Best Method How to properly Balance tires with a Bubble Balancer AT HOME
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 เม.ย. 2022
- Patented method on how to get flawless results with a bubble tire balancer.
Inexpensive Stick On Tire Weights: amzn.to/3J3Rytf
Best Rated Bubble Tire Balancer on Amazon: amzn.to/3LBIRYC
Harbor Freight Balancer is being discontinued.
Challanger Balancer is vintage and no longer made.
The patent was issued in 1961 to Fred Bageman. To sum it up he was selling this method with limited wheel weights so shops could balance tires without having to stock countless sizes of weights. Since tires, even back in the 50's are prebalanced at the factory to be near zero Dynamically Balanced his method was the only way to guarantee you didn't impose an inbalance Dynamically. The patent has since expired.
How well does it really work? I would say the average driver blindly bumbles through the operation and functionality of a using a car and wouldn't notice if a brick was attached to their tire. However Me, like you(if you're reading this) will stop everything, turn off the radio and intently listen to even the faintest noise, vibration, smell, hesitation a vehicle makes. For the past 10 years I intently feel and listen to every set of tires I put on and never get even the slightest feedback even up to 80mph/130kph(local speed limit). They ride smooth as silk with this method.
TIRE BEADS: Why not just use those. amzn.to/3u9MzTs
They do work but the biggest issue is the blind guess on how much you need. Guys will put 4oz in a tire which is equivalent to around 8-10oz on the rim. That's 32-40 of the little 1/4 sticky things... HOLY COW that's a ton of weight. You then need to start driving with a 4oz of weight lobbing around and it's nut until you get up to 20mph-30mph that it begins to smooth out. Generally this is way more than they need but there is a remedy. Use a bubble balancer and get a round idea how out of balance you tire is. 1oz? put in 1-1.25oz and you'll be set. You will have virtually zero out of balance at low speed and better balance at higher speeds as the bead get into place faster.
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sixtyfiveford
sixtyfiveford/ - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Old school is still old school. Been bubble balancing for over 50 years and it always solves the problem.
Thanks for teaching us all something! I have had a old shop balance my tires maybe 20 years ago with a balancer like this. Tires wore even. No issues.
i have had my static wheel balancer for many years and yet i had never heard of this method, great video, thank you for this information, i will be following your instructions into the future.
I have the China version of that machine from Princess Auto and it works perfectly. I lubed all of the moving parts and put some grease on the center where the wheel slides down to make sure it can center properly. I can get my wheels better than the shop can get them. I like the Y method, I came on it by trial and error. Someone I do is an old school mechanics trick to not set the beads right away, put the wheel on the balancer right after you mount the tire and check how it sits, so you can simply spin the tire around on the wheel to balance it before you add any weight. You may not need any weights in many cases.
I have heard about doing what you said, don't set the bead, and rotate the tire , nice.
I told the shop I go to to do something similar and they said usually the rims aren’t out of balance at all, I knew they were wrong but figured maybe not enough to matter
@@aterack833 it's not the wheel that's out it's the tire. Most tires have dots on them to indicate where the valve should be to minimize the amount of weight needed to balance them. If the tires are older the dots aren't there. I have seen tires that the shop didn't balance correctly and they had tons of weights and the tires were still out, when all they had to do was mark the tire and rotate it on the wheel to make it work.
EXCELLENTE ~
Interesting
A long time ago 1964, I went to a bubble balance school. Almost the same as you demonstrate but they used 4 weights where you use two. Put two weights together at left and two on right like you have . Center the bubble. Mark with chalk. Take wheel off of balancer. Take two of the weights, L and R and pound them on the back. Put tire back on balancer and position the two weights ( almost same spot ) and mark . Pound on the weights and your done. I know, clear as mud !
Just like how i was taught by a Goodyear Tire tech.
This is the best explanation of balancincing a tire with a manual bubble balancer on TH-cam you will find!
Great information delivered in a concise package. Always nice to tune in here to get away from the nonsense going on elsewhere in the world. Thanks.
Much appreciated!
