To balance or not

[mouse]

Mounted up some new Iroks this week. Went with the bias ply, 36 1350 16's (measure almost 37).

When I mounted them up on the wheels I did not balance them. After driving and hitting a couple of rolling bumps around 25 mph, I get the beginnings of death wobble. I have a couple of fender washers ready to go in, so the question is, should I balance the tires?

BTW, they feel pretty good at 45 mph...a little noisier than MTs, but no noticeable balance issues.

 

[78Suburban]

I didn't balance my 33" TSL's. That being said, I wouldn't drive them on the street more than a mile. I think with a tire as big as you have, the only real way to balance it is some sort of Media like beads.

 

[AllamericanK5]

I havent balanced my 35s. The first time you air down and crawl over that one rock the tire ends up being unbalanced any ways. Yeah i got vibs at 65 70 but i think thats because my drive shaft angles. ehh either way just keep them rotated.

 

[RootBreaker]

my hawgs are balanced with equal.... seems to work.. however they get out of round sitting.. then when you go down the road..... IT IS BOUNCY!!! until they warm up

 

[mouse]

my hawgs are balanced with equal.... seems to work.. however they get out of round sitting.. then when you go down the road..... IT IS BOUNCY!!! until they warm up

My exact thoughts with bias ply tires...why even waste the money, they balance themselves. Plus, like said earlier, once a rock bites a little out of it, it will be out of balance again...

 

[MTMike]

I shimmed the kingpins with fender washers and still got death wobble....

I'm considering doing BB balancing but I havnt' decided yet for sure because the Hydro Assist appears to band-aided it enough to where it doesn't happen at all. I was tearing through a pitted & potholed dirt road at 30mph this weekend at purposly trying to trigger a DW and it never happened. On the city streets at about 30mph, it seemed like it was just starting to go into a DW and then it went away before anything happened.

We'll see if I have the time to pull the H1's apart to put a bunch of BBs into them between now and Divide Ride.

After that rambling, I would say if you're gonna balance them, do it with dynamic balancing (BB's, golf balls, etc) because as soon as you air down or a chunk they're out of balance again anyways. And either way you go, Hydro Assist > Stock Steering.

Mike

 

[89GMCSuburban]

I had death wobble around 25 MPH even with all new ball joints, tie rods and draglink. Put a steering stabilizer on it and it went away.

I balanced the 36" hummer tires at Sears. Lifetime balance on them now...thing cruises like a cadillac.