El Cheapo Barstool Tire Balance Method

On to part two of mounting your own tires. The balancing. Basically you need a method to get your tire and the axle supported on a flat level surface. I have used a pair of barstools with two pieces of aluminum bar and four "C" clamps.

Step 1) Start by placing your barstools upside down on a flat surface.

Step 2) Clamp the one aluminum bar to each stool with a clamp on each end.



Step 3) Level the two bars as well as you can. You need to level the length of the first bar, and then level the second bar to the first.




Step 4) Place the assembled wheel on the axle across the bars. You need to have the brake rotor(s) mounted. Make sure that it doesn't roll to one end. If it does, then you need to recheck your level.



Step 5) Allow the wheel to turn until it stops, and mark the bottom with a piece of masking tape. Now turn the wheel the opposite way and allow it to bottom out. This should be very close to the same place. If not then you either have some friction or air currents affecting the wheels rotation. Make sure that the sides of the wheel and brake rotors are not rubbing on anything.



Step 6) The spot that you marked is the heavy spot, and you need to place a weight on the opposite side of the wheel. 180 degreees from your tape mark. Start with one weight, and experiment until you get it balanced. Keep trying step 5 until the wheel stops randomly. If it keeps bottoming out on the same spot, then you still have a heavy spot that is not properly counterbalanced. If your weight bottoms out, then you need to reduce the weight.

Final note. I use the stick on wheel weights, and I tape them to the wheel until I decide on the final placement, and weight. Only then, will I peel off the backing paper and permantly attach the weight. I usually put half of the weight on either side of the center of the wheel. Make sure that the rim is vey clean before you attach the weight. I got the weights from a local NTB. I asked to buy some and the guy refused to take my money.

testarossa wrote:

Final note. I use the stick on wheel weights, and I tape them to the wheel until I decide on the final placement, and weight. Only then, will I peel off the backing paper and permantly attach the weight. I usually put half of the weight on either side of the center of the wheel. Make sure that the rim is vey clean before you attach the weight. I got the weights from a local NTB. I asked to buy some and the guy refused to take my money.

Lead weights are actually illegal to sell to a private person now because lead is a toxic waste. My buddy in our pistol shooting league used to buy wheel weights to melt down and make bullets (WAYYY cheaper than buying bullets now) and the guy he bought them from recently cut him off because of the lead legality thing.:S

It makes me sad to hear this kind of thing. Seriously, it's okay to let the rookie tire slinger handle lead weights and smoke Marlboros all day long, but I can't buy wheel weights. Well I guess I have to pry my wheel weights off of the nearest political superhero's Beemer.

They are making them out of steel now, so you can still get those. I bought a pack of them for like $5 and should be set for a good 10 years. I think I just saw similar ones at harbor fright recently.

Boy howdy! Steel wheel weights have so many safety advantages over lead. In place of having a lead bullet when your wheel weight cuts loose, now we have an armor piercing bullet. I bet those things are twice the size of a lead weight. Sorry for my foul attitude. It's late. I'm going to bed now.

And the best part:
No cussing required .
Thanks Josh. Its always amazing to see how dif guys come up with dif ways to concur the same problem. I love the upside down stools, and the 2x4 pry bar against the wall trick(in the other tutorial). Way to go, Very ingenious.

Yeah Mark, the only cussing here is related to the fact that you can't buy lead wheel weights. I guess that the US government thinks that we don't know any better than to use the damned things for chewing gum.

You have to think of the children. Parents don't watch their kids anymore so we all have to help make sure they don't kill themselves.

testarossa wrote:

It makes me sad to hear this kind of thing. Seriously, it's okay to let the rookie tire slinger handle lead weights and smoke Marlboros all day long, but I can't buy wheel weights. Well I guess I have to pry my wheel weights off of the nearest political superhero's Beemer.

You might be able to find somebody who will let you buy some wheel weights, just don't tell the EPA.....

pgboyd wrote:

You have to think of the children. Parents don't watch their kids anymore so we all have to help make sure they don't kill themselves.

It was my understanding they want to account for the lead so they don't end up in a landfill somewhere leaching lead into the ground water.

bountyhunter wrote:

testarossa wrote:

It makes me sad to hear this kind of thing. Seriously, it's okay to let the rookie tire slinger handle lead weights and smoke Marlboros all day long, but I can't buy wheel weights. Well I guess I have to pry my wheel weights off of the nearest political superhero's Beemer.

You might be able to find somebody who will let you buy some wheel weights, just don't tell the EPA.....

Don't worry about me bountyhunter. I have at least two strips of proper stick on lead weights. I also have a few lead ingots for other casting purposes. If worse comes to worse I'll have to make my own. But honestly, how many people are balancing their own wheels and consequently throwing wheel weights in the trash. Have they taken away the lead sinkers from fishermen yet? Now there are some people who regularly apply lead into water bodies that are often resevoires for public water supplies. What about shooters who each, regularly deposit hundreds if not thousands of lead bullets in to backstops nationwide daily. I bet that those are leaching into the groundwater. Heck I can personally think of at least three rifle ranges that are positioned directly above the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone in central Texas, and that is where San Antonio takes all of its drinking water. However if they took away their lead, then they would cut into their revenue stream from all of those excise taxes on hunting and fishing items. Firearms and ammunition manufacturers in the US paid $109 million in excise taxes in the first quarter of 2009 alone according to the Department of the Treasury. I'm sorry for the rant, but their so called environmental policy is hypocritical at best. Lets cut off the lead from the people who don't pay big taxes on it. Its the ethically right thing to do. Sorry, I'm not buying it. It's a buisness deal between politicians, pure and simple.

testarossa wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

testarossa wrote:

It makes me sad to hear this kind of thing. Seriously, it's okay to let the rookie tire slinger handle lead weights and smoke Marlboros all day long, but I can't buy wheel weights. Well I guess I have to pry my wheel weights off of the nearest political superhero's Beemer.

You might be able to find somebody who will let you buy some wheel weights, just don't tell the EPA.....

Don't worry about me bountyhunter. I have at least two strips of proper stick on lead weights. I also have a few lead ingots for other casting purposes. If worse comes to worse I'll have to make my own. But honestly, how many people are balancing their own wheels and consequently throwing wheel weights in the trash. Have they taken away the lead sinkers from fishermen yet? .

That's not what I meant. The tire shops used to dump massive amounts of lead weights in the trash or sell them for a few bucks to shooters to make bullets. But now, I am told companies that use lead products or generate lead waste can't dispose of them that way any more. The waste has to be handled by a toxic waste certified dump site. I think it only applies to companies who would be disposing of large amounts of lead, not people who use a couple of fishing weights. Anyway, it's too bad because the shops used to give them away and they made great bullets.