DGuida

I have the tires rebalanced between DEs, usually three of four times before replacing the tire, should I, or the tire shop, remove the exisiting wheel weights before rebalancing a tire?

Tom W

Why rebalance? On the rare occasion that I've lost a weight (only when they are not taped) it's been obvious. Why waste your time and money? Have them tape the weights to ensure they don't come off and you should be fine.

If you are going to have it done, it really should not matter if they start over (remove the existing weights) or just check and adjust as needed (leave the weights).

penguinking

with doing so many DE's and the tires changing so often, why not just have the shop balance the wheel itself (sans tire) then forget about balancing forever?

Bryan Watts

Umm...because the tire isn't totally uniform and changes the balance quite a bit since it is the furthest point from the center.

Now for the OP: Why would you have tires rebalanced between each event? Are your tires shifting on the rim or something? I'm confused as to why you would need a rebalance? I've never had a "balanced" wheel/tire go out of balance save for one tire that we had mounted any put straight on the car for a qualifying session...it shifted on the rim because there was still mounting lube that hadn't dried up.

As for taping wheel weights: I'm a firm believer that you should never hit the track without taping your wheel weights. I've known drivers who have been hit in the helmet from those little pieces of lead coming through the side window. They aren't exactly moving slow when they come off your wheel. Use proper "metal" tape, not 200 mph tape.

Gary R.

Funny this is mentioned as I just washed up my Hoosier Wets and found a weight missing. Thing is they were mounted by Hoosier East themselves and they used (Hoosier Purple!) 200 MPH tape and the weight actually ripped the middle out of the tape covering it and went off somewhere! Another thing is to be sure all weights are on the INSIDE of the wheels, some "tire shops" put them outside..

Bryan Watts

Yup. The stuff gets hot and stretchy. Metal tape is the only way to go (plus it looks bling )

Some wheels/tires require weights on the inside and outside...that's usually the case with our race cars.

Nathan Muir

Chech to see if the tires are moving on the rim. Mark the tire at the valve stems and then drive on track. If they are you can fix this the next time they are mounted or remounted. During mounting you need to clean the rims and tire bead areas with solvent to remove ALL mould release and any tire mounting soap. Then after all is very clean have the tire guy use hair spray to lube the tire and rim during mounting. Aqua Net unsented is cheap and you car will not smell like a granny on the way to Sunday church. Wait for a couple of days before hard track driving, street driving is OK. This method stops the tires from spinning on the rims for all but the worst cases.

Are you building up blobs of tire snot on the tires or flatspotting them?

X2 on metal foil tape.

DGuida

thanks,
I swap the tires on the wheels between events for more uniform wear, it seems like you would be compensating with the weights if there are existing weights on the wheel before balancing

penguinking

it was a method one prominent member on the board uses for his DE car and he says it works fine. maybe these are R-compounds and not slicks. who knows. but just a suggestion i heard and have not tried myself yet.

Bryan Watts

Won't work. The wheels aren't the only piece of the puzzle. If they were, wheel manufacturers would send their wheels "pre-balanced" and we'd never go through the process of balancing them. The tires are one of the biggest reasons for needing to balance.

DGuida

because you are balancing the tire, wouldn't weights from a prior balance be counterproductive?