Have done all ways never felt or been told by a driver they felt anything either way. I know with bead locs we just mount a set of tires and put them on the car and go. Few things there. With top alcohol or fuel cars, tires not going to be there for many runs and at that power level there is so much vibrations and pounding from engine I doubt you would know while on run.

Now that said I have loaned a set of wheels and tires and guy brought back and said junk he was shaking like hell at 1000' and TA cars don't do that.

As for when run weight always used duct tape over weights. I do like the tape weight tape thing that would make cleaning wheels easy.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Woodfin:
The above post about "I don't balance my tires." caused me to raise an eyebrow. Consider the diameter of our drag race tires, consider the potential forces of several ounces of imbalance, consider the diameter of a crankshaft, do you balance the engine rotating assembly?

Good discussion here. It’s a lot of weight and far from the centerline. But, consider what the tire looks like when it’s going down the track. It’s rubber not a crankshaft and I’d argue that it isn’t actually round at any point in the run. Perhaps with a tire that only needs an ounce or two the out of balance wouldn’t matter, but some take more.

If the tire manufacturer pays their installers to balance every tire they sell, I'd say they should be balanced.

I have found the car to be smoother when I bubble balance them. Most of radial tires I have take only 1-2 ounces. The previous set of MT PBR I had took close to 10 ounces to balance. I was in a hurry and didn't balance them a head of time and the car had a bad vibration. I did hear that MT is having some QC issues are some are taking a bunch of weight to balance. The next set of PBRs I had, 1 took none, one took 2.

IMO, the effort to balance with a bubble balancer is minimal, minimizing vibration is always a plus because it causes wear on the car.

I think an inexpensive bubble balancer is a wise purchase. I’ve placed as much as 14 oz on a wheel and it was smooth on the track. I’ve also had several go out of balance after as little as 50+ runs and had to rebalance. I can feel when not balanced correctly in the burnout box as well as on the track in a doorcar.

I have always balanced my slicks and will continue to do so.

On dragster front wheels I use a thin layer of silicone sealer on the back and a very thin bead around the weights.

I been using a thin layer of silicone to keep weights in position. On both sets of 10" wide steel rims it seems I mostly am balancing rim/tube. Never seem to need to change with Hoosiers. Same weight for 6 pairs of slicks. Silicone stays great.

M/T different, when needed to go to them due to shortage, had to break/move beads to limit total weight.

Last few sets of tires I've gotten were fine at first after balancing, but 120-140 runs in they are bouncing in burnout. Almost takes 4 sticks to balance them back out. Even dismounted and rotated 180* and still took same amount of weight

I started cleaning the wheels, laying down just enough gaffer tape to give a mounting surface for stick-on weights, then cover the weights with gaffer tape. The S10 rears need rebalanced about every 50 runs to stay smooth.
The tape against the wheel has made cleanup a snap.

I bubble balance with Harbor freight junk the best that I can. Running 1/8 mile if its close its good. I have a wheel that is slightly out that takes more weight than the other side or I might get away with not balancing them at all.

You will know in the burnout if they are off. They will start bouncing.

As far as using tape, if any type of oil gets on the wheel it can loosen the weights. Brake fluid loosens the weights up pretty quick if something happens. I had a caliper seal leaking one time and didn't know it. Did the shake rattle and roll thing on the burnout after the weights fell off.

A good tape job can protect them from this.

i didnt balance 1 set and I WONT EVER DO THAT AGAIN LOL