wtf do you do with this thing

 

Spins around, like a record baby?

 

well if it was up your *** you'd know.....lol...just joking

it is a bubble balancer.....pretty much useless.
just balances the tire statically not dynamically

 

Jesus, those things have been around since day after the invention of the wheel. Am I the only one to remember my utter astonishment the first time I ever saw a SPIN balance machine? Maybe so...

The wheel sets on the ring, horizontally, and there is a spirit level (bubble level) in the center. You look thru the hub/center hole in the wheel to see the level and then place weights at the appropriate edge(s) of the rim until the bubble is centered. then you remove the wheel and pound or stick the weights onto the bead. Voila' a balanced wheel.

Thawley -- feeling old right now

 

I think USELESS might be going a bit too far, Maxx. I'm not gonna argue with a guy with more tire experience than me, but there are plenty of folks still using static balancers with less than terrible results. Even racers.

Thawley -- with fingers in ears

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thawley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think USELESS might be going a bit too far, Maxx. I'm not gonna argue with a guy with more tire experience than me, but there are plenty of folks still using static balancers with less than terrible results. Even racers.

Thawley -- with fingers in ears</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is true. But its also true that some racers don't even balance their tires at all. The typical reasoning is that they pick up so much crap and rubber boogers during the course of a race that balancing doesn't matter after the first couple of laps.
There is some validity to this, but I still prefer to eliminate as many vibrations and noises as are within my control before the green flag drops.

To each his own.
Whatever works for you.
I wasn't with no nudey dancers.
etc etc

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thawley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think USELESS might be going a bit too far, Maxx. I'm not gonna argue with a guy with more tire experience than me, but there are plenty of folks still using static balancers with less than terrible results. Even racers.

Thawley -- with fingers in ears</TD></TR></TABLE>
i have to agree.the shop that mounts my motorcycle tires still uses the same kind of balancer shown above.seems to work very well,even up to 150+ MPH.
Chris

 

I worked in a service station in my high school days and used that thing all of the time. We called it a 'bubble balancer'. When the station owner finally bought a dynamic computer spin balancer, we balanced tires on the new, then old machine and vice-versa, and they were very close. The advantage of the computer machine was that it was faster and less dependent on the skill of the operator.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
This is true. But its also true that some racers don't even balance their tires at all</TD></TR></TABLE>

Or can't balance since the lip doesn't accept/hold traditional "clip weights" and the tape weights get sheered off cause they don't clear the calipers. That's what started me down the road of leaving my race wheels unbalanced... Now it had become a matter of tradition. Then again... these are all autocross cars not track cars so the wheels rarely ever get above 70 mph.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I worked in a service station in my high school days and used that thing all of the time. We called it a 'bubble balancer'. When the station owner finally bought a dynamic computer spin balancer, we balanced tires on the new, then old machine and vice-versa, and they were very close. The advantage of the computer machine was that it was faster and less dependent on the skill of the operator.</TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah,i think the ultimate result from either is based on the user's ability.my friend that mounts all my car tires has a new super-high-tech mounting and balancing machine.it takes into account wheel/tire runout and provides a very good balance.an old wheel i had had a slight bend in it(the entire rim was slightly bent on the hub),and it caused a little bit of runout.all the older roatating balancers that relied only on static balancing would get it balanced,but it still vibrated when on the car.my friend first ran it thru the static balancing program on his machine,then the road force program which takes into account the runout.where it showed to put the weight,and how much varied between the two programs,but after he balanced it using the road force program,it hardly vibrated ANY once on the car.i was very impressed.....
chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> The advantage of the computer machine was that it was faster and less dependent on the skill of the operator.</TD></TR></TABLE>

then again... *some* basic skill is required... I took the Tundra to get new tires at Costco last week. Took'em a good 3 hours to install and balance 4 tires. On the drive home, the front end was shaking at 55pmh and the rear at 70mph.

It took them another two hours earlier this week the re-balance them. I know, I know, it was Costco but it was the cheapest way to get my BFG All-Terrain T/A KO mounted. At least, I can now go off-road without worrying about cutting a tire.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SJR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

then again... *some* basic skill is required... I took the Tundra to get new tires at Costco last week. Took'em a good 3 hours to install and balance 4 tires. On the drive home, the front end was shaking at 55pmh and the rear at 70mph.

It took them another two hours earlier this week the re-balance them. I know, I know, it was Costco but it was the cheapest way to get my BFG All-Terrain T/A KO mounted. At least, I can now go off-road without worrying about cutting a tire.</TD></TR></TABLE>

3 hours is nuts. at the shop i work at we can do it in like an hour depending on how busy the shop is.
ive never seen a balancer like that. but mayber im too young. we use the machines. and the road force balancer takes like an hour for 4 wheels

 

Costco Auto Service?? Yikes!

 

It doesnt take me 3 hrs to mount 4 225 R-tires on 6" wheels, and I'm really not very good at it! (about 45 minutes).

Damn...

 

oh, I know. I've seen places like discount tire change and balance all 4 tires in under an hour. It should take more than about 10 minutes to dismount, re mount and balance one tire. Anyway, that was my first and most likely last time that I use them. Live and learn...