Wheel Balancing

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

I think my car may have lost a wheel weight or my tires are worn, I did just rotate the fronts. Finally finished stripping the red paint off and the aluminum looks nice and clean. It needs to be polished fully but I am in finals! Anyways, the past couple days I've been noticing slight vibrations, intermittent when driving on the highway. Really seems to be a balance issue, it's very speed specific between 63-68ish or so. Tomorrow I was going to have Sears balance all the wheels while I'm working (it's connected to my building), my question though is it necessary for wheels weights to be on the OUTSIDE lip of the Fuchs? I never see it on pictures of other Fuchs. I think it looks pretty tacky and I also realized it's gonna be awkward trying to polish the wheel correctly with these ******* stacked weights randomly on the outer lip.

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Why would anybody put them on the outside in the first place? ....

Dave Colangelo · Dave Colangelo's Garage

Different places do it differently, it also depends on what weights they have on hand and what values they are. You may also want to consider an alignment if that does not do the trick.

Regards
Dave

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

LOL. Remember, we see everything. No, my second part-time security job

iplagolf · iplagolf's Garage

I've had my front wheels balanced twice now. Both times I too have a slight, very slight vibration at the very same speed range as you have. Different amounts of weights were applied each time but in the same general area. I've just been living with it, but now it's got me thinking that there is something else going on since I've seen your post. When you get them rebalanced ask Sears to note what's there now and what they did. I'd be interested. Thanks, Fritz

flash968 · 12-07-2012, 05:06 AM

tire balance can be a tricky thing. sometimes you have to rotate the tire on the wheel to get it. road force balancing is always the best way to go, but more expensive, and hard to find a place that can do it.

as for weight locations, not putting them on the outside can be a compromise. it really depends on how bad it is, what the offset of the rim is, yada yada. again, sometimes you have to rotate the tire on the rim itself, to move the weight of the tire around to a spot where it can balance out better.

VirginiaF1 · VirginiaF1's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gawernator

Why would anybody put them on the outside in the first place? ....

Howdy Gaw..
What are the age and make/model of your tires?
Same here on the 65mph vibes.. even after wheel balancing .
I run SP Sport A/S @ 215/60/15

DinoDanny · 12-07-2012, 06:29 AM

Ah, the notorious 944 65 mph wheel shake. I've had it with both of my 944s. Supposedly these cars came from the factory with one of the wheel studs painted yellow. This was the stud that you put the hole closest to the valve stem on as well as the wheel lock nut. If I remember correctly this is the stud opposite the 2 screws on the hub of the brake rotor. I have had some success mounting the wheels with this method. Also the weight of the wheel lock nut is different from the other nuts. Its position can make a difference.

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Wait a minute. I HAD the original lug nuts including locking... But I got a set of new chromed steel ones for $28 and just recently mounted them. Could that seriously make a noticeable difference?!

iplagolf · iplagolf's Garage

OK, on that note my locking lug is sans the locking innards...I wasn't worried about the lighter lug nut due to its proximity to the center of the axle. Could this few grams lighter lug throw off the balance of the wheel at a certain speed range?

flash968 · 12-07-2012, 07:04 AM

not likely, but porsche did do something weird. they marked one stud red, and wanted you to put the locking lug on it, and opposite the valve stem.

mueller944s2 · mueller944s2's Garage

something I've noticed, whenever I had wheels balanced or aligned by a normal place it's never completely fixed. When I took it to a Porsche specialty shop it came back PERFECT. Probably irrelevant to the convo but I thought it was important to share. Also, I had a vibration upwards of 60 that seemed to smooth out towards 90, the alignment by the specialty shop fixed it so if the balancing doesn't do it then maybe it needs to be aligned. I have aftermarket wheel locks, one on every wheel, and mine's completely smooth. I just stick them on any stud

ernie9944 · ernie9944's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by flash968

tire balance can be a tricky thing. sometimes you have to rotate the tire on the wheel to get it.___ ( road force balancing is always the best way to go),____ but more expensive, and hard to find a place that can do it.

as for weight locations, not putting them on the outside can be a compromise. it really depends on how bad it is, what the offset of the rim is, yada yada. again, sometimes you have to rotate the tire on the rim itself, to move the weight of the tire around to a spot where it can balance out better.

+1 about road force balancing, like mention the only problem is that only a few shop can do it rigth.Personally I always did go with road force balancing on all my Porsches.

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirginiaF1

Howdy Gaw..
What are the age and make/model of your tires?
Same here on the 65mph vibes.. even after wheel balancing .
I run SP Sport A/S @ 215/60/15

I still have the PO's tires, have to wait for them to run out of tread before choosing my own. I have staggered sizes, 205/55 in the front IIRC and 225/50 in the rear. Dunlop directional tires... I will double-check that.

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by flash968

not likely, but porsche did do something weird. they marked one stud red, and wanted you to put the locking lug on it, and opposite the valve stem.

None of my studs appeared to be colored? Where would I find the markings?

DinoDanny · 12-07-2012, 11:27 AM

The red paint has probably long since worn away.

flash968 · 12-07-2012, 11:30 AM

yeah - it really doesn't matter which stud is red. the idea was to put the lock on that stud, and the valve stem opposite that. it's supposed to help balance

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Holy crap. $60 to balance all four, they put the weights on the inside too. It fixed the steering wheel vibration totally! Car feels like it drives a little bit straighter as well.

FrenchToast · 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DinoDanny

Ah, the notorious 944 65 mph wheel shake. I've had it with both of my 944s. Supposedly these cars came from the factory with one of the wheel studs painted yellow. This was the stud that you put the hole closest to the valve stem on as well as the wheel lock nut. If I remember correctly this is the stud opposite the 2 screws on the hub of the brake rotor. I have had some success mounting the wheels with this method. Also the weight of the wheel lock nut is different from the other nuts. Its position can make a difference.

Interesting. Why would this be the case though? There is nothing in the hub to suggest an engineered imbalance. Rotors are usually balanced from the manufacturer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gawernator

Holy crap. $60 to balance all four, they put the weights on the inside too. It fixed the steering wheel vibration totally! Car feels like it drives a little bit straighter as well.

Holy smokes that's a lot to balance four wheels.

Did they replace the poly-syncratic rhythm optimization bushings?

Take care!

______________
Happy Holidays!

Gawernator · Gawernator's Garage

Yeah, I was kinda smacking myself afterwards realizing I could have it done for free at America's tire, since my cousin is a senior manager. At least I'll have free alignments.