[FWDLK] More on Wheel balancing

[Clear Creek <clearcreek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wheels need to be balanced while rotating at a speed great enough to allow
the masses within the wheel to affect the movement.  Slow rotation will not
produce enough centrifugal force to cause the wheel assembly to move off
center.  The reason that a wheel vibrates is that the mass of steel (or
magnesium, or aluminum, et al) combined with the mass of rubber and fiber
and steel wire in the tire cannot be made so that all of the product weight
is distributed evenly.  If the wheel and tire were made in the shape of a
stereotypical "Space Ship", such as from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood
Still" (come on, if we remember the 1955 Chrysler, we certainly remember
that movie!), there would be no problem with "dynamic" balance, because
there would be no tendency for the weight move to the axis of rotation,  The
centrifugal force effect would already be compensated by the fact that the
weight would already be directly out from the rotation axis.  But since
wheels have a wider edge at the circumference, it is necessary to compensate
by placing weights as far out to the edges as possible, and certainly to
place  the two weights, one on the inside, and one on the outside.  There
was a comment that one guy's car, at 110mph, had no vibration caused by the
wheels, but his mirrors were vibrating, and he said the it was partly caused
by the engine being "very busy".  If the engine, at any speed, were
vibrating enough to shake the mirrors, the engine parts would be
distributing themselves across the roadway.  The vibrating mirrors, and
florboards, and steering wheel, are much more likely caused by wheel
vibration due to out-of-balance conditions; usually this "dynamic" effect.

Mike Higgins
1955 Belvedere Sport Coupe
In Farmington, NM; where we are today learning about the "High" of high
desert.  The temperature this morning was 6 degrees, but we expect a high of
40. At 5300 feet, it does get cold in the desert.

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