Balance beads

[Pfreen]

Has anyone used balance beads this on their wheels? (http://www.dynabeads.co.uk/).  I have had a difficult time getting consistent balance on my Lotus alloys since there is a very poor machined centers on the wheels for the balance machine cones to fit to.  I bought a static balancer from Harbor Freight but find it to be somewhat inconsistent as well for the same reason.

[BDA]

I'm not disputing your analysis, but I'm wondering if you're might be falling victim to your lug holes getting wallowed out. It's a known issue with Lotus Brand wheels.

[Rosco5000]

If your rims are centering on the hub on the center of the rim no matter how good you balance the tire it will never spin true.  I would get you rims machined true and have a hub centric ring made to line everything up between you wheel hub and rim.  That way you can get a good balance and then have it run true on the hubs.  No real easy solution here I'm afraid.  you can't fix a fundamental flaw in the setup with balancing weights.

[jbcollier]

IIRC, the centre of the Dunlop mags are not machined so you can't use them as a reference point when balancing or mounting the wheels.  As mentioned above it would be fairly simp to have the centres machined up which would help a great deal with balancing the wheels.  It is simple to centre the wheels when mounting them on the vehicle is you use two regular Triumph lug nuts to locate the wheel first and then secure the where with the original lug nuts on the two remaining studs.

[jbcollier]

Lotus supplied balanced drums for the rear brakes on the Europa after experiencing balance issues.  Replacement drums from British parts suppliers are NOT balanced.  I was having a heck of a time with shaking from the rear wheels.  I fit the drums to spare rear hubs and mounted them to tapered centres supported on ball bearings.  I removed a considerable amount of material to achieve proper balance, ranging from 80 to 200 grams!  Shake is now gone.

[Bainford]

FYI, here is a post I made last year whilst experiencing similar problems.

[Pfreen]

Trevor,

I don't see your post from last year.  I searched but no luck.

[Bainford]

Oops! Sorry, try this...

http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1589.msg14440;topicseen#msg14440