Steve Saunders Goldwing Forums banner

Wheel weights oddities

3K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  88goldwing 
#1 ·
I got new tires on my 2013 GL-1800 in February and the guy who mounted and balanced them put a clip-on weight on the front wheel but the flat stick-on variety on the rear wheel. All was well and I didn't even notice the difference at the time. A couple of weeks ago, I found two 1/4 ounce weights on my garage floor. I didn't worry about it because I hadn't noticed any out-of-balance feeling on the bike. Yesterday I found a strip of eight 1/4 ounce weights in about the same place on my garage floor. After investigating, I found the sticky spots on the rear rim where both the set of 8 and the set of 2 weights had been. After examining the rim, I see that the problem was that the tire tech put the flat stick-on weights on the concave area of the rim. It is odd to me that I found them on the floor instead of slinging them off somewhere on the road, but maybe it's a hot-cold thing where they got hot on the road and cooled off in my garage. Anyway, here's some questions:

1. I cannot tell that the wheel is out of balance - I've ridden on the highway at 65+ MPH and it feels like the expected good old Gold Wing smooth ride all of the way from 0 to 65. Shouldn't I feel something with 2-1/2 ounces of weights removed?

2. I can take the bike back to the guy and ask him to re-attach the weights or put new weights on (or I can probably reattach them myself without balancing the wheel since I can see where the old weights were placed.) If he does it, should I tell him to reposition them so that they are not in the concave area of the rim, or should they be okay there assuming the right adhesive is used? If I do it myself, should I replace with new weights or try to re-glue the old weights?

Another option I'm seriously considering is forgetting about the weights and going with balance beads. I did that with my CB-750 and they seem to be working okay.
 
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: limpy45
#2 ·
I got new tires on my 2013 GL-1800 in February and the guy who mounted and balanced them put a clip-on weight on the front wheel but the flat stick-on variety on the rear wheel. All was well and I didn't even notice the difference at the time. A couple of weeks ago, I found two 1/4 ounce weights on my garage floor. I didn't worry about it because I hadn't noticed any out-of-balance feeling on the bike. Yesterday I found a strip of eight 1/4 ounce weights in about the same place on my garage floor. After investigating, I found the sticky spots on the rear rim where both the set of 8 and the set of 2 weights had been. After examining the rim, I see that the problem was that the tire tech put the flat stick-on weights on the concave area of the rim. It is odd to me that I found them on the floor instead of slinging them off somewhere on the road, but maybe it's a hot-cold thing where they got hot on the road and cooled off in my garage. Anyway, here's some questions:

1. I cannot tell that the wheel is out of balance - I've ridden on the highway at 65+ MPH and it feels like the expected good old Gold Wing smooth ride all of the way from 0 to 65. Shouldn't I feel something with 2-1/2 ounces of weights removed?

2. I can take the bike back to the guy and ask him to re-attach the weights or put new weights on (or I can probably reattach them myself without balancing the wheel since I can see where the old weights were placed.) If he does it, should I tell him to reposition them so that they are not in the concave area of the rim, or should they be okay there assuming the right adhesive is used? If I do it myself, should I replace with new weights or try to re-glue the old weights?

Another option I'm seriously considering is forgetting about the weights and going with balance beads. I did that with my CB-750 and they seem to be working okay.

Depending on the locations of the weights, you may not be missing the full 2 1/2 ounces of weights.

BTW...I have used balancing beads for several sets of tires....!
 
#3 ·
Weights are all together.

Here's a balancing beads question: The charts I have seen indicate 2 oz. of beads in each of the front and back tires for the GL-1800. Since the rear had 2-1/2 ounces of weights, I'm wondering if I need to go higher than 2 oz. of beads in the rear. Anybody have any ideas?
 
#4 · (Edited)
Not enough beads is NOT good, , , more (maybe an ounce above) than what the "chart" says is BETTER, IMHO.