Hey, want to say thanks for the great video. Have similar balancer from Princess Auto and I never thought of doing it that way, but it makes perfect sense to balance things out and stop a side to side wobble. Well done ! The issues I have found with these balancers, is trying to read if the bubble is perfectly on center, too much room for error, and it’s advised to rebalance the wheel top for bottom, but most rims have too much offset to do this.
I-m so happy to see this. So sick and tired of "professional tire shops" that couldn't balance a tire if their life depended on it. It's frustrating when I consider how much money and time I've wasted at tire shops.
I'm sure they were performing dynamic balancing, rather than this here.
This works great I have used this method for 45 years and have checked it on a spin balancer
This man knows how to use a bubble balancer, I finally found someone that understands it. I did this for a living 45 years ago.
The bubble balancer works, but it’s not as good as a high speed balancer; and it takes forever, compared to modern machines.
@@robotron1236 some of us like to do our own work.
@@relevation0 I get it, I love bubble balancers, it’s just not something I’d use for a customer’s car.
@@robotron1236 NHRA Top Fuel cars use bubble balancers....but they only go 300 plus mph lol.
@@georgecarousos6735Yeah and it probably takes them a half hour to do one tire.
This is a really good video! Someone mentioned bubble balancing and I never heard of it. In this video I went from knowing nothing to being ready to try it.
You do such a great job of explaining things in your videos.Thanks for taking the time to explain what is going on with everything you present.
Thanks Bruce.
This Y method thing- I like it and it makes total sense. There have been a few times where I've had to 'split the difference'. Not realizing all I had to do was widen the placement. Thanks for doing this vid.
I used to get tires balanced by an older guy in the 70's who used this....GREAT....never had any issues.
Great! I have a balancer on the way, and Im glad I watched this and learned about the Y method.
Man you do everything!!!!. I wanted to add something. I have a video coming out tomorrow that shows the piece of wood at the top of my garage door to stop Mr. Skum and Mr. Bag from using a coat hanger to open the door from the outside and forgot to mention I got the idea from you. Thanks again.
Great video! Never heard of the Y method but it makes perfect sense. I also had trouble with the HF balancer. I ended up balancing the balancer with tire weights. Now I get repeatable results.
Would you recommend staying away from the Harbor Freight balancer? I was considering getting one they have as I'm trying to do as much repairs myself without having to pay for services like this
@@willglenn-bl9gm I still use mine. It's a bit more fiddly than others may be on the market but others are expensive. It's workable at the price point
Excellent video and made me think about the hows and whys. I drive an old landrover so balancing wheels doesn’t really matter at sub 55 speeds. However I can see that if it’s this easy to do, it might be worth doing. A 75% balanced wheel would be more than good enough.
Cool video - If I lived in a remote rural area I'd definitely invest in a bubble balancer. For now I purchase a lifetime alignment/balance/tire rotation agreement from the shop where I purchase the tires from & have them do this for me during the annual inspection sticker.
More great content from this channel! Moe is the handy, knowledgeable, cool neighbor we all WISH we had!
You're awesome
Right!
My uncle balanced using the "Y" method. That was 30 yrs ago. I've never seen anyone else do it until now!
It's also called the ABC method, the old babco bubble balancers recommend it in the instructions. I think its the best way, instead of 2 opposing heavy spots the weight is triangulated, so every 1/3 of the tire is balanced with each other. The other benefit of the bubble balancer is you can pre balance the tire and rim before filling with air, put the tires heavy spot directly across from the rims heavy spot, which reduces the weight needed to balance after filling the tire with air.
@@Reloadeez Or you could have a shop with a road force balancer mount and balance your tires in a tenth the time it takes on a bubble balancer. For 10 dollars a wheel.
Bubble balancing is out of date for a reason
How about the price of your time waiting for them to get to you? Your time is priceless believe it or not.
@@contraband1543 I don't know where you get 10 dollar mounting and balancing per tire but let me know. In NYC it cost 40 a tire, I have a friend at Firestone that was able to get me 2 tires done for 45.
@@thbigshot101 That's because you live in nyc. Prices are normal in the midwest.
