Can a 1960 Tire Balancer Compete with Today's Machines?

Time to put this vintage tire balancer from Beissbarth up against a modern machine!

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#automotivetools #wheelbalancing #howto

[sorenholmberg]

It's not a boring video. It's a balanced video.

[willemstreutgers]

When i was about 15-16 year old i worked with this machine. In stead of paper and a pencil we used a white paste and a metal needle to scratch into the paste. It was at a FIAT dealership, i am 79 now.

[MikkoRantalainen]

19:45 One thing that would be worth testing at this point with an old machine is to disconnect the wheel from the axle, rotate it e.g. 90 or degrees and measure the results. If the new orientation shows a bigger error, you can be sure that either the axle or wheel adapter has been bent.

[ninefingerdeathgrip]

"it's not going to make me rich, but it's going to make me happy"

[rustino]

I love that machine, it's so old school. Would be interesting to take the tyre back to the tyre shop after your machine balanced it, and have them put it back on their modern equipment to see what that shows.

[LeeHogan-ly]

EXCELLENT VIDEO!
This guy knows exactly what he’s doing.
You sir, know more than most technicians trying to explain how to use modern day equipment.
Five star video!

[DaveC_TN]

These old machines are great!! The reality is - gravity and physics don't lie.

Back in the 1980's - 1990s, our family operated a motorcycle repair center. We exclusively used a 'bubble balancing' system to static balance motorcycle wheels. We NEVER had a balance complaint - even on race bikes!! It does help that all the weights went on the center line of the wheel, but still...Gravity tells no lies with it comes to balance!

Great video!! Thank you for showing this wonderful, accurate antique of a machine!

[Carmalarky]

Artisanal wheel balancing. Not a boring video :-)

[igalaviz]

Just spent 23 minutes watching this... worth it, there is something magical about old equipment!

[euroshopperbier]

what a cool machine! Nothing beats an elegant mechanical solution. It reminds me of the spyrograph toy I used to play with as a kid. :)

[arthurjennings]

And then there was the American "on the car balancing machine." The balancer was mounted to the outside of the wheel rim. There were four wheels on a shaft in the middle of the balancer. Two that shifted the balance weight in and out, and two moved the weight around the wheel. On the rear, you jacked up one side of the axle, then put the car in gear to rotate the tire. (Beware the car with a limited slip differential.) Your buddy controlled the throttle to speed up the tire's rotation until it began to shake, while the other guy carefully manipulated the four individual wheels on the balancer to adjust the weight so the vibration would smooth out. When he got it steady, the throttle man would drop the transmission to neutral allowing the wheel to gradually slow down and stop. Imbalance was read in ounces by the indicator window on the side of the balancer. The indicator window showed where the weight was to go. To balance the front wheels, a motor driven drum was pressed against the jacked up car tire to spin it up to speed. All of that mass spinning at 60 to 70 MPH was a little dangerous. I was very glad when the shop got a static bubble balancer.

[soggybottom]

I would have NO PROBLEM with this gentleman working on any system on my vehicle...the attention to detail and common sense....👍👏👏👏

[dodgydruid]

I was harking back to my dad's and grandfather's Triumphs when they felt a wobble on a wheel would simply grease up the axle's up to the point where grease didn't work then it was wheel bearing and bushings to be replaced and off the car would go again, then my father got a Hillman Hunter in 72 and that all changed, as he had to have the Rostyle wheels proper balanced and back then few tyre places even offered that service. My grandfather did his own as he had an ancient "top hat" balancer from his Austin 7 and 10 days which was basically a cone that sat on a large drawing pin and he had a little set of weights he would counterbalance the wheel and then fit his own lead slugs. He had the insanely powerful Vitesse 2 litre six cylinder beastie and that did need all the help it could get as tiny little car with a monster motor up front lol

[ferguscosgrave]

Very good it's like when I balance a watch balance wheel

[shaunhardie]

Hey Seppo your videos are NEVER boring.

[hajosteffen]

Great to see you using another old german balancer.... My own is from the 70ties and I would never swap it to a new digital one, because of its exact results. What improved it much was to find a quick fixture "spanner" for the wheels. So no time to clean the workshop inbetween. Best wishes from germany!

[catranger]

I love it. You did better than the fancy computerized balancer which is amazing.

[stevenmoomey]

In the early 60’s I remember going with my dad, to get the tires balanced. They did the Fronts while they were still on the car. Remember how fast the tire went, and a screeching noise when they put a smooth steel plate against the tire to slow it.

[timhardin]

Cool machine, I still use a bubble bubble balance r with great success . That machine is most likely more accurate than a new machine .Great video !!!

[DumbCarGuy]

Back in highschool in 1983. I worked at an auto parts store called Champion Auto in Forest Lake MN. I was the weekend mechanic. We had a racing tire balancer. It spun your tire to 120 mph and there were two electrodes that faced each other and caused little lightening bolts to arch across and that was so long ago I don't remember much else except all my buddies came there to get their tires balanced. I remember a clear window and black and white checker flags on this machine.