Balancing

[Omathisen]

Left my old Compomotive wheels at a garage this morning to have new tires put on. The mechanic calls me and tells me the center piece is "frozen" and they cannot get the wheels on the machine to balance them.
I am not a wheel or tire expert, but is there a different way of balancing them? And/or a trick to prevent the centers from "freezing."
They are my old 16 inch rims, and I am waiting for new 17 inch rims from Vintagewheels, but had hoped to keep my old ones for spares.
Anyone with similar experience or solutions?
Thanks.

[priobe]

Are you talking about the spinners.

If so, make sure they are hitting them in the right dirction to pull them off.

[Omathisen]

Yes. The threaded unit in the center of the wheel.

[priobe]

If you are sure you are hitting them in the right direction, you may want to continue to hit the spinner .... it will come off.

Also, do a search for this, someone had the same problem and believed they used a heat gun.

[jhv48]

They are hitting them in the wrong direction!

[MaSnaka]

There are a few tire shops which can do it while the tire is on the car. Old school machine spins the tire while one end of the car is jacked in the air and the tech puts his hand on the body to feel vibration while guessing and checking with weights. It's an art. Cost is around $30.00/tire but when I had it done the guy wouldn't do the rears. Not really sure why not.

You still need a way to get your tires loose though and I can't speak from experience but the spinners turn to the rear of the car. Passenger side counterclockwise, drivers side clockwise. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Then to install use some antiseize on them so they don't get stuck again.

John

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by MaSnaka

There are a few tire shops which can do it while the tire is on the car.

I've never thought much of this technique - it's always smacked of a quickie, Sears Auto Repair method. I'm sure the right setup in a skilled operator's hands can turn out acceptable results, but really... all that's gained is the time to pull the wheels off, and there is no way the precision can be a high as with a good spin balancer.

[jhv48]

Originally Posted by Gunner

I've never thought much of this technique - it's always smacked of a quickie, Sears Auto Repair method. I'm sure the right setup in a skilled operator's hands can turn out acceptable results, but really... all that's gained is the time to pull the wheels off, and there is no way the precision can be a high as with a good spin balancer.

That used to be my thinking as well.

HOWEVER, when my new SPF had a front end vibration that couldn't be balanced out by three different machines, I went the "on the car" method.
It balances all the rotating mass, not just the tire and wheel. In thirty minutes, my front end was as smooth as glass. The only way I'll balance my fronts from now on!

[Bob In Ct]

Tops to the front to take them off.

Use a lead hammer, hit an ear, turn the wheel 120 degrees, hit the ear, rotate 120 degrees, etc..

Bob

[parhen4]

Most Dynamic Ballancers have adapters to fit the five lugs. So you center the wheel with tapered lugs.

[RICK LAKE]

Omathisen First off, It looks like someone has some black stuff between the rim and the center cap?? RTV?? Some RTV eat Aluminum and corriode it. To get the center caps off I would try a large press with wood blocks to remove them. Antiseize needs to be coated on both parts. If that doesn't work easy, then adding a little heat around the rim and again try tapping out the center. The last thing would be to airgun or drill and grind out the centers and buy new center caps. Cheaper to replace centers than rims. If hitting the center use ONLY a BRASS, LEAD or DEADBLOW PLASTIC HAMMER.
If these things fail, call a rim repair man that can come to your house or place of work. Rick L.

[tcrist]

Pull the set screws completly out and see if there is another one in the hole.
Some times they double up the set screws, using another set screw like a jamnut to lock the first set screw in.

Just a thought.

[Omathisen]

Not wanting to do any further damage, I took the wheels to race car engineer my son knows this Saturday. He took one look at the wheels, put them upside down, and tapped out the center. Took all of five seconds.
I got sidetracked by the original mechanic and the threads and did not help that Compomotive did not answer my inquiries.
The engineer told me that he could tell that the threads were "outside" and did not go into the center of the wheel, and the "lip" inside was an optical illusion.
So that was all of 20 seconds, plus 15 more minutes to file away the scratches on the center that the first shop damaged and redoing the threads so the wingnut fits again (better than before). It sure helps when you find somebody who knows what he is doing.
So now I have two sets of good wheels.