Years ago I got new tyres and the balance was out. Took in back to tyre shop and they rebalance them, still crap. Took to a old bush mechanic and he used a bubble balancer. It was spot on. 👌
I have the same problem have been at two shops still unbalanced.
The trouble is on those new electronic balancers is that when they run the machine and then put the weights on, they don't re-run the machine for a check. That check will show that fine-tuning would be necessary a significant part of the time.
Great video. I have the cheapo Harbour freight. My process is completely clean and polish the contact points, best I can. One tiny spec of light machine oil . Then calibrate the head alone. Bubble has to be perfect in the center of circle, as my eye can tell. And as I put the wheel on I give it just a tiny twist.
When it rests I go by perfectly putting the bubble in the dead middle as close as possible anyway.
Alway been good.
My auto shop teacher taught us this method 40 years ago, great video thank you
Awesome
I've watched a lot of people bubble balance tires all my life including my dad but I've never seen or heard of this method I'll try it the next time I balance my tires thank you for sharing this just go's to show you are never to old to learn something new
I read about it after having a decent amount of difficulty getting a perfect balance. It immediately made everything so much better.
I chose 5 videos and watched the difference in presenting the information. Your video was very specific and technically. Triangle method fixed what that guy at the tire shop didn't do. Awesome video
Glad it was helpful!
@@sixtyfiveford Extremely!! Nailed the wobble and educated me thanks again.
Wow, you explained this better than anyone on TH-cam. ❤. Now i know how to use my harbor freight tire balancer. 😆
Awesome vid, thanks for sharing. Comprehensive yet straight to the point. 👍
Ohhh, i understand dynamic now. Thank you. I going redo my tires now, they shimmy at 75 after buble balancing them. I set all my weights on one side.
Again, learned something new from your videos. Always wondered how folks balanced their own tires, especially motorcycle tires…now I know LOL. Gonna have to try to find me one of those bubble balancers (that is not HF 😃)
Fantastic I always learn from your posts. Thank you Sir every video you do is jam packed with very Knowledgeable Information .
Good tutorial. This is the method I used for many years.
I used to work at Western Auto 50 years ago in high school. We used the exact same method with good results. The only thing different was we always used four weights .And would put a yellow crayon mark on the top of the tire when putting on the back weights. Then use the the front two weights to finalize the balance.
Awesome
Western Auto. Wasn't that Montgomery Wards? I think I have a few sae sockets from them.
As far as I know Western Auto had no association with Montgomery Ward
@@paulsmith9341 'Sears sold most of the company to Advance Auto Parts in 1998, and by 2003, the resulting merger had led to the end of the Western Auto brand and its product'
At least here in the southeast a lot of older Advance Auto Parts locations are were the Western Autos used to be.
Worked a tire shop before and we only ever used the machine. This was awesome!
Seriously, no road force balancing necessary...?? If that's true I'm amazed.
Work at one rn I agree
I use this method and also modified the harbor freight balancer with a 1.5 dia steel ball from ebay that goes up inside the part that the tire sits on. You also have to mod the lower part so the ball sets on a flat surface. A guy has posted on youtube how to do the mod. Over time the pointy spike no longer moves freely thus the mod.
Genius. I'm going to try this method on my motorcycle tires!
Bought this & the installer years ago & mounted family & friends tires & saved a tons of money
Nice video. Thanks a LOT. This is someone else's comment I pulled off an old forum a while ago for my Micro Precision Wheel Balancer. Thought it might help.
"I too had, and still have great results with "old tech" bubble balancing. I do it a little different than a lot of people do tho. I put the wheel/tire on the balancer and find out the balance point and weight it takes to center the bubble, then put a chalk mark there. I take the amount of weight needed and divide it by four. Then I take 4 weights of equal weight, that total about a half ounce more than needed, lay them on the tire/rim next to the chalk mark, 2 on each side of the mark, and start moving the pairs away from the mark 2 to the left and 2 to the right, equal distant, until the bubble centers. Put a chalk mark by each pair. Take the tire/wheel off the balancer and hammer 1 of each pair on the backside of the wheel opposite their chalk marks. Then put the tire/wheel back on the balancer, take the remaining 2 and start at the original mark and start sliding them out left and right until I have balance again, mark them, take it off again, install the 2 weights, check again, and done.
