Wheel balancing and weights
 

I recently changed from 1935 16" wheels to the correct 19" wheels with new tires on my 31 coupe. I occasionally get some front wheel wobble when I hit a bump in the road. I am going to check to make sure all the steering and suspension is tight. I have hydraulic brakes (came with the car when I bought it and I didn't know any different then) so I have 40's backing plates and the adapters for the wheels. I am also going to check the toe in and balance the wheels.

When you balance your wheels, do you use the adhesive weights or the hammer on weights? Also do you put the weights on the outside of the wheel or the inside? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Ken

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

I doubt very much its a tire balance issue IF A BUMP SETS IT OFF...

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

The garage I take my modern cars to has a spin balancer with lots of adapters so my 29 A wheels will fit. I used the stick on weights on the inside of the wheel. Been there 3 seasons with no trouble.

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

im not sure the hammer on weights will work, the adhesive weights will, if you cant find a shop to spin balance the tire and you have to bubble balance the tire, put half the weight on inside and half on the outside, trouble with bubble balancing its only good till about 50 to 55 mph

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

an unbalanced wheel WILL START WHEEL WOBBLE, I know from experience

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Also check the toe-in and the linkage balls.
A guy in our club just stopped his death wobble by tightening the 4 linkage screws half or one turn each.

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

As Mitch said, I doubt your problem is in the balance of your wheels, although this shouldn't be ignored. Spin balancing isOK, but so's a bubble balancer. I fear you have the beginning of a "Death wobble". Going through rough terrain will start it off and you must stop the car to stop it. "Death Wobble" can be caused by many things, frinstance.Just about any worn front end parts. Steering balls should be checked for out of round. More than .020 OOR should be replaced.There are bushings on the ends/eyes of the springs and these wear through and must be replaced. A word to the wise here, Don't try taking your springs apart. With the tension in these springs there is a great likelyhood of a serious injury or worse. The first place to check is the wheel bearings. Jack it up and shake the wheels. Look for looseness and fix it.
Terry

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

After all the other problems are taken care of, try balancing beads. They really work.
http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/wheel-balancing-beads

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

I've seen plenty of bubble balancing that was not good at any speed and if it does work it's pure luck, that's like doing an alignment with a stick:rolleyes::D

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Thanks for all the advice. In the next few days I will go through and check the linkage screws, the nut at the steering wheel, steering balls, bushings, etc. Even if the wobble is not from wheel balance, I think I will balance the wheels and check the toe in (can't hurt and might make the tires last longer.)

Thanks again, and I will post my results when I have had a chance to go through everything.

Ken

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

I must be lucky! I've never had a problem with the method! Just get the weight and split it, half on the inside and half on the outside. With the narrow Mod A rims, the weight need not be split. With modern tires, I find very little weight is needed to correct the imbalance. As opposed to the older tires. I once had a snow tire that required 6 oz to run correctly. I haven't seen anything like that in years. One problem I accidentally discovered was with my neighbors car. The tire could not be balanced! Whenever you thought you had the light side of the wheel, it moved. I finally realized what was going on, the tire was full of water. The previous owner never thought to drain his compressor and the tank was full of condensate, so much so that it was going out the air hose with the air and filling the tire with as much water as air. We drained and dried everything and it was fine.
Terry

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Hi Terry
Your close enough,,stop by with one of your bubbled tires and we'll check its accuracy on the smart weight balancer:)

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Well thanks, Mitch! but that probably isn't going to happen for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is my bad back. My wife gives me hell when I try lifting something like a tire. So I had my tires mounted and balanced on my truck upon purchase. I don't like it but whatcha gonna do when you're disabled? It's about $35 extra and that always galls me, someone charging me for something I can do myself. But at 72YO. I've got to admit I'm slowing down and my back's a special problem. I'm going to keep the balancer and I will just do Mod A wheels from time to time. Which brings us to the real question, Why does anyone need the degree of accuracy that the word "Smart" implies?In all my cars, for which I have mounted and balanced the tires in the last 40 years, I have never noticed any great difference in the "Modern" spin balancing and my archaic, old method. This like buying a two Lb hammer and it actually weighs 2.1 Lbs. Does it really make a difference? Then there's the problem of wheel weights themselves. What do you do when the error is just a little over or under the error indicated. I have shaved weights when the error was under, but there's not much you can do if it requires more weight to correct the error.
Terry

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

OK Terry :rolleyes:

For the record I never found the need to balance my A wheels..

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

If you have certain later ford drums with your hydraulic brakes you might need spacers behind your wheels, unless the adapters you mention are these spacers.

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

I've always just balanced them on the car, and used the hammer on weights, and I split the weights between inside and out. I rarely hit speeds over 50, and that is plenty good enough balance for me.

Then, because I'm nuts, I paint the balance weights.

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

I balance the wheels of anything that goes faster than 25 mph. You never know what you're going to find. And there's no reason to ride around with grossly out of balance tires. It may be masking another problem. "Nah, it's just the wheels, they're not balanced!" No, It may be something else!
Terry

Re: Wheel balancing and weights
 

Yes, the adapters I mention are the spacers. My drums are 1940 in front and 1948 in back if I remember correctly.