I have been pondering this question for a while, trying to come to a solution.
I need to get my old wide 5s balanced. When I got new tyres fitted about two years ago (yep a bit sad that it has been that long and the beetle is still not on the road) i was told that they could not balance them for me as the large cutout in the wheel would not allow it to be fitted to the balancing machine. Now I have though of getting an old brake drum and machining it down to fit on the wheel for balancing.
Has anyone had this issue or is there a place that can perform balancing of wide 5s. The only other option is to get the balanced while on the car. But I don't know how this process works.
Cheers.
Matt.
MickH ·
most truck places do them as they have the larger centers to fit the rims.
Anthiron ·
yeah i get mine done at caloundra discount tyres. they do alot of truck tires etc and have all the larger cones for the balancer.
the other option is to balance them on the car. some suspension places can do this (ive had this done too)
MikeM ·
Balancing on the car can be good as it balances the brake drum as well.
You just have to make sure that you mark the rims and brake drum if you are taking the wheels off so you can put them back in the same orientation.
blutopless2 ·
can someone explain how wheels are balanced on the car??
vw54 ·
the best method is to get an old front brake drum and machine the drum off to leave a small lip then machine the curved face to remove all excess metal
Take this to an Engine balancing place and have it balance so you can then use it as a hub to go onto each wheel to be balance at your local tyre place
dont over tighten the wheel nuts when fitting it as it will pull the plate out of wack
We have one of these in out Clubs tool Libary
HGFS ·
When I got my tyres put on at the cheap ass tyre place they had a VW drum already for this purpose, I was a bit surprised that they had one.
1303Steve ·
Hi
When you tighten wide 5 wheel nuts you should always gradually tighten every 2nd one until they are all tight.
Steve
BUGBOY ·
I balance my tyres while on the hub and then machine the brakes with it all together as this works perfect and stops any wobbles while driving and under brakes.
I do this because most times you do up the wheel nuts they pull the drum out of shape etc:thumb
1303Steve ·
Hi
The reason that wheels will make the brake drum buckle is that the wheels are bent so they distort the drum when you tighten the nuts. This was a real problem with cutdown 14 or 13 inch wheels as the centre had less give in it.
Steve
Old Dubber ·
Matt,
I have an old electronic balancer and have been making an adapter, so drop over sometime.
MattY-64 ·
Cheers, I might just take you up on that offer. The bug is slowly getting closer to being on the road so I am getting a little excited, it will sure beat driving my old diesel donk.....
Matt.
tassupervee ·
Make a few calls as quite a few tyre places have the correct adapter for the job.
truck wheel balancers can do them but there is no guarantee that the lugs on the wheels are centrl and sometimes the wheels will not balance properly.