Just wondering how many people think balancing is important..seems some do and some dont, I have wide 5's so you cant get them done just anywhere and it can be an added expense I'm not sure is worth it. On that same note I dont think those bubble balancers could do a wide 5. I had to make an adapter plate to use the tire changer on them.


what do ya'll think?

On the Goodyears now & have found Balancing helps alot with vibration!

Maybe there's more to the vibration than just the wheels and tires. Don't see any TSRS LM balancing their tires????????

Yeah there's a lot more to it... I spend $X,XXX per year & they spend $XX,XXX a year racing
Stock Car Racing... Vs. After Market Car Racing..

I always have been taught and always practiced balancing as an essential. My first racing "job" was 3.15 an hour as a tire changer for Hurst tires at Riverside Speedway (we supplied the Busch Series and the Supers that ran on Saturday before the Grand Nats ran on Sunday - I volunteered as a corner worker for the Grands). Back then we bubble balanced all tires we sold and mounted.

On a new tire it's not so critical. BUT as the tire wears, any out of balance will wear more on the heavy arc than on the lighter arc. The first few laps you may not even notice - but by the end of the night it may be a tooth loosener. Then when heat cycled it will harden - making a vibration worse in the second or third week than in the first! And as you can even peel off more rubber from the heavy arc than the light arc - the tire can wear out of round further compounding the issue. If you start in balance you will be less out at the end of the tire life, if you start out it only gets worse.

You can make a plate for wide 5's - just make sure its neutral (volkswagon bus owners may even know someone who already has one).

A bubble balancer is better than no balance at all (just be sure to rotate 180 degrees and flip over to verify - then split any remaining out of balance) - no balance at all can be a very noticeable vibration above 60 mph and can upset the tire (front on entry rear on exit) making any wheel hop worse. One night our Super came by us in the heat and was chirping all the way thru the apex - wheel hop - we found a lost wheel weight (hole in the tape) AND 1/8 inch out of round - replaced that for the main within the 2 new tires maximum rule (deemed a failure).

And be SURE to tape over the weights - not only does this give an added level of protection from a thrown weight - it is really the only easy way to KNOW if a weight is thrown (and no weights on "out"side of wheel - a thrown one from there can quickly ruin a spectators night - this is one caveat where spin balancing can't really compensate for)!

You should not have to rebalance every week - on some of the cars I worked on the choice was made to check - but in practice I saw very little gains to justify the time use (typically if we found an out of balance there was also another issue like thrown weights, separation, sidewall heat damage etc. that can be found in a simple visual).

Loose wheel bearings can also feel a lot like an out of balance - they load and unload so fast cyclicly that the driver feels a vibration - especially noticeable under high side loads like through the corner - from start of entrance until fully steered straight - but can even be felt in the straight - especially if running large stagger or steered rear.

We always have ours balanced.
If a vibration occurrs we know its not the tires.

OK SO ROAD RACERS LIKE BALANCING FOR THE MOST PART AND BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY COVERS ALOT. hOW ABOUT LATE MODELS AND MODIFIEDS...ARE YALL BALANCING?

Well after balancing all different types of rims and tires..id have to say that it all depends on the shape of your rims, bc if you have a bent rim or a tire that is not seated perfectly on the bead its almost pointless to balance them...but then again u need to find someone who knows what they are doing expecially since your going to have to do a static balance......in all any balance is better than no balance

O'BOY

wish I had my wheels and tires balanced when I was running, I probly whould have been faster than fast . LOL

I balanced for awhile but then stopped and noticed no difference at all. I'm not ever going to do it again.

Same here

My personal thinking is that since OoB doubles exponetially and is not even felt under 60 MPh that unless you spend substantial time above 120 mph there may not be much issue (maybe a few laps more longevity on the tire at best) - especially given the controls that go into todays performance tires. On the tires hurst sold at riverside there was that long back stretch off of turn 8 at 75+ and top out at 190-205 then down to 105 getting into 9. Tire hop was always an issue there - maybe that was a major (if not THE) reason for Ron Hurst's insistance that all tires be balanced.

In other words balancing won't make you faster - but the faster you go the more important it is to both keeping the rubber fully planted and tire longevity.