
Quoted: I just discovered that the tire shop I use got rid of their spin balancer, and now use a bubble balancer. I'm pissed - I don't believe that a bubble balancer really does a decent job. Wheel balancing is both static and dynamic. Bubble(static) balancing is the cheap way to do things, you really need the machine that does the dynamic balancing also. Static balancing is probably okay for low-speed driving, but I think you need the dynamic part of it if you are going to drive at any roadway speeds. Maybe you need to patronize another tire shop. Quoted: Is there any chance these trucks are using the kind of wheel that has a ring that had to go over one side of the rim? If so, watch out. Those suckers will kill you - all it takes is poor seating and that ring will come flying off in a flash during inflation or reinstalling on the truck. I believe the safe way to deal with these is a tire cage. Some say if you lay it on the floor with the ring side down (facing the floor)while inflating it will protect you, but I'm not so sure about that. I once saw a guy down on the floor doing this. I'm not an expert at this, as I only watched my uncle change a tire on a split rim. And I remember him cautioning me, that you have to be care full when change tire on those types of rims. What he does is use the hoist to barely touch the rim to prevent the split ring from coming apart if the rim/tire is no t seated right. |
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Posted: 6/27/2002 10:12:26 PM EDT
[#19]
I'm not sure what state you are in, but if you have "Les Schwab" tire center, get your tires from them.
The 16" type tire is very common and if you buy from them, you have free roation/ballancing for the life of the tire. And if you run a fleet, the local Schwab dealer would be glad to make you a customer..... I had my 11.00-22.5's ballanced when they were put on... grated that's on a C-8000 Ford Cabover. Edit- I'm assuming that the tires are tubeless and do not use a lock ring. If they are 16" 'modern' tires....... no lock rign. Also, some trucks do have weights. Other times, they just turn the tire (works sometimes) to ballance. |
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Posted: 6/28/2002 7:18:28 AM EDT
[#20]
My primary shop is Les Scwhab. They only do the free rotate and balance on car and light trucks.Mine are too big for freebie.mine are all solid rim type.
Thank for the tip on powder.I may try it. The folks here at Ar15 are quite knowledgable.[:)] |
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Posted: 6/28/2002 9:31:24 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted: My primary shop is Les Scwhab. They only do the free rotate and balance on car and light trucks.Mine are too big for freebie.mine are all solid rim type. Thank for the tip on powder.I may try it. The folks here at Ar15 are quite knowledgable.[:)] Ah.... well, maybe a used balancer and tire/mount demounter is a good idea. The 16" tire isn't really that big.... 3/4 and 1 ton's use 16".... If the tire machine is a rim clamp type (going on memory and the limited knowlege I know), you should be able to use it on those rims. Are those 10 hole bud rims or does Mitsu use something different (Six hole, five?) |
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Posted: 6/28/2002 9:51:19 AM EDT
[#22]
Said it before and I'll say it again. This place is fvcking amazing.
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Posted: 6/28/2002 11:06:59 AM EDT
[#23]
Quoted: Said it before and I'll say it again. This place is fvcking amazing. Agreed.... Also meatman....(lmao) A company I used to work for dealt with a local chain that had that BS, 'small car, but not YOUR truck'...they HAD our account, until the competition wanted to offer US the same free stuff for our trucks. The economy is tight, shop around, you may be surprised what is out there... |
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