If you do it right, you can put the unit on a spin balancer and be right on. Before you try to balance a tire/wheel assembly you want to make sure you have a wheel that is true (not bent) and a tire thats tread is true. I have only run into a problem twice with this method. The first time about drove me nuts. Balance take out and drive, works great. Customer complained about out of balance. checked and it was right on, took customer with me, he is satisfied, comes back, complains about balance problem. I had to do some serious thinking on this one after about 4 times. AHA!, I drove it, and took the customer out and got approval, then went back and put the wire wheel hubcaps with knockoff on them back on. One hubcap was 3/4oz out of balance. Balanced with hubcaps laying in correct position (valvestem) on wheel and solved problem. Second time same thing, 1963 Buick with masive cast piece that looked like turbine veins screwed to hubcap. Factory cap.
I too, drag raced and never had a problem with balancing this way. Great piece of equipment you got there."
Well this certainly piqued my interest! Got new tires a while back and the dots on the front tires corresponded to the valve. For some reason the dots on rears were not lined up. They had weights, but I could feel the imbalance. I had to do a fair bit of convincing the kid at the shop to rebalance them.
I balance my own motorcycle tires, but will try the Y technique next time.
Great video!
Now you're making me wanna take my wheels off my BMW and redo em! I just did em like two weeks ago...just the rears. Got a little vibration at around 80-85mph. Subtle, but I can feel it, when it was never there.
Glad I clicked on this! Never saw this method.
Sold!
I always wondered if those bubble ballancers worked well. I'm gonna get one and start using it. I've used the gravity method for motorcycles but haven't had the motivation to try one of these for cars. Thanks!
Good informative video. As service prices go up, more people may become tire DIYers.
Good video. Suffering with tires this week.
You are the man, sir. Love your bead buster diy video, That dog is so cute.
First time I had
To buy tyres from an ild tyre seller in the early 90s. I was 17 and when I drove out? No vibration at all. His Machine looked like it had a bubble level on it. Cheers from Australia
I learned something today. Thanks!
Good to see a lost art being used. I learned using 4 weights. 2 on the outside plane and 2 on the inside plane. It was over 50 years ago. Great Video
Awesome. That's exactly how I would do it with clip on weights.
Nice job on the video.
I put Tire Beads in my Motorcycle Tires... Dyna Beads. They work amazing. Bike was never so smooth....
They're hard to get into a tire on a car or truck, with tpms sensors..... I did get them in my truck though, and they worked amazing on that too....
Thank you very much for this video. I will try the Y-method this weekend.
You amaze me with the things you come up with.
I have used this method on my 65 MGB because it has wire wheels, and mounting them on modern balancing machines usually ends with the balance being way out. This is because of the surfaces that the wheel uses to center it on the machine. After a few bad experiences, I picked up a bubble balancer at a flea market. Since then when I balance the wheels, it works every time.
Yeah I know old VW rims can't be balanced on modern machines and I even have some Toyota heavy duty ones that can't be.
