I have a set of Hurst tires and have called every shop in Southern CT and lower NY to find someone who can "LUG CENTRIC" balance these tires. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I had trouble finding a shop also. Try an older well established tire & brake shop. When my Thunderbird wire wheels were balanced the guys mentioned some Dodge truck wheels needed lug centric balancing - might try a Dodge dealer??
The wheels are AR Torque Thrust wheels. The rims should be able to be hub-centric balanced, but the dang tires can only be lug-centric balanced per Cody atbHurst Tires.
Ask your local tire store if they have a flange plate adapter. Hawika make a good one. Most major tire stores should have one if the carry aftermarket wheels. Lug centric vs Hub centric has nothing to do with the particular tire, only has to do with how the wheel centers on the car.
Balance it on your front spindle, back off the bearings a bit,,balance the drum or disc first. Then you will really know what you have,,,,
I couldn't find any up here in the desert. I have some old MT 5 spoke wheels from the mid 60's, I couldn't even find anyone who knew what I meant. That's some old technology thats being lost. I don't see how it makes any different to the tires, I thought it was only because the center pilot hole wasn't machined centered to the wheel. I've looked into balancing beads, they look like it might work. The Toyota 4x4 guys have to have their wheels lug centric balanced from what i've read. They really like the beads, because it resolves a lot of problems with giant tires and no one able to balance them.
I'd say lug centric mounting would potentially have bigger centering changes (that secretly modify or even kill a good balance job, and cause tread runout to boot ) than the cone adapters often used for hub centering. I'd take my chances with one round of hub centered balancing, and measure the rm and tread runout when installed on the car. In the men time Maybe look for some place with on-the-car balancing capabilities just in case.
If the hub and the lug holes are not on the same center the wheel would not fit the hub properly and no amount of balancing would compensate for the resulting out of round condition. Also, the Internet myth that hub centric is stronger than lug centric is B.S.
I actually had to look up "lug centric balancing" to see what it was but after watching this video it makes sense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWAZqNGhM4 If you can find a shop that does on the car balancing that should work fine. If you haven't checked with them I'd try the bigger newer stores that belong to the big tire chains as they are more likely to have the latest balancers and equipment in the shops.
The old Ammco balancers had adapter plates for them that picked up on the lugs. Popular ones were for the VW and old Pontiac 8-lug wheels. Bob
Find a shop that has been in business for 40 or 50 years. They should have the old school equipment. There is one in Manchester, NH if you need to go that far. PM me if you need info.
I had a issue years back with balance ,,, used the old style "Hunter" on car wheel balancer at a old time garage,,,,,perfect results... have to remember if you pull the wheels and tires off for any typs on service to to mark a lug and mark the wheel so you have the correct position
I may in the future run some '40 ford style wheels, which I have been told to be lug centric balanced. Trouble is nobody in my area has the old school equipment in service anymore. My american torq thrust have a machined hub centric that is true to the outside dia, which would be easy to balance. What options are there?
Thank you everyone for your your advice. For those of you that said "it only matters if the rims are lug centric" - that is what I thought until I spoke to Cody at Hurst Tires - http://www.hurstracingtires.com/index.html He confirmed that his tires MUST be lug centric balanced regardless of the rims...I am going to try the Toyota dealer in my town and see what they say.
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