I just took delivery of Chrome C6 wheels and Supercar tires (and will post pics when installed). I plan to get them mounted and balanced on Friday. I have a question about the best (unobtrusive) way to balance these wheels. I thought I read somewhere about ways to balance to best hide the weights. Can anyone give me insight on this?

I know I want to use stick on weights, but is there a ‘best’ place to locate them on my wheels? Does anyone have pics?

 

I've personally balanced many tires, but no Corvettes.

In general, you have 3 options for balancing alloy wheels

1- Coated clip-on weights on both sides
2- Coated clip-on weights on the inner side alone (called static balance)
3- stick-on weights on one or both sides.

The 1st is the most accurate for best balance at high speed. That is why they come from the factory that way.
The 2nd is cosmetically best as there are no weights visible. The balance is good, but you might get some vibration at speeds above 65 mph. It's a hit-or-miss situation. On high quality wheels and tires like the Corvette, this is less risky. If you do extreme speed driving (over 100mph) do not static balance.
The 3rd....I would not recommend on the thin spoke Corvette wheels due to cosmetic reasons. The stick-on weights on the inside rim area will be easily seen. They are huge too. A 1 ounce strip of stick-ons are 2" long because a 1/4 ouce weight is 1/2" square.

Tips on preparing used wheels & tires for balancing.

- Clean the rims and tires completely. It's best to take them off the car to get the best cleaning results. A dirty wheel and/or tire will be out-of-balance. You don't want the tires balanced with weight that changes with cleanliness.

I have worked on cars with grease blobs from a grease job formed on the inside of a rim, and then gravel stuck to the grease. Talk about an unexpected wheel weight.

- remove all stones stuck in the tire threads. The weight of the stone influences the balance too.

- be sure the tire pressure is proper.

- Do not spin balance a wet tire if it can be avoided. If so, spin it once to get the water off. Then balance it.

High quality rims and tires generally balance better than cheap ones. Wheel weights are minimal on our Corvettes because of that. If after a balance on your Corvette, you see one of your wheels with lots of weights added, there is likely a problem. A whobble in the rim, dirt on rim or tire, stones in tire threads. It could also be that the wheel was not properly mounted on the balancer.


Keeping your rims and tires clean, keeps them in balance longer.

 

I have stick on weights (came with the wheels) , but mine are flat. I don't think there are as ugly/harmful because at least they're not clamped on the edge of the rim. $.02 cents deposited.

Dave Q.

 

I have a friend that will be having his balanced and the weights placed on the INSIDE of the tire. They will balance the tire and wheel then un-bead the tire and place the weights on the inside of the tire. Then check their work. You won't be able to see any weights. Cool idea.

 

Yep. I've been doing the static balance for almost 4-years as I hate
the the weights on the outer rim look. I will notice a little shake at
around 80mph. Of course doing a 140mph burst, you wouldn't notice
it as much, unless you were maintaining that speed for more just that
burst.

I'm shipping my car overseas for the 06' Le Mans, Nurburgring, and the
autobahn where I'll be sustaining speeds well over 100mph. I will get
the wheels balanced with the weights on both sides for that.

 

I've noticed on the C6's that they are coming from the plant with the stick on weights vs. the old hammered on weights on the outside of the rim.

 

 

great info

 

Just had my Y2K "chromies" put on this morning. Farewell wagon wheels I had made an appointment with Discount Tire. Manager came out to help on it. They didn't run it up on their normal lifts, let me use my jacking pucks, they were REALLY careful with the pressure sensors, and commented that I shouldn't use the crimp-on weights! They used the small stick-on squares on the inside of the rim! They balanced out great! You can still see the weights if you look, but they really don't detract from the look. Most of the weight was needed to counter-balance the sensor. Anyway, sticky weights work just fine!!!

PS - The only rotten thing is that it was raining this morning, so now she needs a little clean-up.

 

For you guys that have gone with the sticky weights, do they clear the calipers in front? It looks like it would be tight.

 

The rears are no problem but the fronts have very little clearance. They make a special low profile for this that not all places know about. My Chevy dealer ( go figure ) put the large ones on. It only took a trip around the block for the calipers to scrape them off. Advice is to just make sure that they clear. If you have any problem Corvettes of Houston can tell you the correct weight to use on the front.

 

Thanks for all the advise and ideas here folks. I appreciate it. If the old fashion clip-on weights provide the best balance, I think I'll go that route and deal with the unsightly weights (cause I can't deal with any type of wheel hop).

 

Great Info; but as always the best way sometimes is the hardest to decide on(hammered on weights).

 

Do you have an idea what the low profile one's measure out to. The one's I had put on look pretty low. I haven't put the new set of wheels on yet. What a pain, I guess there is no end all get all to this.

 

I looked at the sticky weights that were installed yesterday. They are really low-profile and there is still plenty of clearance. You should at least try them. Your rims are new and perfectly clean. They should stick fine. If you go with the clamp-ons, be REALLY careful. They can EASILY chip the chrome. Nothing will be worse than chipping your new "chromies"!

 

Great info there Ron.

Let me ask you, if a wheel set was balanced with stick ons that had high speed vibrations, and you changed to a static balance, would that have any negative affect on the low-speed balance?

Meaning, if the balance was more geared toward a vibration-free high speed ride, would the lower speeds show any increased vibrations?

Thanks.

 

how would they stay stuck ?

 

This is great to know, since I will be changing my wheels in the next week. The guy at Discount Tire said he would include RoadForce balancing at no extra charge. Anyone know what that is?

 

I was going to add my 2 cents. I don't recall exactly what the wheel shop called it, if it was roadforce, G-force or something similar. I purchased tires from TireRack and found a recommended local installer on their website. I took the tires to the shop and watched the process. They first checked run out of the rim. Mount the tire, then took a roller against the tire, while on the rim with 30 psi, aplied a constant force against the roller and took runout readings on the tire. The computer would calculate the best postion for the tire to be on the rim. Then run through the process again until the runout was within a certain tolerance. Then they would do the spin up balance. Run the G-force again, and spin up again just for grins. I was standing there talking to guy during the process. It took about 30 min per tire and imho well worth the $20 per tire, which is about the going rate for just mount and balance.

 

Thats how your tires are match mounted from the factory, they match the stiffest part of the tire with the lowest part if the rim in runout.
Then balance the assembly, since corvette rims are all machined they require almost perfect tires.
I had 1 bad Goodyear and they replaced it under warrenty, but then thats another story.
And I prefer the stick on weights but they do get real close on the fronts, in fact since I have the factory mags they are the only ones I can use. And I have also found 1 place that knows about the low profile weights for the fronts, and it sure wasn't the dealer!