DIY Wheel Balancing

[fastpakr]

LOL. Having access to a legitimate balancer does kind of make it a little easier.

 

[Ranger850]

How often are you all swapping tires that you need your own balancer? I buy tires about every 5-10 years, and hardly ever have had to have them rebalanced after the initial purchase. I know you northern guys do the seasonal tires and all, but wouldn't two sets of rims be cheaper and easier to swap, already mounted and balanced?

 

[North Idaho 5.oh]

Having 2 sets is easier for the guys that have the pre-TPMS trucks. If you have the TPMS sensors, you have to “re-learn” the sensors every time you swap them out and normally that can only be done by a tire shop.

 

[Kira]

It's 66 days later.
We used an old, non-Harbor Freight mast to mount a tire then take it, with $5, to a small garage for a spin balance.
NOTE: That balancer had a crank you turned to set the "bead width indicator". A set a calipers lived with the balancer.
That width measurement was never omitted. NEVER had a bad balance.
Alas, the garage changed hands and became a serious tractor-trailer facility. No kids allowed.

And yes, we snow people have separately mounted snow tires.

 

[bobbywalter]

How often are you all swapping tires that you need your own balancer? I buy tires about every 5-10 years, and hardly ever have had to have them rebalanced after the initial purchase. I know you northern guys do the seasonal tires and all, but wouldn't two sets of rims be cheaper and easier to swap, already mounted and balanced?

its all relative.

you do set in a decade....

i do sets per year. i destroy too many tires...often i have to mount them myself because its after hours. or they are too busy and i dont have time to wait.



i see what you mean about us with snow and slime ice roads....we need winter tires depending on where you live. but.....you would have to be an idiot to swap good tires off of wheels to put different used ones on..

i run snows muds and road as required. different wheels for different applications.

that said...yes i have had three different sets of tires on in one day...so tools make that nice.



but i bead balance my big tires. and that can be cheap...or very expensive.

road tires get done at the shop.