Posted: 4/12/2012 5:26:58 AM EDT
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I had an extended conversation recently with a Shop Manager regarding their wheel balance service.
(Aside: I was a mechanic a long time ago at a Chevy dealership in Houston. Left that in 1982.) My takeaway from that conversation is no one does on car balancing anymore. Further, no one really knows *how* to do it either, (i.e., lost industry skill). Is that consistent with your current experience? |
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I had an extended conversation recently with a Shop Manager regarding their wheel balance service. (Aside: I was a mechanic a long time ago at a Chevy dealership in Houston. Left that in 1982.) My takeaway from that conversation is no one does on car balancing anymore. Further, no one really knows *how* to do it either, (i.e., lost industry skill). Is that consistent with your current experience? It's still being taught in High School shop courses, at least at the school I attended. |
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Spin balancing while the wheel/tire is still mounted on the axle.
It's a more proper way of balancing because it better accounts for concentric issues as wells as minor balance issues with the rest of the rotating mass. If there's a major issue with the rest of the rotating mass, i.e., bent axle, you will immediately know. |
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I used to do it all the time when my dad and I had a gas station back in '70-'71. I had a Hunter rack with monster assed motors in front of each front wheel, that way you can spin those new disc brakes. You clamp a fixed on the wheel and by slightly grabbing knobs while spinning you move weighs around and increased/decreased weight. You had a strobe light flashing like a timing light on the real deluxe units to place the weight. Some guy would put a water bottle on the fender and watch it stop shaking. I would just touch the fender and feel it.
To this day I can feel a balencer and come pretty close to what the weight is. When I ran my engine shop I could tell how close a crankshaft was just by the sound. |
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I used to do it all the time when my dad and I had a gas station back in '70-'71. I had a Hunter rack with monster assed motors in front of each front wheel, that way you can spin those new disc brakes. You clamp a fixed on the wheel and by slightly grabbing knobs while spinning you move weighs around and increased/decreased weight. You had a strobe light flashing like a timing light on the real deluxe units to place the weight. Some guy would put a water bottle on the fender and watch it stop shaking. I would just touch the fender and feel it. To this day I can feel a balencer and come pretty close to what the weight is. When I ran my engine shop I could tell how close a crankshaft was just by the sound. Thank you. I knew I wasn't dreaming shit up. |
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If the rest of the rotating mass is in good order, there is no need to balance wheels on-car.
We balance the wheel/tire assemblies on a balancer, and then if you have a vibration, we diagnose and solve the vibration instead of just temporarily cancelling it. Same thing with on-car brake lathes. If I turn the rotors on a real lathe, and make sure the mating surfaces are flat and clean, and all fasteners torqued properly, the result is a proper brake job, not a coverup of other problems. |
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It's still used and still useful. My great-nephew bought a new Pontiac G8 in (IIRC) Jan 2010, and it had a bad vibration above 45 MPH that the dealer couldn't fix. The dealer spent thousands of dollars replacing suspension components, brake rotors, tires, and rims. It was too late to lemon law it, so he thought he was screwed until a neighbor suggested doing an on car balance. That fixed the problem. I drove the car about 200 miles over Christmas, and there was no vibration at speed. Yes it was a bandaid, but the dealer simply couldn't fix the problem. I remember him saying it took over a month to find a place that still did it so it isn't nearly as common as it used to be.z
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If the rest of the rotating mass is in good order, there is no need to balance wheels on-car. We balance the wheel/tire assemblies on a balancer, and then if you have a vibration, we diagnose and solve the vibration instead of just temporarily cancelling it. Same thing with on-car brake lathes. If I turn the rotors on a real lathe, and make sure the mating surfaces are flat and clean, and all fasteners torqued properly, the result is a proper brake job, not a coverup of other problems. I get all that. My opinion is that the rest of the rotating mass are also mass produced parts and all that implies. Balancing on the car ensures a more proper balance and would almost certainly reduce the amount of related comebacks. If there's something actually wrong, you would catch it then ind there instead of having an irate customer on a return. (shrug) I guess I'll take my wrinkly old ass on down the road and let you young'uns deal with the new way of doing things. 
ETA: I'm just surprised to discover that all these tire service centers have no ability and no one with the skill set to do on car balancing. |
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ETA: I'm just surprised to discover that all these tire service centers have no ability and no one with the skill set to do on car balancing. The main reason for that is it has been a long time since that was SOP. One of my first jobs at the end of high school 10+ years ago was tires. Granted I was only in a town of 30K but none of the shops did it. I had heard about it but never seen it. Kind of like the on car brake jobs, only one in town and I dont think it ever got used. As stated above the last I heard was that road force balancing was supposed to be the hot ticket now. |
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On car balancing for cars hasn't been common for at least 20 years. They still do it on 18's. The only way I would pay for a balance on my steer axle if it were "on truck" balance. No light duty auto dealer or tire store does. Dynamic spin balancers and RFV are far more prevalent. There is nothing special balancing an 18" wheel and tire vs a 22" or a 13". I've mounted and balanced more than my fair share of tires. |
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On car balancing for cars hasn't been common for at least 20 years. They still do it on 18's. The only way I would pay for a balance on my steer axle if it were "on truck" balance. No light duty auto dealer or tire store does. Dynamic spin balancers and RFV are far more prevalent. There is nothing special balancing an 18" wheel and tire vs a 22" or a 13". I've mounted and balanced more than my fair share of tires. he means 18wheelers |
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On car balancing for cars hasn't been common for at least 20 years. They still do it on 18's. The only way I would pay for a balance on my steer axle if it were "on truck" balance. No light duty auto dealer or tire store does. Dynamic spin balancers and RFV are far more prevalent. There is nothing special balancing an 18" wheel and tire vs a 22" or a 13". I've mounted and balanced more than my fair share of tires. he means 18wheelers yes, BIG RIGS...... 
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