Wheel Balancing

[4eyes2wheels 0]

Bit of advice please people.

 

Got 288 brakes under 15 inch speedlines which is as you all know a tight fit. So tight that when I put the current wheels on the balance weights were touching the calipers and so I removed them. I do get some vibs due to the lack of balance - not massive but it's there and spoiling the driving experience. I took the car to ATS Euromaster who said they didn't have weights slim enough to fit under the calipers.

 

So what to do?

 

A - find somewhere who uses slim enough weights

B - get those nasty weights that fit outside the wheel (on full view spoiling my immaculate speedlines)

C - get the normal weights fitted again and hope that the metal on metal contact between the weight and the caliper wears one or other sufficiently that there isn't a problem

D - is there another option other than living with it?

 

Any suggestions (other than bigger wheels) welcome!

 

Thanks

[Philuk 0]

Get the old fashioned style weights put on.. The ones that go on the outer lip of the wheel. They dot use em alot now because of the easiness of the stick on ones. If you have standard ones put on and let them wear down then your balancing will be out still

[davidwort 0]

Get the old fashioned style weights put on.. The ones that go on the outer lip of the wheel. They dot use em alot now because of the easiness of the stick on ones. If you have standard ones put on and let them wear down then your balancing will be out still

 

I guess you mean clip on weights but on the inner rim of the wheel so they aren't seen, I'd imagine if the wheel needs weights on the outer rim to balance, then the stick on ones will still work but placed on the inside of the wheel (in this position they are clear of the caliper sweep anyway)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

the stick on ones will still work but placed on the inside of the wheel (in this position they are clear of the caliper sweep anyway)

 

Unfortunately not with the 288s and speedlines.

 

4Eyes2Wheels, you have 2 choices.

 

1) Get the wheels rebalanced and ask the tyre place to place the weights longitudinally (not width ways, if that makes sense?) around the wheel circumference as far outboard as possible.

 

If they still rub, draw round the weights, remove them and refit with the thinnest double sided tape you find.

 

That combination of workarounds worked for me.

 

2) Use some wheel spacers. 5mm should do it.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Ah, see what you mean now.

 

Won't work. That's why weights were outboard in the first place. BOTH sides of the wheel need to be balanced.

[4eyes2wheels 0]

With apologies for the rubbish art skills the weights were fitted around the circumference os the wheel on the outermost part of the inside of the wheel (inboard of the spokes) as I have tried to show in the left hand picture where there is a wheel, a caliper (rectangle) and weights shown in orange. I assume Kev was suggesting having the weights put parallel to the drive axle as I have tried to show in the right hand (cross section) pic. Suffice to say I am not an engineer or an artist!

 

wheel.JPG[/attachment:zma88x4y]

[davidwort 0]

the stick on ones will still work but placed on the inside of the wheel (in this position they are clear of the caliper sweep anyway)

 

Unfortunately not with the 288s and speedlines.

 

Jeese, they must run close, I suppose another option would be two weights of the same size trimmed thinner instead of one, just how few mm clearance are we talking?

 

Lathe the inside of the wheels? :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

VERY close! Yep, only talkling a few mills.

 

It's a temporary thing anyway because as the pads wear, the caliper moves more inboard, thereby solving the problem naturally :D

 

But that can take ages to happen if the car doesn't do many miles!

 

On mine the caliper just clips the corner of the weights, which is why I suggested unsticking them and moving them more outboard. Tyre fitters generally aren't that precise with the weight placement, so you can afford to move them a few mill without affecting the balance.

[mr lobitos 0]

any good tyre dealer ,will be able to balance them "static ",were one weight is placed in the centre of the rim,nowhere near calipers

[Supercharged 2]

This can't be that much of an issue - those breaks were standard along with 15" wheels on the Golf VR6, only the anniversary got 16's

[Kevin Bacon 5]

any good tyre dealer ,will be able to balance them "static ",were one weight is placed in the centre of the rim,nowhere near calipers

 

Good to know, I'll ask my tyre chaps about that next time :salute:

 

This can't be that much of an issue - those breaks were standard along with 15" wheels on the Golf VR6, only the anniversary got 16's

 

Read the thread you berk, SPEEDLINES + 288s. Golf VR6s had Solitudes :D And 'breaks'? BRAKES man! Jesus wept :lol:

[davidwort 0]

:lol:

setting a good example Steve :)

 

I guess the problem with most tyre fitters is the machine spins the wheel up and then just reads inner 10g, outer 25g and marks the position on the circumference they should go, peel and stick, job done, I've even had a go myself.

when you start sticking weights in the middle you will probably have to re-spin to check the balance more times and those vital seconds are money...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

He's defo chastised someone for saying "breaks" before :lol:

 

How do tyre balance machines work? Always wondered that. They must be quite sensitve because my tyre man usually says "Oooh one of your rims was really bad and needed a tonne of weight, put it on the back" and when I look at it, it's only got like, 15g more on it than the other wheels :lol:

[davidwort 0]

This is the best I could find from google:

Dynamic High Speed Spin Balancing

This is the kind of tire balancing machine most commonly found in use these days. The tire and wheel combination is placed on the balancer using a set of cups to center the hub and a locking handle. A technician enters the rim width and diameter and the offset from the side of the machine and pushes the start button. The machine spins the tire up to operating speeds which are usually around 60 MPH. The shaft that the tire sits on is calibrated and runs into the balancer. A computer inside the machine detects the deflection and location of any unbalanced condition in the tire and displays the results on an LED display with lights that move vertically to indicate where the weights are to be placed. The amount of weight required is displayed digitally. Once the weights are applied, the technician spins the wheel one more time to ensure proper weight placement.

 

 

it sounds exactly like the one I've used, except it's manually spun up, pretty easy to use, it's the hydraulic bead breaker I hate!

[4eyes2wheels 0]

Went to Kwik Fit yesterday.

 

They were concerned about the sticky weights on two counts - firstly the clearance and secondly they thought the heat from the caliper would melt the glue and cause the weights to come off.

 

They said no point in static balancing them (not sure why) and offered only bang on weights.

 

As the wobble is only at one speed (and not too bad anyway) I can easily work around that so the fronts remain weight free.