Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: Traction
After cleaning off 10 years worth of dirt, my $1900 Road Force balancer looks pretty good. Figured out how to calibrate it, and use it fairly easily. Everything seems to work fine. Even got the printer to work. Used it on one set of autocross tires today.
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Traction,
See if you can find the "measure bare wheel" subroutine. You may find that useful.
BTW, did the unit come with a manual? If so, read it. You will learn a lot about runout and uniformity.
But just be aware that these units tend to over estimate the size of the road force - although it doesn't really matter as all things are relative.
Plus, you should check to see if the preset limits are still in place. If I recall correctly, it was 26 pounds for both the wheels and the assembly (mount tire on the wheel). That was one of my main complaints - that a bad wheel would pass.
I didn't get a manual, but I found the one online that allowed me to figure out most of the features. I can already see that it sometimes tells you more than you need to know. When it comes down to balancing, it doesn't work any better than the regular balancer I've been using for 15 years. Being able to check run-out, and road force it nice and I will use my own judgment when the limits are exceeded as far as breaking the beads, and moving the tire which eats up a lot of time. Everyone thinks that just because a shop uses a road force they are getting the best balance, but I figure not many times will an operator take the time to do anything different from a normal balancer. I've never had any comebacks from my other balancer, but it will be nice having the extra info from the road force. I see a lot of bent wheels in my area which are easy to see without any measurements. The inflation station feature on this machine is pretty worthless, since I set the pressure before it goes on the balancer anyway. Tape weight placement is very awkward without the lasers the newer machines use. I'll probably use it in the clip-on weight mode like I always have so I can use top dead center for tape weight placement that has always worked well for me. I temporarily attach the tape weights with masking tape, and dial them in with a couple of check spins using the non-rounded fine ounce mode. 1/4 inch off one way or the other can make a big difference, and it's too late if you just stick them on and have to remove them. My Hunter rep hasn't been much help yet either since I didn't buy a brand new machine from them. Oh well, it will be a good learning experience using this machine to most of it's capabilities.