Tire Balancing Question

Yep you have reservations.........

 

I might suggest that starting out with a nice clean wheel is a great starting place. Many old cars have wheels with surface rust and scale. This not only can impact balancing, but it can make it difficult to get a good rim seal on a tubeless tire. Try to make time to have the wheels polished up on the tire side with a good abrasive wheel. It is time well spent. Sure is better than those slow leakers!

 

also remember that the wheels some of us run aren't new and tend to be kinda bent (and hard to get). so i would says 4 oz isn't too bad (i would stick it on the rear of the car). i always static balance mine because i hate to see the weights (service station for 17 years), and i've heard great stories about on-vehicle balancing that i'm trying to find a used one or an old bubble balancer. i just had my new panel done and 1 wheel took 4.5 oz and feels fine. i've also seen as much as 9-10oz ride ok (seems as long as it's balanced out).

 

This is actually called "match mounting" and just about any modern balancer can do this. Don't spend the extra money to 'specially" balance a set of Michelins, they don't need it. It has a lot more to do with the person doing the job than the machine. Find someone there that knows something about old cars and has some experience with them.

 

Denise, I have had the same question on max allowable weight. The only tire maker I found that would say was Mickey Thompson. That site states that the industry standard is 2% of the tire weight. ***uming your tire is about 20 pounds, less than 8 oz. would be OK.