Wheel Balancing | GTAMotorcycle.com

Wheel Balancing

Hardwrkr13

Hardwrkr13

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I had a set of new Road 5's installed on the BMW last weekend and as soon as I got on to the 401 I could feel the shaking and was pretty sure it was a tire out of balance as I have the same thing on my dirtbike but I was into a hard headwind so I kept going thinking it was a possible cause. Upped the speed and at one point the windscreen is shaking like a MF and I could loose a filling. I was hopeful that it would go away with the tires getting worked in a bit but no luck. I messaged the shop and let him know there's a balancing issue and requested he take a second look at it. He doesn't want to. He's saying "Maybe they just need a electronic balancer", "I don't see how I can do them any better", etc. I tell him maybe a weight just fell off. He said he'd see when he has a free hour to look at it but hasn't bothered to get back to me. Not good customer service IMO.
My question: Is it possible some tires just can't be balanced out perfect on a static balancer? I watched him do it, I'm not saying he did it wrong, but accidents happen.....or maybe there's a weight missing. 80-100km/h it's noticeable but not terrible. Above that it's very bad.
At this point, that shop is 45min away and I'm tired of having to keep asking him so I may just buy a static balancer and some weights and do it myself (I kinda want to do my dirtbike wheels anyways).
 
Shaking that badly sounds more like an out-of-round or flat-spotted tire than a balance issue?
 
If you haven’t already, double-check everything in the front end is tight and torqued to spec.

Also, get the front wheel off the ground and give it a spin. See if there’s anything obvious (side runout, out of round). Spin the wheel multiple times and mark the lowest point after it stops. Does it return on subsequent spins to the same spot or a different one?


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I had a shop install tires once and experienced a similar issue. No visible issues. Brought them back and they ******* about they balanced them and can't do any better and I should ride slower to avoid the vibration. After a push, they agreed to try again. Perfect the second time. Not really sure what they did (just a rebalance or did they pull and remount?).
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll check them this evening/tomorrow and reinstall wheels myself to check that off. If no issues found I'll grab a static balancer and redo them myself.
 
Both look like they’re on the rim with the line around the tire equal to the rim. Spun it and don’t see anything bulged/flat. Ordered a static balancer and some black weights as these grey ones are an eyesore anyways. Question, on these ones are each square 0.25oz or is the sum of the three equal to 0.25oz?
D21172A3-991E-4A6B-9998-005561D4B6A2.jpeg
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Both look like they’re on the rim with the line around the tire equal to the rim. Spun it and don’t see anything bulged/flat. Ordered a static balancer and some black weights as these grey ones are an eyesore anyways. Question, on these ones are each square 0.25oz or is the sum of the three equal to 0.25oz?
View attachment 54953
Click to expand...
I would expect 1/4 (7 g) each and they broke them off a strip.
 
Is there a yellow circle on the side of the tire and does it line up to the valve stem?

Where are those weights in relation to the valve stem?


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Robbo said:
Is there a yellow circle on the side of the tire and does it line up to the valve stem?
Click to expand...

Don't think so. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Michelin is of the opinion that their manufacturing standards are such that marking the lightest spot on the tire is not necessary or required as the tire is a uniform weight all around.

Presumably you've never had this type of issue before? As above, is the tire properly seated and is there a front wheel reinstall and / or torqueing sequence that might have been missed. Some bikes need to have the forks pumped with the axle in place, but not torqued, to properly seat it prior to torqueing it to spec.
 
ReSTored said:
Don't think so. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Michelin is of the opinion that their manufacturing standards are such that marking the lightest spot on the tire is not necessary or required as the tire is a uniform weight all around.

Presumably you've never had this type of issue before? As above, is the tire properly seated and is there a front wheel reinstall and / or torqueing sequence that might have been missed. Some bikes need to have the forks pumped with the axle in place, but not torqued, to properly seat it prior to torqueing it to spec.
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How would axle not seated properly show up as bad vibration? I could see tire wear issues or handling issues but I would be surprised if that caused a lot of vibration? I could be wrong but it just doesnt make sense to me.
 
Robbo said:
Is there a yellow circle on the side of the tire and does it line up to the valve stem?

