Tire balancing

[calrider]

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I had a Metzler Z6 mounted and balanced for the rear wheel of my R1100RT at my local CycleGear store today. When I got home to remount the wheel on my bike, I noticed there were seven 7-gram weights in a row used to balance the tire. This seems like an awful lot of weight to balance a tire.

 

I wonder if the young man who performed this service didn't know what he was doing. Come on, 49 grams? Close to 2 ounces? Has anyone else had to use this much to balance a Z6?

[scottfarm2]

In my experience, Metzlers always take more weight to balance than Michelins. I always balance my rim first to find the heavy spot, then line the light spot up on the tire with the heavy spot on the rim eliminating unnecessary weight to balance. Do yourself a favor and buy a Marc Parnes balancer and do your tires yourself.

[Green RT]

seven 7-gram weights in a row

I have balanced a lot of Z4s and one Z6 and have a shop-balanced Z6 and I agree with you: That sounds like a lot.

[dhb]

I'm on my 3rd set of Z6s and I've also noticed that more weight is needed to balance them. They ride just fine though.

Dave

[Calvin (no socks)]

I balance tires for cars all the time, they take between 0-40 grams on a normal new Michelin. 49 grams for a motorcycle tire is excessive....especially all in a row....

[smiller]

I noticed there were seven 7-gram weights in a row used to balance the tire. This seems like an awful lot of weight to balance a tire.

 

I think he probably messed up. And if he didn't I might be a little concerned about that tire.

[Clive Liddell]

Seems to be a lot of weights! Just as a comparison on the BT54's I use it is mostly in the 10-15 gram range (~0.5oz). As a matter of interest, between my two Oilheads only one rear rim (without tire) has the heavy spot at the valve.

 

Just another (useless) observation on a rear tire (BT54):

My second replacement (DAB 1100) needed 10g -

My third replacement (DAB 1303) needed 15g at the exact same spot on the rim as the 2nd one. Good manufacturing tolerances went through my mind? I'll be fitting another soon and we'll see what happens

 

Oh, BTW I have had 20000km from each of the rears, and 15000km from each of the fronts on the R1100RT and , as you can see, the lowest common denominator of these numbers is 60000 thus two tires to fit at the same time...

[SteveHebert]

On my last ME-Z6, Uli and I had to use 6 of the 7gram weights. We put three on each side of the wheel across from eachother. We have changed at leat ten sets of tires together and thought that 6 weights was a bit much, but that is what was needed. I currently have 4 on my new front Z6 and none on the rear.

[GaryIF]

Do yourself a favor and buy a Marc Parnes balancer and do your tires yourself.

Echo that recommendation. Had a set of Michelin Pilots balanced by a shop, using a dynamic balancer. Got a bit of vibration from the front at 75 mph or so. Bit the bullet, bought Marc Parnes' balancer, and rebalanced them in the kitchen (literally).

Before:

Front - 28 grams

Rear - 21 grams

After:

Front - 14 grams, located 4 inches away from "before"

Rear - 21 grams, located 2 inches away from "before"

 

Results:

Smooth as glass at any speed.

 

Your mechanic may have been doing exactly what the machine was telling him to do. Problem usually is that those machines don't get recalibrated anywhere near as often as they should.

[Global_Rider]

I noticed there were seven 7-gram weights in a row used to balance the tire. This seems like an awful lot of weight to balance a tire.

 

 

I just installed a set of Metzeler Tourances...I needed two 7 grams weights on one wheel and three on the other.

 

This after finding the heavy spot on the rim itself and then mounting the tire accordingly using the red dots indicated on the tire wall.

 

Even at that, its a luck of the draw. If the tire is that far out, you'll just need to use more weights. Breaking the bead and moving the tire about on the rim numerous times to find the best combination just isn't worth the effort.

 

Both wheels are perfectly balanced using my home made balancer.

 

There are a slew of wheel balancers shown on Anton Largiader's Wheel Equipment Balancing Page. Mine happens to be the first one shown. Cost nothing to make and is multi functional...wheel balancing, wheel lacing.

[scottfarm2]

It is a very common misconception that the heavy spot on the rim is at the valve stem. Maybe 1 in 10 will be. The only way to know is to balance the rim by itself and mark the spot permanately on inside of rim for future tire changes.

[jjohnson24]

I use the Marc Parnes. On Anakee's took one gram on one, none on the rear. Smooth as glass up to 100mph and over. What is with the Metzeler's? Any ideas?

[Global_Rider]

It is a very common misconception that the heavy spot on the rim is at the valve stem. Maybe 1 in 10 will be. The only way to know is to balance the rim by itself and mark the spot permanately on inside of rim for future tire changes.

 

Exactly why I mentioned that I balance the rim/hub by itself to find the heavy spot.

 

I also take note of the heavy spot, but don't mark it permanently.

[Steve_Reinig]

Tody I finished mounting and balancing a new set of Avons on my RT. 21 grams on both front and rear using the March Parnes balancing tool. BTW this was my first time doing it by myself and it was very simple.