Bubble balancers... Good or bad??

[Junkman]

In another thread, there is a discussion going on about tire machines and balancers for home use, which prompted this post. I have had my tires spun balanced at the tire dealers, and find that a lot of times, I have to go back to have them done again, a week later, due to vibrations. I have a bubble balancer that I loaned to a friend many years ago, and he is still using it. He claims that it does as good a job on the tires that he uses as the expensive spin balancers. What are your thoughts on the bubble balancers? Old technology that belongs in the history books or old technology that still works well in a modern electronic world? I have never tried balancing a tire on the bubble machine that was originally done on a spin balancer, to see how the two compare. I might do that with my 1969 Cadillac, since they were only able to put the weights on the inside of the rim, since the car requires special weights to allow the wheel covers to fit, which they didn't have. Below is a poor quality picture of the wheel weights. I am looking for some of these if you have any.
thanks
Junk

 

[ChevyEFI]

A bubble balancer will get you satisfactory results a lot of times.

I spin the tire on the rim to neutral things a bit before seating the bead.

I set the weight in or out a little bit to sanity-check placement & weight.

However, a bubble balancer still won't slap the ever loving pee out of the monkey working the tire store and educate him on out-of-round tires not being balanceable, or broken belt issues or other real issues.

 

[chris142]

I worked at a tire store back in the 80's that still used a bubble balancer. It worked ok for a farm truck but I would not use one on a vette. The main problem with tire stores besides defective tires is the monkey that keeps spinning the tire and adding weight till it shows 000.

I've seem rims 3/4 covered in weights from these clowns.

 

[Rickster]

Static vs dynamic balancing. Here's a tire manf discussing it;
http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com/us_eng/real/magazines/97V2Issue1/7v2i1doctor.asp

 

[DCarr]

I had one that was made in the '50's, when I moved in '93 I gave it to a friend who to this day uses it to balance the tires on one of his Land Speed Cars ( 230 mph ). He brings it with him to the Dirt and the Salt.

 

[justanengineer]

Good for DIY tractor tires, bad for anything automotive IMHO. #1 improvement in auto performance over the past 50 years - tire technology. #1 improvement in tire technology - balancing. Many folks know Edelbrock for their aftermarket parts biz, what they dont know is one of the major reasons racers way back when flocked to their shop was to have engines, drivelines, and wheels balanced when bubble balancers were still the norm.

For your situation tho where youre limited to adding weight to one side of the rim, a bubble balancer should be very comparable to a modern balancer since youre never going to get a good dynamic balance.

 

[kamesama980]

The problem you have isn't the technology but the people using it. Computers are only as good as the person using it.

In my tenure at a shop we had a bunch of mid-grade spin balancers and a nice hunter road force machine. with any of them, the only time I had a come-back for vibration could be quantified as a mechanical problem of the rim/tire or the balancer needed calibration (which was usually more of not being able to get a tire to balance after 2-3 spins)

 

[Steinmetz]

Static balancers are generally ineffective to achieve a correct dynamic balance, because the static balancer cannot assist the user in identifying the correct distribution of weights on the wheel to cancel the products of intertia (the off-diagonal elements in the inertial tensor). The products of inertia contribute to wheel wobble when rotating, even though the wheel may be properly statically balanced.

 

[G_P]

I've used a bubble balancer a few times and never had issues. I'm sure a spin balancer is better but the bubble will work fine.

Sent via carrier pigeon.

 

[SC-AW11]

I worked at a tire store back in the 80's that still used a bubble balancer. It worked ok for a farm truck but I would not use one on a vette. The main problem with tire stores besides defective tires is the monkey that keeps spinning the tire and adding weight till it shows 000.

I've seem rims 3/4 covered in weights from these clowns.

Im just a student so could you explain what you should do rather than this? "The main problem with tire stores besides defective tires is the monkey that keeps spinning the tire and adding weight till it shows 000.
"
spin the tire on the wheel til the dot lines up with the valve hole?
Is that what they call "chasing weights"?

Thank you

 

[gayler]

When I went to school I learned to balance with an on the car balancer. Bubble baalancers are ok, but won't be perfect.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

old technology that still works well in a modern electronic world

 

[SC-AW11]

old technology that still works well in a modern electronic world

like bubble alignment gauges and scuff gauges. My teacher prefers those over our computer alignment system. We jus got a new system though so we'll see

 

[ChevyEFI]

Static balancers are generally ineffective to achieve a correct dynamic balance, because the static balancer cannot assist the user in identifying the correct distribution of weights on the wheel to cancel the products of intertia (the off-diagonal elements in the inertial tensor). The products of inertia contribute to wheel wobble when rotating, even though the wheel may be properly statically balanced.

For those who could do without the salty-speak,

A weight assumed to need placed at the most convenient rim placement might be better at an inner rim location as inner or outer placement does matter.

That said, a rookie on a good computerized machine could lead himself to the same erroneous placement.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

I think I'd rather just pay the $20 to have them mounted and balanced and have it done right....I don't really change my tires all that much to worry about it....I'm sure I'll spend 10x more money in quality oil and filters (changing the oil myself), over the duration....