I have a sunbeam alpine with wires on it and I just got a bubble balancer to do this..thanks for your comment,,give me confidence this is a good way to go.. I was doing mine in a modified motorcycle truing stand.. Cheers
Yes! , I love this. too often people think that it has to be this way or that it was the only method or you need a special device (too expensive for a private person). as I recently got the question from someone for some more info about an impact driver. he saw that every tire shop used this so assumed that it was the device with which you need to mount wheels. I said there's only one reason they use it: speed! (to be able to do more customers in the same time). in fact, you almost certainly stretch the bolts further than allowed and I dare say that 95% of all bolts have been abused by this way of working. ok, not that every day the wheels of cars fly off due to broken or loose bolts (no more stretch = no more clamping force when something comes loose a little or settles). When you do it by hand you also feel what you are doing. you make sure the wheel comes into place by shaking the tire a bit while you tighten a bolt lightly etc ... (I do use a cordless drill to turn the bolts in and out but the first tightening only happens by hand and by feel, because almost all bolts have been abused, I dare to do the final tightening by hand (and feet) by feel, only when I am 100% sure that the bolts are new or not abused I use a torque wrench. So this is also a completely different story and answer than that person expected. you have to look at everything in its context and sometimes go back to basics. I need an electronic balencer way too little and it costs way too much. but what that expensive machine can do, we can also do, and even just as quickly and easily. just back to basics. just like balancing an old scale. no you don't need an electronic balancer or a driver because every tire shop uses this (just for speed, insurance etc etc). you can do it at home, cheaper, just as quickly and with a better result. I just now discovered this bubble balencer through this video and it was a eureka moment. sometimes it's that one person who is right and hundreds claim not because they're a bit brainwashed because they've always seen it in a different way. but if you think about it for a second it makes perfect sense. I love to discover such things, and mostly they are old skool methods. thanks for sharing, use that brain and dare to look at things from a different point of view. thanks sictyfiveford ! greetings David
This is awesome to know. Now I need to check out your other vids. Thanks!
Great video and balancing tips, thank you!
Had no idea those exist.
Great video as usual👍
Good point about distributing the weight. Thanks a lot
Great video it's also very important to align the red and yellow dots on the tyre correctly I recently changed all four tyres on my car and for the first time ever none of them needed weights because the dots were aligned correctly
Geometry being used as a Mechanic/Hobbiest.
Makes total sense!
Thank you buddy, for this. i just ordered a balancer, on Ebay. Im a 69yr old guy, and on soc sec, and now changing my own tires with Hrbor Frt tire changer, to save bucks.
👍
65.. Thanks so much this I got one of those bubble balance rigs and gave up after I wasted a whole Sunday afternoon..Tires on and off the car 3 times.....PITA....Will give this a try.
Sometimes the Chinese balancers are so poorly made that you can't get anything correct on them. However if you have huge dynamic imbalance and you put the weights on just one side you just made the problem way worse. Centering the weights actually cuts the dynamic balance in half.
Love your dog he's a character, not all but some tires have a mark when new that is supposed to be lined up with the vale stem when mounting the tire and it helps balance the tire, many times requiring no weights at all, I wish more tire shops would use stick on weights on the inside center of the rim, it looks and works better, but most tire shops won't spend the extra time it takes to apply them and a box of those stick on weights is not cheap, I've used one of those balancer's I bought from Mac Tools for years and it works great as long as you keep the spring loaded alignment rods clean and lightly lubed and keep an eye on the pivot pin that the balance assembly sits on, the pivot pin is replaceable if it gets bent or worn down.
I worked tire for almost 20 years , and I used a bubble balancer for most of that time . I would put them up against any balancer ! We always split weights on front and back . We had better results for people that ran at high speed on the bubble than on the modern spin balancers .!! Old School and proud of it . I didn't like stick on weights because of falling off , calipers taking them off and having no other place to put them ! 😒 great video!
Ah so you're the old codger that beats wheel weights onto my rims
Only after prying the hubcap out and bending it no doubt
Nah never bent a rim or a hubcap both were made to good back then lol 😆
Back in 1980’s at vo tech we had an on the car spin balancer
@@franklaskus2395 same here but nobody used it lol
I worked at Sears Auto when I was a teen back in the 70s. They trained me on bubble first then spin. I think the only reason guys like spin is the time factor: It's faster (or can be) and heftier/less delicate. But the spin would go down from time to time and the bubble never failed...
I have always done this method since the 70's. The balancer I used back in the day had a reservoir under the the top piece that had engine oil in it. The oil would slow down the movement when touching the wheel or tire. This sped things up not waiting for the bubble to stop moving.
I've been looking for an old school one locally for years. They pop up on eBay but are really expensive.
Great in depth tutorial
This was unassumingly a great video. Points for proudly vintage USA made :)
What a genius, thank you Sir!
Fetch and flappedyflopflapflapbap and leverage will always be leverage. These used to be the norm for years and I also remember the kind that spun the wheel up and had the balancer clamped to the rim. Ahd the vehicle jacked up for that. Thanks, Pal and GBWYall!