I'm comfortable with 2oz in front and 3 oz in the rear. Works for me


OOPS, , ,I mis-spoke and mis-remembered, , , I put 3 oz. in each tire. Front has Dyna-beads, , and Rear has Counter-act beads.
 
#7 ·
3 ounces per GL tire is gooder, any excess will balance it'self, and you can use hard plastic Airsoft BBs much cheaper, but they will not go in through valve stem, you'll need to pop a bead loose to get them in. I use them, excellent, and easy to vac out into small shop vac using small 3/8 or 1/2"tube after popping a bead loose at tire change time … then rinse & re-use.
 
#8 ·
I put 6 oz. in the rear tire, current mileage, 20,000.
Overkill? Maybe but so far I notice nothing.

WOW! someone said, why so much? Tire that unbalanced? Nope, it is not, tire is an Austone. I went with the recommended 4 oz. but just before closing it up, I tossed in 2 more.

I will say, with the roads being SO POOR this year once in a while I will momentarily feel an unbalance tire but it nearly immediately smooths out.

AND I LIKE THAT!
 
#9 ·
I emailed Counteract (balancing beads) support and explained that my rear tire was balanced with 2-1/2 oz. of external weights, but the Counteract chart recommends 2 oz. of balancing beads. He said in my case I should go with 3 oz. in the rear instead of the recommended 2 oz., so I did so. I put the recommended 2 oz. in the front tire. I just went for a test ride and everything is as smooth as glass!

I know the other popular balancing beads are Dyna Beads. They are about the same price, but the Counteract kit comes with filtered valve cores which are supposed to prevent the beads from plugging up the valve. The listings I found for Dyna Beads indicate that filtered valve cores are recommended, but are not supplied.
 
#12 ·
I have been using the Counteract beads for a while. I really believe in these beads now. They simply work and the bike is glass smooth. I simply pour in 2 oz in the front tire and 3 oz in the back tire before putting the final bead over the rim. Then just inflate the tire and install it.
I see Amazon has a 12 oz bag of Counteract beads for about $13.50 and free shipping. That is a pretty good deal. Much cheaper than buying the 2 or 3 oz bags at about $8 each. If you have some postal scales, it would be a cinch to weigh out what you need and put them in the tire.
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Counteract-451-00212-Tire-Balancing-Beads/dp/B01BDLCB88/ref=sr_1_12?crid=175FX04OMFFF2&keywords=counteract+balancing+beads&qid=1566688887&s=gateway&sprefix=counteract%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-12[/ame]
 
#13 ·
… etc … simply pour in 2 oz in the front tire and 3 oz in the back tire before putting the final bead over the rim. Then just inflate the tire and install it.
… etc … . If you have some postal scales, it would be a cinch to weigh out what you need and put them in the tire.

How I do them with my Airsoft BBs.
 
#18 ·
they don't work in any wide profile tire.

Dyan Beads provides a chart of acceptable tire sizes, and neither my Suburban, nor my Pontiac Vibe are eligible to use beads for balancing.

they explain that the problem is, with wider tires, Dynamics come into play, one side is heavier than the other, and they won't balance correctly

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/chart.htm
 
#19 ·
Knowing that wide profile tires requires "Dynamic Balancing", the tire shop across the street set their Hunter balancing machine to provide only 1 side weight info.

right there, I quit using them. they wanted to use only one weight, and put it on the inside of the wheel.
 
#21 ·
Yeah,the widest tires I found success with were the P215/70R15s on my trike. They still have a more round profile inside the tire.

Some balancers will let you balance in two planes even when one is just immediately behind the spokes but you use stick on weights. They do require that you make some measurements. A buddy of mine let me play with his Atlas WB-42, it takes awhile to get it right, but it let me hide weights on a couple of cars.

My trike's rear wheels and my wife's 2019 Subaru don't even have a lip suited to weights on the outside.

If I want all the weights on the inside lip, I'll just use a bubble balance.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top