Wheel imbalance

[dobias]

Gentlemen;

When my new Pilot Roads were mounted, I asked to have the wheels checked for balance. It turns out my front wheel is 20 grams out of balance & the rear is only 5 grams out.

Has anyone removed wheel material by grinding to get the wheels in balance?

It would appear that judicious removal of material from the spokes or wheel ridge would do the trick without damaging the integrity of the wheel.

Is there any experience to relate?

dobias :glare:

PS: The removed Avons had the center strips of hard rubber a quarter of an inch above where they met the softer rubber of the sidewalls. The center was into the TWI indicators & the side walls were extremely scalloped. I'm not one to lean in the curves. In fact I had one inch wide chicken strips! Both front & rear showed the same wear pattern. There was about 10,000 miles on them & they were mostly kept at 42 lbs.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

Past experience has shown that it's usually the rotors that are out on the front wheel on any bike. Try rotating the rotors on the wheel and see if that helps.

 

[dobias]

RTSR1/FJR,

I never suspected the rotors! Sounds reasonable now that you mention it. Wouldn't it be a major problem to remove the bolts? I seem to remember it takes a torch & a hammer to loosen the red locktited rotor bolts.

Since the wheel's spokes already have holes in them I figured to enlarge those holes where it's heavy.

dobias :glare:

 

[teerex51]

RTSR1/FJR,I seem to remember it takes a torch & a hammer to loosen the red locktited rotor bolts.

dobias :glare:

Dobias,

a heat gun and patience is all it takes Heat the rim (not the bolt heads) deliberately wherever the bolts are located, then go around one more time. By the time you've been around the rim 3 times, all bolts should have been properly heated and ought to come out easily.

Have fun B)

Stef

 

[Geezer]

Just nit-picking here, but I don't want people to get confused. The Loctite on the rotors should be green and it does require some heat to loosen. Red Loctite does not normally require heat.