Mechanics my son's age find it hard to believe there was a time that tire Machines didn't exist. I can remember when the bubble was the way it was done.
It's great having a second set of paws around the shop.
The car part fetch break, PRICELESS 😆🆒✔️ video educationally precise. Great share THX🦖
Dang, I learned two things - just didn't think of little rocks throwing off a tire - never occured to me. Now I will always consider it, as it matters obviously. (Sloppy thinking on my part.) Also, I did the two-weight method, but didnt' consider it a "thing" or even anything 'claimable' - and this video organized the method in my mind so I can execute it much more accurately. Thanks for posting, and GREAT explanation of the importance of putting weights on both sides.
I had some bent weld wheels and this is the only way I can get them to not shake your hand to death...gonna use this method next time, hopefully they'll be even better
That is a doggone good shop hand you got there.
Thank you for explaining dynamic balance too!
I had a neighbor, had to keep replacing tie rod ends, one day I put on my bubble balancer, the dynamic was off, I balanced the tire like you did, haven't replaced a tie rod since
Glad it was helpful!
excellent explanation and very helpful
Sometimes I can't remember how to do stuff because I'm not doing it everyday. I can watch yer vids and get my mind straight which equals POM (peace of mind) 😑
Thanks
Thank you so much for this
I have one of those Moe , Great info on the best way to use it .. ENJOYED !!
In the 70s I learned a variation of your Y method, we divided the weight needed on the 2 points to half on front of tire half on back
Absolutely.
You are a legend i wish i could buy you a beer mate.
Great video about Bubble Balancing.
Ginger is a GREAT DOG!
This things work. Amazing.
I have done the bubble balance. Marked with a pen on the tire by the wheel. Where it needed weight.
And sure enough after the spin balance. They came back with weights Where the pen marks were.
I've done the opposite. Where I took a freshly machine balanced wheel and threw it on my bubble balancer and it measures perfect where didn't it before. I should have marked out where I thought the weight should have gone though like you did.
Brilliant...so sensible!
I’m gonna see if I can get some 2 inch inner diameter pipe this weekend so I can weld up the ultimate tire changer upgrade on the tire changer. I just picked it up for 49 bucks and $67 for the bubble balancer I’m so excited because I always get a flat on a Sunday and I could never get it put on anywhere to be at work on Monday. Thanks for your help
Cool invention, I will have to look for one here
ty bud, appreciate the help
Great vid Moe. I have been eyeballing some of the old school bubble balancers on markrtplace. They seem to be made with more heavy duty materials and more precision. Gonna try it when I find one relatively close to home.
I've been looking for another vintage one for years. Some had other cool features and more way more precise than even the one I have. Coats and even Sears had nice ones. Problem is sometimes they go for big money, for some odd reason.
Thanks from Texas Moe
I ALWAYS learn cool stuff from your videos. Thanks Moe!
It's mutual I always learn cool stuff from your videos.
very well explained young man AAA+ video. keep on keepen on.
Years ago a guy had a shop down the street had a balancer like that and never had a problem when he did my wheels
Way to go...! Thanks for the reminder...!!
...of the way to get the 'weight' you actually need from 2 fixed weights, neither of which works by itself... AND for showing (and giving the reasoning for) using tape to put the weights where they actually go for final balancing...!
(Good idea to read the use intent from the original patent too - done that a few times too)...!
I have been bubbel for 40 years, and work great spin balancing is for high speed racing tires
Great explanation! Thank you...
Why have I not watched this video sooner!
Just mounted and "balanced" some new snow tires onto a 2nd set of wheels for my car. Gonna make sure to do this when I replace the all-season tires on my daily wheels.
Nice job describing dynamic balancing. Thanks! Ginger rules!
Glad you enjoyed it!
haha!! Loved the mid vid break! She killed that car part! SNAP!
Sweet baby Jesus! Thank you for this knowledge.
Great job !!!
thanks for sharing. great information, i going to do this on my wheels too
only thing is i have a set of wheel that didnt have the center hole, going to think of some way to balance it
btw cute dog, my dog do the thing like in 6:40 too