Bubble balancing???

[Irish_Alley]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCLVcsRbqYU
anyone ever done this? not sure if i would since i have access to a spin balancer but i just want to get others opinions or facts about it. the guy in the video says if you do this but the tire still wobbles then it needs to be spin balanced, kind of leads me to think its a waist of time and money

[VileZambonie]

If you have access to a spin balancer, then a bubble balancer offers zero advantage. Bubble balance is better than nothing and with large offroad tires, balance beads are an even better solution. If you are going to bubble balance, stick the weights on the backside of the wheel.

[Rapid Roy]

I did use one of these when I worked at a Full Service Gas Station when in high school in the early 70's. It takes longer and there has to be absolutely no wind or it will not work correctly. I don't remember how well the balance was but it was all we had at the time. A classmates Dad had a brake and alignment shop that had a spin balance, but it was an electric unit that was placed under the tire, when raised off ground slightly, to spin it and there was a unit on the wheel similar to a hubcap. While tire was spinning, there was a round part in the middle they would somehow move to get the best balance. The video shows this method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJd-AnU71nQ

[Stewart G Griffin]

Recommend, If possible find a shop that does Hunter Road Force balancing.  THIS is where it's at.

https://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/road-force-elite/?ns_clid=google,411398470,73357419748,road%20force,p&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl5Tls6f76gIVloTICh2RKwkzEAAYASAAEgKeCPD_BwE


i have a bubble balancer in my garage that i'm getting ready to throw out, or give away.........FWIW......

[zieg85]

I just sold mine last week along with my tire machine.

[bd]

Wow, Carl.  Those brought back memories.  I used identical machines in the '70s.  I was pretty handy with a bubble balancer.

[zieg85]

Wow, Carl.  Those brought back memories.  I used identical machines in the '70s.  I was pretty handy with a bubble balancer.

I am just tired and after a workout wrestling LT265/75R16 tires I just decided the real estate gained was more important to me.  I have a newer tire machine that has a pedal broken out in my pole barn I will eventually see if I can fix.  The bubble balancer did not handle the center hubs on the 16" so it was useless to me.

[Irish_Alley]

that style tire machine is what i learned on. good times with dad when i was a kid (in the 90s) at the shop my dad worked at.

[JohnnyPopper]

Yeah, that takes me back to the late 70's

The guy who taught me had a unique technique: use three equal weights spaced at roughly 120 degrees apart, or as close as you can get to that.

Worked wonderfully, never a come back.