Avon ST46 Ballance

[maddawg46]

I just put on a new Avon St45 and 46. The rear was out of balance by 3.0g. It took like 9 weights to bring it in. Since there are no paint dots, where do you rotate the tire ?? Is there a "Secret" symbol on the tire to show where you alingn with the valve stem??

 

[skyway]

I can't remember the exact amount, but if its above a certain amount of weight, Avon will replace the tire for free. This seems to come up every once in a while, call them up, they have great customer service.

 

[Yambone]

That's one negative on the Avons--no paint dot to mark the light spot, no secret marking.

By the way, did you mean 3.0 or 30 grams to balance? 30 grams= 1 ounce, and that wouldn't be too bad for an Avon ST46, IMO.

Also, the valve stem area may not be the heavy spot of your rim. Mine is about 90-degrees from the valve stem.

 

[SkooterG]

I am a little confused also. Sticky weights are 7g each. 9 weights would be 63g, so you need to clarify some things here. 63g would be excessive. Generally more than 50-55g is too much. I once mounted a rear Avon that took 55g to balance. They said they would replace it, but I had no issues while riding so rode that tire with no problems for its entire life.

Avon does NOT mark the heavy or light spot on their tires. Bummer I know. But......if you were going to align the light spot of your tire with the valve stem, then you would have been incorrect anyways. Valve stem is NOT the heavy spot of the wheel. If you are balancing your own tires, you should determine on your own what the heavy spot of your wheel is by balancing it only. Your wheel can be out of balance by a significant amount!!! If by chance, you match the heavy spot of your wheel with the heavy spot of your tire, it will most likely require a lot of weight to balance.

For example, here is my rear:

Here's what I do: I balance the wheel only with weights applied temporarily with double sided tape. Now mount tire. So now with the wheel balanced, it is easy to find the actual heavy spot of the tire. I now break the bead, and rotate the tire so that the heavy spots of the tire and wheel are opposite. Take off the temporary weights and do a final balance. The last Avon front I balanced using the method only took 13g to balance.

 

[radman]

I am a little confused also.  Sticky weights are 7g each.  9 weights would be 63g, so you need to clarify some things here.  63g would be excessive.  Generally more than 50-55g is too much.  I once mounted a rear Avon that took 55g to balance.  They said they would replace it, but I had no issues while riding so rode that tire with no problems for its entire life.
Avon does NOT mark the heavy or light spot on their tires.  Bummer I know.  But......if you were going to align the light spot of your tire with the valve stem, then you would have been incorrect anyways.  Valve stem is NOT the heavy spot of the wheel.  If you are balancing your own tires, you should determine on your own what the heavy spot of your wheel is by balancing it only.  Your wheel can be out of balance by a significant amount!!!

For example, here is my rear:

Here's what I do:  I balance the wheel only with weights applied temporarily with double sided tape.  Now mount tire.  So now with the wheel balanced, it is easy to find the actual heavy spot of the tire.  I now break the bead, and rotate the tire so that the heavy spots of the tire and wheel are opposite.  Take off the temporary weights and to a final balance.  The last Avon front I balanced using the method only took 13g to balance.

And that be the way it get done right, as well as holding a balance the longest.

 

[skyway]

I am a little confused also.  Sticky weights are 7g each.  9 weights would be 63g, so you need to clarify some things here.  63g would be excessive.

I am confused as well? I thought stick-ons came in different weights?

 

[SkooterG]

I am a little confused also.  Sticky weights are 7g each.  9 weights would be 63g, so you need to clarify some things here.  63g would be excessive.

I am confused as well? I thought stick-ons came in different weights?

They probably do. The only ones I have seen (of several manufacturers) are 7g/.25oz each. I think that is somewhat of a standard.

I also have the Yammie clip on weights which come in 10g/20g/30g sizes and are re-useable.

 

[maddawg46]

Maybe my calculations are incorrect. I looked at the tire balancer screen and it said 3.0. I made the assumption that it was grams. Maybe it was onces or god forbid, pounds! The stick on weights were about 1/2 inch squares. The balancing of the rim first seems like a good idea. The chap at the shop said he would balance again for free after a little while to see if it had changed. I was hoping that the tire had some sort of mark on it.

