Static Balanced 17's?

[cjstringer]

I thought I read a while back that static balancing 17s was bad, but when I had my tires mounted, they insisted that tape weights were a bad thing and that static balancing was the way to go. I think I got BS'd here. I would bet that firestone just didn't have any other equipment.
What is the thought? Should I take them to Discount Tire and have them redo it? I get a little vibration at speed on the interstate, but it's not really noticable in town.
Fire away!

 

[70]

What is the difference between the two methods of balancing?

 

[Kooldino]

I've never heard of Static Balancing...what does it entail?

 

[rodslinger]

Static balancing is usually a wheel balanced on a single plane. Typically you'll find only one weight stuck to the inside of the wheel somewhere. It may be on the backside or in the middle somewhere.

Dynamic balancing always has two weights attached. One on the front of the wheel and the other on the rear. This is the best way to do it.

It's hard to do a dynamic balance on a lot of aftermarket wheels as most don't have a machined lip on the front to attach a weight or enough space on the front for a stick-on weight. Something to pay attention to when looking for aftermarket wheels....

 

[20ESGUY]

Basicly static balancing only balances on one side of the wheel (the inside), dynamic balancing balances both the inside and the outside. The reason alot of people only static balance the inside of alloy type wheels is that some require special "clamp on" style weights or the "tape" weights. Personally I try to stay away from the "tape" weights as they tend to either fall off or lose a couple of the indivdual weights from the tape. Static balance also requires more maintance in my opnion just because the wheel is only balanced on one side it tends to become unbalanced from tire wear and use faster than using the dynamic balance method.

 

[cjstringer]

I was pretty sure static balancing was the easy way out. I'm not really impressed with it so far. I'll probably take it back and have them done again. Kinda pisses me off, as I asked before they started that they not be static balanced, and the guy said "No problem". My car sat for 45 minutes before they could work on it, then that guy had already left for the day. The manager on duty then told me that was their standard way of doing it, and the other guy never would have said different.
I hate arguing with stupid people.

 

[DooMer_MP3]

Ok so now I'm thouroughly confused. When I bought my MP3 from the dealer brand new, each wheel had a tape weight on it. Upon removing the wheels for the winter, the insides also had clip-on weights as well. So is this static or dynamically balanced? I sure as hell wouldn't want clip-on weights on the outside of my Racing Harts - especially up here. The salt would get stuck and eat the hell out of my precious babies .

Chris

 

[rodslinger]

What you described is a dynamic balance. Doesn't really matter the type of weight used as long as there are two of them. One located on the inside and one at the ouside at or as close as possible to the wheel edge.