Unbalanced tires can lead to problems throughout a vehicle, and increased comebacks in the shop. Let’s dive into ways you can reduce those comebacks in this Tire Review Continental Tire Garage Studio video.
Most wheel balancing comebacks can be directly attributed to the way wheels are incorrectly centered when mounted on the balancer. The solution to this can often be elusive since many technicians have no idea how to determine if the wheel is properly centered.
To quickly confirm that the wheel is centered, regardless of mounting methods, the technician can take multiple balance measurements with the wheel unclamped. Then, reclamp it into the different clock positions on the balancer spindle face. Large changes in weight and location indicate that the wheel is not centered.
If the balance weight and locations repeat, you have proven that the wheel is repeatedly centered. This is the same principle as doing a “scratch test” on a bench lathe before machining a brake rotor, which verifies the lathe setup. This helps to ensure that the rotor is centered on the arbor and that the runout is in the rotor, so the tire can slide down the rim when mounting the first bead.
Once the tire has first been properly lubricated, sealed and seated and the valve core removed, it should then be deflated so that the beads relax to ensure tire uniformity and ride quality. Then, the tire should be re-inflated and brought back up to placard inflation pressure to allow the beads to move back into their correct position on the rim bead seats.