 

[Geezer]

There has been some talk on other threads about the tire balancing machine being out of calibration. Do you know if his machine is acurate? As you see in Scooter's pictures, he is using a high accuracy manual balancer.

 

[ALFJR]

For some time, I thought my Avon was out of balance, even had it balanced twice, each time by a different shop, with the second event done on an electronic balancer.

The net result of the shaking was due to the tire out of round. I had put the FJR on the center-stand, put a 2x4 piece of wood under the tire as a reference mark to where it just barely touched the tire. I would then spin the wheel, and there was a gap between the tire and the wood as the wheel/tire spun. I never checked my Bridgestone, but the bike never shook with that tire either.

Just my experience.

 

[Minuteman]

:huh: Wow I just had a set of Avon 45-46 tires mounted and balanced too. Same thing the rear wheel sure used a lot of weight to get it balanced ?

Thanks, Dan in Yucaipa, Ca.

 

[Flylooper]

Weird. I just mounted my second set of Avon Azaros. For the second time the tires needed zero weight. They were perfect, evidently. T Mounted a set on my old Concours and experienced the same thing. Different shop mounted them, too. The first time, on the Connie, I was standing right alongside the mechanic, so I saw everything for myself.

I love those tires.

 

[leebunyard]

I just had my second set of Avons mounted on my '04 FJR and my mechanic who did the mounting and balancing reported pretty much the same thing as Flylooper--the rear Avon was almost perfectly balanced without additional weights, the front tire required only minimal weights. His business is primarily sportbikes and he says that Avons are becoming the tire of choice for many sportbike riders, so he mounts lots of them. He said he rarely encounters an Avon tire that requires any significant amount of weight to balance. But he's had a lot of experience mounting and balancing tires--he was a factory trained Honda mechanic for over 15 years and has had his own business now for nearly 15 years.

I have no complaints whatsoever with the Avons. Love 'em.

For what it's worth.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California

 

[Bustanut joker]

Same thing here, no added weight just moved the rear about 45 degress rearword and the front lost a little weight.

On another note I haven't noticed any type of shimmy at any speed with these tires. Maybe something has changed?

:jester:

 

[stryg8r]

Same thing here, no added weight just moved the rear about 45 degress rearword and the front lost a little weight. On another note I haven't noticed any type of shimmy at any speed with these tires. Maybe something has changed?

:jester:

I must have got an older set of tires. My rear took 1 1/4 ounces to balance and my front has a shimmy so bad between 40 and 50 that you need both hands on the bars to control. This shimmy is present when accelerating, steady speed and decelerating.

 

[Leghorn]

Skooter, I follow you on balancing the wheel only. And obviously the addition of an untrue tire will shift the balance point of the tire and wheel assembly. But I don't understand how you can precisely locate the balance point on the tire. Do you go through a trial and error process to "bracket" the balance point on the tire or what?

Thanks.

 

[Shane]

Skooter, I follow you on balancing the wheel only. And obviously the addition of an untrue tire will shift the balance point of the tire and wheel assembly. But I don't understand how you can precisely locate the balance point on the tire. Do you go through a trial and error process to "bracket" the balance point on the tire or what?
Thanks.

Not Skooter, but I'll take a cut,

When the wheel assembly is pre-balanced without a tire mounted, it allows the unmarked (in the case of Avons) tire's heavy/light spots to be self-evident when mounted and put back on the balance stand. Mark that light spot, it will go right to the top!

Having a pre-made set of weight(s) to attach while mounting unmarked tires saves the trial and error of balancing the rim every time to find each tire's unmarked light spot. Once you've got it figured, save those weights for each go-around.

Since the rim has a known heavy spot (which is marked in the above photos), the tire's orientation can then be shifted such that the newly revealed light spot can be matched up with the rim's heavy spot. Of course, remember to remove the "control" weight(s) once you've found the light spot, since you'll need to re-assess the tire/rim combo once they are oriented thusly.

Less weight, Mo' balance.

Of course, if the tire(s) arrive with a light spot marked, one can skip the reveal step.

Shane (All due respect to Skooter)

 

[Leghorn]

My duh!

Thanks, Shane.