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Balancing tire/hub assembly

E. D. Eliot

Well Known Member
Seeking to gain some some knowledge here. I have a new badly out of balance tire - never flown. Took the assembly out to Allen at Anti-Splat and he confirmed that I had the dot on the tire matched to the valve stem, etc. Allen said that he had never seen such an out of balance tire and that he couldn't balance it due to the very small side flanges on the Matco wheel assembly.

Brought the assembly home - took it apart and verified that I didn't have a bunched up/pinched tube, etc. Called Van's tech support and they wanted me to report the solution to them.

Suggestions please, as to what to do next? As they say, it's fun and education - not having too much fun with this one and need education. Thank you all.
 
What I did - -

Glued weights where they will fit. A little messy, but works. I have a motorcycle wheel balancer. I also use a buffer with a wool pad to spin it up to actually see how well the static balance worked.
 
Glued weights where they will fit. A little messy, but works. I have a motorcycle wheel balancer. I also use a buffer with a wool pad to spin it up to actually see how well the static balance worked.

I found out that apparently the glue on those weights deteriorates over time. At last CI I rotated tires, used the balancer device, carefully cleaned the wheel surfaces, and stuck the weights on. Sitting in my warm hangarr several fell off and got stuck between the tire and the wheel pants. Only cause I can think of is the weights had been laying around for a few years.
 
I had similar concerns about those weights sticking. It looked to me like our small diameter wheels would only allow the adhesive to touch at each end of the weight. I put a bend in each weight so it would match the radius of the wheel. I ended up using a pipe nipple, a vee block and an arbor press to bend each weight. It was tough bending. I knew the weights wouldn't be lead anymore but didn't expect them to be steel.
 
I had similar concerns about those weights sticking. It looked to me like our small diameter wheels would only allow the adhesive to touch at each end of the weight. I put a bend in each weight so it would match the radius of the wheel. I ended up using a pipe nipple, a vee block and an arbor press to bend each weight. It was tough bending. I knew the weights wouldn't be lead anymore but didn't expect them to be steel.

I've actually had no problem with the weight sticking after several hundred TOs & landings. Cleaned the spot on the wheel well. IIRC, the weights had a thin foam backing that seemed to compensate for the wheel curvature fairly well. Centripetal force forces them outwards with wheel rotation.
 
Possible the marked balance dot is incorrect from the mfg and might be 180 degree out of phase with heavy part of tire. This could explain why assembly can't be balanced by adding weights. Try disassembly and rotate tire on hub.

If you can find a fixture, try checking balance of tire all by itself to confirm tire irregularity.
 
I'm with Tom and GWZ on this. Main wheel weights easily and securely stick onto the hub's inner surface once you have given the weights a slight curve. The nose wheel is a bit more problematic in that you have to place the weights inside of the hub while avoiding the hub's internal structural ribs. The tire balance weights I use are about the size of a small postage stamp (2-4 weights may be required per wheel). Let centripetal forces be your friend!
 
I should have added - -

I glue them on even though they are self adhesive. Takes more to get them off, but they stay in place. 3M Trim adhesive works well.
 
New Tire

Take the tire back to where you purchased it. Seems it is not normal. I too had Allen do a set of tires and wheels and Allen remarked about how many weights the Flight Custom III's took to balance. I have contacted Desser about this issue in the past, several years ago, because I have seen weights installed on the inside of tires, almost looking like a patch. I was told it was a weight used in extreme out of balance tires. Turns out it is not easily purchased in a google search but the tire guys know about it and purchase them in bulk. As you can imagine this can get pretty complicated and time consuming taping a weight on the outside of the tire radius to find the amount of weight needed, etc.....
So, if you can...return the tire for another one. Assuming you can't balance it by rotating the red dot around and normal stickon weights.
Just my 2 cents
 
balancing

I had a similar problem with a Matco wheel and a Aero Trac tire.. I needed about 4 ounces of weight. I used weights I bought from a tire store. I used 15 minute epoxy to glue the weights on, used a Harbor Freight motorcycle wheel balancer.
Worked fine.
Dave
 
Thank you all

Ordered a motorcycle balancing assembly from HF as my local HF does not stock it. Thanks to all who responded - I appreciate. Best to you all.
 
Be sure that the new tire and rim have seated properly at the tire bead. Sometimes the new one will fail to seat up . Use some talc power on the bead and re inflate a time or two . Might help.
 
Mine were so out of balance all I had to do was loosen the axle nut and let the heavy spot rotate to the bottom on its own to locate where to put the weights!
 
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