I'm starting down the DIY-automotive path and was reading about how some people use bubble balancers to balance their own tires at home. Can anyone speak to the accuracy of these balancers? Does anyone use them, and if so, how you found them to be precise enough for everyday use?
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The race team that I buy my tires through (they do periodic group buys), will do free mounting and balancing with a bubble balancer. I've taken advantage of that before and have no complaints. Couldn't tell any bit of difference between a set of tires dynamically balanced and those bubble balanced. The only apparent downside was that it took longer to do the balancing process with the bubble balancer vs. a dynamic balancer. |
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A bubble balancer is only able to balance the tire in one plane, as if it were a flat disc. A dynamic balancer is able to detect and correct for balance in both that plane as well as the axial dimension. You'll notice that wheels balanced on a dynamic machine often wind up with weights added on both the inside and outside of the rim. |
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