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Wire Wheel Balancing

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T

TR3-2001SE

Senior Member
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Well I had my wire wheels balanced and they are much worse than before they where balanced. Any advise on getting these things right. They are smooth up to 55 the really bad from 55-65 then seem to smooth out. Before they balance they where fine just not perfect. Maybe I should just pull the weights off.
 
Hi, Kenny -

No real advice, but my minilite replicas do the same thing. Maybe it's "endemic" to TR3's!

I understand there's a shop in Nashville that has just installed some new equipment for balancing wire wheels. If you're interested, I can get you their name.

Mickey
 
Most wheel balancing machines can't mount wire wheels properly, although most of the tire tech don't realize it. Your wheel was probably balanced when not squarely seated on the machine. There is a web page on this - I'll see if I can find it.
 
I've always used a Bubble Balancer to balance my wire wheels, and never had any problems. The TR isn't very sensitive to wheel imbalance like my Miata is. The bubble balancer should work just fine.
 
I used a aircraft wheel balancer to balance mine. It worked great. It is like using a bubble balancer except the wheel will rotate with the heavy spot down and you can use it to true a wheel at the same time.
 
Aloha Kenny,

Eric is correct in pointing out that most shops aren't equipped to properly balance wire wheels. Bent or loose spokes can put the wheel out of round and not track true as Jeff suggested. You may want to use a specialty shop do the job like Mickey and John mentioned.

My TR3 needs to have the front wheel bearings periodically checked to make sure the spindle nut is properly tightened. The felt seal deforms over time and allows the outside bearing to become loose. This makes the front end wobble a bit.

Safety fast,
Dave
 
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