Tire/wheel balancing at home

The tire should wobble when it rotates if the heavy spots are high on one side and low on the other, and the tire is supported at and rotates around its center of gravity.

The fixture I built wears too quickly for much experimentation.

Can anyone comment on the ~$40 Harbor Freight tire mounter/dismounter?

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins
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Bolt it down *very* well . Use plenty of lube when mounting/dismounting . Buy (or make) a better bar - Mojo is one that comes to mind . I use mine mostly for motorcycle tires , but have also used it for truck tires and while it works , the bar that comes with it is less than perfect . The bead breaker works *very* well .

Reply to
Snag

If you're talking about the bead breaker, that works OK for normal stuff. I've used it on the van tires to put factory rims on three of the 4 spots, no two rims were identical. Tires were like new, though. Hauled the works over to the local tire shop to have balancing done. I put longer stems on the rims at the same time. For some reason, ALL the tire places put short stems on, I either have to put extensions on or remove the hubcap to check tire pressures. It's also come in handy for small trailer tires and such. $40 seems a little high, I was thinking it was more like $20 when I got it last year.

I couldn't get the tire soap/rubber lube, so I used water-based silicone spray. Worked well enough and changed a nasty job into one that was merely unpleasant. I don't plan on doing tire changing as an alternate career, though. The HF tire irons worked fine, once I got the hang of it. Wouldn't want to use them on alloy rims, though. If you need a workout, that'll do it.

Stan

Reply to
Stanley Schaefer

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