Wheel balancing equipment concern for our "old" wheels

[Bill M.]

Re: Wheel balancing equipment concern for our "old" wheels

This has been an interesting discussion, but I invite each of you to take some genuine OEM Kelsey-Hayes bare steel wheels and mount them either lug-centric or hub-centric on a dynamic balancing machine to measure runout both radially and axially. I'll bet you'll be horrified by the results. The few thou of difference the mounting method might make will pale in comparison to the 1/16" or more runout that is inherent in these wheels from normal manufacturing tolerance.

I passed on a bargained=priced complete matched set of '68 KH wheels assuming they had been bent and subsequently straightened, and unwisely accused the seller of trying to pass faulty goods. After thinking things through more logically, wondering how it would be possible to bend all 5 wheels in a set, I subsequently learned via an acquaintance of a former senior exec at KH that these wheels fell well within normal tolerances. The wheels were gone when I went back.

I have 2 '68 wheels sitting around, so I checked them for radial runout (direction for balance issues). The spec is 1/16 (0.0625).

wheel 1: average of 0.042 (,065 outer, .018 inner)
wheel 2: average of 0.031 (.035 outer, .026 inner)

I checked the wheels on my '92 a couple years ago. The spec. on those is 0.030. The everage for those wheels was about 0.015

[Dick W.]

Re: Wheel balancing equipment concern for our "old" wheels

NASCAR ran 200+ MPH for many years on bubble balanced tires.

I am old enough to remember The Humpy Wheeler mounting and balancing tires for Firestone at NASCAR races. Wayne is right, just bubble balanced.

[John H.]

Re: Wheel balancing equipment concern for our "old" wheels

The 1963 Kelsey-Hayes steel wheel drawing shows a max of .035" TIR for radial runout and .045" for lateral runout; I haven't seen the '67 rally wheel drawing.