Wheel balance again, and again, and again...

[Bainford]

Thanks for this, John. I, too, have a persistent imbalance in the rear and have been considering trying to get the drums balanced. My car still has the original drums in excellent condition.

Drums may not actually be my problem. I have yet to find a shop to mount my wheels successfully on their balance machines. Been thinking of getting a second set of wheels (Lotus Special alloy road wheel) and having them machined to mount properly on the balance machine. However, after a few attempts to balance the wheels, I want to make sure my drums are balanced, or else I'm just chasing my tail.

[jbcollier]

TC alloy rims are difficult to mount onto the car properly.  There has to be a little play for long lug nuts to slide in so they are never perfectly centred.  One option is to machine up centring rings between the hubs and rims.  The easiest is to use two tapered lugnuts (from the steel wheel set-up or Spitfire) to centre the wheel first and then clamp them on using the stock lugnuts.   Both methods work well.  The second is cheap and cheerful to boot.

[GavinT]

Well done, John . . yay.

Centring of the Lotus alloys gets a run fairly regularly in Europa circles.
Hs anyone installed steel inserts and appropriate tapered nuts?

My Minilites don't have a machined centre hole and came with Wolfrace type inserts but I broke one once (bugger). The wheels themselves have always balanced fine (apart from the ordeal I had with some out of round tyres).
Either of the knurled inserts pictured look to be more substantial, though I prefer the Prestige ones with the finer knurl.

[Bryan Boyle]

TC alloy rims are difficult to mount onto the car properly.  There has to be a little play for long lug nuts to slide in so they are never perfectly centred.  One option is to machine up centring rings between the hubs and rims.  The easiest is to use two tapered lugnuts (from the steel wheel set-up or Spitfire) to centre the wheel first and then clamp them on using the stock lugnuts.   Both methods work well.  The second is cheap and cheerful to boot.

re the second method...glad to see I'm not the only one who thought of that.  Bought 2 tapered nuts from Ray in a past shipment, and, while the studs are barely long enough for them to catch (and it helps to stick your foot under to support the wheel on the stud...helps if you arrange the hub so the studs are vertical to hang the wheel...), it centers the wheel up quite nicely, I found.   In my short, brakeless sojourn around the block, with the car up to about 50 mph...didn't feel any imbalance (of course, the roads in town are nothing by patched potholes, so, it's improbable that I'd have noticed it anyway...lol).

[Lotuswins]

Hi Gavin,

I have the wheel inserts, similar to the prestige ones.  Two sets of alloys done, one for street, one for track.  I also spin my tires on the car to balance them since the wheel/tire guys rarely spin balance them accurately enough.
I have discs on the rear though, so no drum imbalance issues. I spin all 4 tires on the front since its hard to do on the rear. 
I did have the rear drums on my austin healey done though, wow!! they had to remove a ton of metal....I finally decided to buy new drums though since they removed too much of the strengthening ribs.  The new drums are much different, and appear to be balanced better as I don't get the dreaded 'scuttle shake' with the new, unbalanced, drums.

Jerry Rude
4005R

[Bainford]

Well done, John . . yay.

Centring of the Lotus alloys gets a run fairly regularly in Europa circles.
Hs anyone installed steel inserts and appropriate tapered nuts?

My Minilites don't have a machined centre hole and came with Wolfrace type inserts but I broke one once (bugger). The wheels themselves have always balanced fine (apart from the ordeal I had with some out of round tyres).
Either of the knurled inserts pictured look to be more substantial, though I prefer the Prestige ones with the finer knurl.

Interesting stuff, Gavin. I had no idea there were commercially available inserts. I must investigate.

I've been planning to acquire a second set of restorable Lotus alloy road-wheels which I will have machined to interface properly with a balancing machine, and have steel inserts added for the lug nuts. I was going to have a set of steel inserts custom machined and installed with an interference fit, but the items you posted may provide a cheaper solution.

[GavinT]

Hi Bainford,

Yep, but be sure to see them in the flesh, I reckon, because the 'flange' will take up some room. Depending on the wheels, a large-ish flange might not be ideal . . . or aesthetically pleasing.

My Wolfrace type are pretty minimalist and are not really visible under the lug nuts. They kinda look like valve seat inserts.

Thinking about it again, I still like the finer knurl on the Prestige ones but they also have that funky external tapered seat. Why, I don't know - seems pointless to me and it means the machinist may have to grind a special tool to cut the angle correctly.

The ones in the lower pic would be much more straight forward in terms of the machining required for installation.
Either one, though, really.