Where are those weights in relation to the valve stem?


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Click to expand...
Don't see any yellow dots. Weights on the rear are pretty much at the stem location. On the front tire they're 90 degrees from the stem.
 
For all of my bikes, the front wheel weights are consistently in the same zone.

With the stem at 12 o’clock, the weights are between 5:30 and 6:30.

For the rears, 3 of the 4 are as above with 1 outlier. It’s at 9 o’clock.

That’s not to say yours are not balanced correctly. The only way to tell is pull the wheels and check them yourself off the bike.


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Hardwrkr13 said:
I had a set of new Road 5's installed on the BMW last weekend and as soon as I got on to the 401 I could feel the shaking and was pretty sure it was a tire out of balance as I have the same thing on my dirtbike but I was into a hard headwind so I kept going thinking it was a possible cause. Upped the speed and at one point the windscreen is shaking like a MF and I could loose a filling. I was hopeful that it would go away with the tires getting worked in a bit but no luck. I messaged the shop and let him know there's a balancing issue and requested he take a second look at it. He doesn't want to. He's saying "Maybe they just need a electronic balancer", "I don't see how I can do them any better", etc. I tell him maybe a weight just fell off. He said he'd see when he has a free hour to look at it but hasn't bothered to get back to me. Not good customer service IMO.
My question: Is it possible some tires just can't be balanced out perfect on a static balancer? I watched him do it, I'm not saying he did it wrong, but accidents happen.....or maybe there's a weight missing. 80-100km/h it's noticeable but not terrible. Above that it's very bad.
At this point, that shop is 45min away and I'm tired of having to keep asking him so I may just buy a static balancer and some weights and do it myself (I kinda want to do my dirtbike wheels anyways).
Click to expand...
I just had new Road 6 GTs installed last week on my BMW and had similar experience on the 407 above 115km/hr. Returned to installer a couple of days later and had them checked but they don't see any problem, keep riding and they should get better. I have since put on about 700km and noticed some improvement but IMO still a noticeable vibration. I found this thread and wondering how it was resolved.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
I had a set of new Road 5's installed on the BMW last weekend and as soon as I got on to the 401 I could feel the shaking and was pretty sure it was a tire out of balance as I have the same thing on my dirtbike but I was into a hard headwind so I kept going thinking it was a possible cause. Upped the speed and at one point the windscreen is shaking like a MF and I could loose a filling. I was hopeful that it would go away with the tires getting worked in a bit but no luck. I messaged the shop and let him know there's a balancing issue and requested he take a second look at it. He doesn't want to. He's saying "Maybe they just need a electronic balancer", "I don't see how I can do them any better", etc. I tell him maybe a weight just fell off. He said he'd see when he has a free hour to look at it but hasn't bothered to get back to me. Not good customer service IMO.
My question: Is it possible some tires just can't be balanced out perfect on a static balancer? I watched him do it, I'm not saying he did it wrong, but accidents happen.....or maybe there's a weight missing. 80-100km/h it's noticeable but not terrible. Above that it's very bad.
At this point, that shop is 45min away and I'm tired of having to keep asking him so I may just buy a static balancer and some weights and do it myself (I kinda want to do my dirtbike wheels anyways).
Click to expand...

thwak said:
I just had new Road 6 GTs installed last week on my BMW and had similar experience on the 407 above 115km/hr. Returned to installer a couple of days later and had them checked but they don't see any problem, keep riding and they should get better. I have since put on about 700km and noticed some improvement but IMO still a noticeable vibration. I found this thread and wondering how it was resolved.
Click to expand...

What kind of balancer was used by the shop?
 
thwak said:
I just had new Road 6 GTs installed last week on my BMW and had similar experience on the 407 above 115km/hr. Returned to installer a couple of days later and had them checked but they don't see any problem, keep riding and they should get better. I have since put on about 700km and noticed some improvement but IMO still a noticeable vibration. I found this thread and wondering how it was resolved.
Click to expand...
I bought my own static balancer and redid them myself. I found the shop didn't take off the original wheel weights, he just added to offset the weight. Once I took every weight off the wheel it was in balance.
Relax said:
What kind of balancer was used by the shop?
Click to expand...
Static balancer.
 
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