1931 wheel balance

[lewis cox]

Can anyone tell me the best way to balance the wire wheels on my 31 coupe. Will bubble balance do the job? Can I use stick on weights? I get a bad shimmy over 50mph. No shop in my area will even try to balance them, so I ordered a bubble balancer. Thanks

[Michael Lepak 17679]

Lewis,

I have used both stick ons and motorcycle weights that fit over the spokes.
I prefer the stick on ones as they can be put on the backside of the rims.
Bubble balancers do work, for many years thats all we had.  I found a small wrecking yard shop that mounts tires and they had an older spin balancer for light trucks. Their machine had a cone setup so they didnt need to rely on a lug pattern. I was able to persuade them to balance my 32 (700X17) tires successfully.
Also be aware that some wheels and tires can need some pretty drastic weights--I had one that took 7ozs. to correct.
Hope this is helpful.
Mike

[lewis cox]

Thanks for your help. The bubble balancer I ordered is the only one I could find that had a large enough cone. I think I will try the stick on weight first. Thanks for the info on how much weight it can take. I adapted an electric motor to spin the wheels on the car, and they wobble a good bit. Again, thank you.

[Paul Ayres #5640]

Lewis - the wheel wobble you see can have a lot to do with the shimmy problem.  I had severe wheel wobble on my 31, after the wheels were restored by a well-known wheel shop in Ohio.  I had to have them re-aligned, which meant breaking the paint on the spoke nipples and re-painting the wheels, but it helped greatly with the shake and shimmy.  I also balanced with stick-on weights on the backside of the rim.  I used a spare front spindle mounted on a piece of channel iron, with lightly oiled spindle bearings to mount the wheels vertically, and balance them until they would stay in any position.  This seemed to be sufficient to eliminate shake.  If you can get the wheels on a bubble balancer, it should help, but they are actually located to the hub by both the taper on the backside and the diameter of the opening on the front side, so may not hang well on the balancer.  Paul Ayres

[lewis cox]

Thanks Paul. I guess I will have to find a wheel shop somewhere here in Texas if the bubble balancer does not work. That is a good idea with the spindle. Thanks again.

[Tod - North TX CLC]

Let us know which part of Texas you are in.

Maxel Tire and Wheel in Dallas still does the spin balancing on the car - the only way that I could get rid of the shimmy on my 79 wire wheels after trying several of the computer balance places.  I am not fond of doing this since the wheels may not be in proper balance when you rotate them to another hub, but it was my only option.

I also know of a place outside of Houston, but dont have the information handy.

[lewis cox]

I am in northeast Texas; south of Tyler. I just talked to a guy in Dallas(dont have his name in front of me) . He apparently does restorations and a lot of front end work. He suggested that I increase the tire pressure to 60psi. I had them at 45psi as per the specs. I did this and the shimmy dissappeared. Cant argue with success. Rides a little rougher but steers easier. I bought a bubble balancer and will also try that. Might help a little. Thanks