Anyone purchased a wheel balancer they like? I’m a stickler for any vibrations and balance all my wheels. Just gets a bit finicky having to do it on the kart and would like to perform it on a stand.
The RR one looks nice, but $300 is a bit salty.
Probably not what you are looking for, but I do mine on the spindles right after I lasered the front end with the steering still locked. I’m too tight and space constrained to buy a stand.
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Similar to my process now, but I like to mount all my wheels for a race weekend in one session if possible. Would be nice to mount and balance in one shot.
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I saw that one as well. Might just dig up an old bent spindle and weld it to a plate to make my own similar to that.
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Seems like a massive waste of money. Like Derek said, I’ve been doing it on the kart for years. And I never balance rears.
Lucas’ idea of building your own would be cheaper and not too hard. I know our tent built one pretty easily.
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That is what I have planned to do. Not hard at all😁
Doing up the fronts is easy. Tossing the rears on the front is always cumbersome.
Balancing? What do you speak of? 
Been racing karts for 20+ years and never balanced tires/wheels. Even doing low to mid 90mph in a shifter. 
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Never had a poorly balanced set of front tires? It will rattle the entire steering wheel. Super distracting during a race. The rear I admit are overkill but if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing right.
I’ve had to do it for every brand I’ve run. MG, Levanto, Evinco, Mojo etc…
I’ve had my eye on this one but never pulled the trigger as I have quite enough race prep to do: FTP Wheel Balancer w/ Wheel Hub Adapter - Fastech-Racing
Question for those of you that balance wheels. How long do they tend to stay balanced? My concern has always been that I’d take the time to balance them and then after scrubbing rubber off the tire for a few sessions they’d possibly be unbalanced again negating my work.
I also wonder the trade off of adding weight to karting components were all keen to keep as light as possible especially rotating components like wheels.
I say they keep balanced thru their entire life. You should be wearing rubber off at an even rate. Unless you really lock up the rears or fronts (shifters only) there shouldn’t be a balance change.
I use these, but I don’t pull the backing off. The adhesive is aggressive and getting off the wheels is a pain. I just hold them in place with a piece of tape. Normally only takes 2 to 3 weights to balance out. Any more than that I’ll dismount and rotate the tire 90* or 180* on the rim.
CKAuto 1/2oz, 0.5oz, Ultra Slim Low Profile, Black, Adhesive Stick On Wheel Weights, 12 oz/ 4 lb/Box, OEM Quality, (24pcs) https://a.co/d/62KC94e
These are good weights, you can cut them with a pair of dykes.
I have used the expensive RR one and own the FTP one. I like the FTP one. You may find that your hub is naturally unbalanced on the FTP. The hub will stop rotating on the shaft, but then the shaft bearings will still rotate, so its very sensitive. I had to remove some material from the hub. It may seem like overkill, but it was a one time deal and only took a few minutes.
I think the RR one will be more durable in the long run, especially banging around in a trailer.
Hey, I know we balance or wheels by basically teeeter-tottering them on a stand, looking for the low point. You then put lead on the high point, rinse repeat…
How do auto shops do this super fast? Some sort of automatic machine? And we don’t have such machines because it’s not hugely relevant and therefore a stupid expense? (Unlike say, a serious tire mounting machine).
I work at a new car dealership. Yeah, we have machine that does the balancing. Once the wheel/tire is mounted on the the machine it does most of the work for you. It tells the tech exactly where and how much weight to add. We use stick on and clip on style weights. We use Hunter brand equipment.
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