Track Tac

Thoughts on Balancing Tires?

CarterTalley

CarterTalley

Member
I've seen a lot of people put weights in their wheels to balance them. My train of thought is wouldn't the small gain from the wheels being balanced be nearly cancelled out by adding weight to wheels? Also, unless the track is perfectly smooth, I assume it wouldn't matter because the track is rough anyway. People a lot faster than me do it, but just curious on your guy's thoughts.
 
Dirt and coke syrup .
Yes all conditions . When we first started we did not . As we got more competitive we did . Its simple and easy , eliminates a variable . On a 1/10 th mile maybe not , but as it gets faster I feel its worth the effort . What really convinced me was when the driver was buffing the rt frt on the kart . That thing was shaking its money maker like you would not believe . It was a no brainer after that .
 
CarterTalley said:
I've seen a lot of people put weights in their wheels to balance them. My train of thought is wouldn't the small gain from the wheels being balanced be nearly cancelled out by adding weight to wheels? Also, unless the track is perfectly smooth, I assume it wouldn't matter because the track is rough anyway. People a lot faster than me do it, but just curious on your guy's thoughts.
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nobody does it anymore. didn't help or hurt.
 
On a bigger, smooth track, absolutely worth it.

A street race, or big asphalt, can tickle you lungs making it hard to breath.

On the straights. Even worse in fast corners.
Stock flathead experience.
 
CarterTalley said:
I've seen a lot of people put weights in their wheels to balance them. My train of thought is wouldn't the small gain from the wheels being balanced be nearly cancelled out by adding weight to wheels? Also, unless the track is perfectly smooth, I assume it wouldn't matter because the track is rough anyway. People a lot faster than me do it, but just curious on your guy's thoughts.
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In previous posts you mention Godspeed and Ashway. If this is still the tracks you're concerned with I'm with J-remy. I wouldn't put the effort into it.
 
rmvasko said:
Mounting a tire,checking its circumference and not balancing it is like taking a shower and not washing your armpits.
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I'm not saying it's unnecessary to balance, it can obviously help.

But, especially with Maxxis, as much as I mount and dismount tires I'd spend more time balancing them than I care to take. Watching most of them on the surfacer I can't see a huge variance enough that would hurt a race tire. They bias ply for a reason, they stretch and deform, so balancing isn't as huge as some make it out.

We won plenty races on tires that were mounted, rolled, and never balanced on a UAS kart, in the South East with some of the best in the country.


*edit* balancing Burris when they are cut is pretty big, since they can be quite out of round. So that is usually a must, but balancing with weights on the wheels after that still isn't that big, even for Burris.
 
Balancing never hurts - it can only help.

Sometimes you see more benefit from it than others (big tracks, higher speeds, etc.)

We balance most every tire that we cut. That's just part of our Vector Cutz blueprinted tire service.
Some take minimal weight, others take gobs of weight. If you get one that is bad out of balance on the kart, you will sure know it on a bigger track. It'll feel like you've got a bent axle! Balance it and the car rolls smooth. If you're on a track where guys beat and bang a lot and bend wheels, that's about the only time I wouldn't bother with balancing -- but then again, I'd be looking at another track to run at if they're that rough. :)

When you flip a tire on the wheel after it's been balanced - simply note the position the tire is on the wheel and mark it accordingly. Flip the tire so that the marks are still liked up, but on the opposite side of the tire. The tire may not be perfectly balanced, but it will be balanced plenty fine to race that way.


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Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
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34 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
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To each their own. I've ran balanced and unbalanced and couldn't definitively say it exclusively made a difference. With that being said, It cannot hurt. So we continue to do it. Weights are cheap and the process when done minimally isn't very time consuming. Extra hub, a level and a bench vise is my backwoods method, LOL.

For what its worth, flipping a tire on the same radius (flipping without the wheel rotating) will get you so close statically that you may not even need more or less weights. I usually mark the inside of the wheel and the tire so I can match it back up once dismounted.

I only put weights on the inside of the wheel and a nice piece of HVAC tap (the real stuff, not silver colored duct tape) will hold the weights to the wheel better than the adhesive could have ever.

I think its just one of those things. We aren't rolling 180+mph on smooth pavement, but science is also science. As minimal as a variable it may be, I'm all about taking advantage of absolutely everything I can. It slowly adds up.
 
i got this in hopes it was going to be a little better than what i'd been getting from Van-K. boy was I wrong. way worse. the manufactures should be embarrassed. would like to personally thank douglas for dropping the Q+ line of wheels and to Excell for straight up dropping the wheel line and leaving it on the website for pure frustration. no competition lets the sole manufacturer get away with junk.
 
No one said balancing would fix out of round . It would detect that during the process .
Yea : i have bent wheels that roll better then that .
 
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