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Author Topic: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?  (Read 2296 times)

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Webby the Bear

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Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« on: 18 October 2018, 12:39:52 »

Omega is coming in to the garage for a bit of work. Exhaust replacement, alignment and some service bits.

Anyway while it’s off the road for a week or so I aim to get the front wheels balancing sorted.

Now I will preface this by saying our balancing machine is erm, old, and I have previously questioned its performance but I’ve had them balanced next door too and though it gets better it’s still never perfect. So anyway I’m going to take the tyres off and drop the wheels to precision welding for them to get true and then hopefully they’ll balance up and job done.

However I’ve heard others mention the difficulty so what is it about them?

Ps mine are CD wheels
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Omegatoy

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #1 on: 18 October 2018, 13:12:18 »

never had a problem balancing them except with crap or old tyres? hoever one i did have a slight problem with i put on the balancer without its tyre on, to find it was buckled! although you could barely see it with tyre on, it would balance perfectly without a tyre,so put tyre back on, took first reading,55/ 30 put the weights on where they were needed and it came back,15/10 in different places,so i marked original weights positions,then moved them a few mm either way and got it to 0 after 4 or 5 attempts,only one ive ever had do it that wasnt the tyre

Doctor Gollum

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #2 on: 18 October 2018, 15:52:08 »

CD wheels are practically undamagable ???

I would suggest that you find a real tyre fitter...
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Webby the Bear

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #3 on: 18 October 2018, 15:57:38 »

CD wheels are practically undamagable ???

I would suggest that you find a real tyre fitter...

The tyre fitted in question is me you cheeky f***er! 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Absolutely could be my shite tyres. But I’ll spin the wheels without the tyres and see what I get
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #4 on: 18 October 2018, 16:09:03 »

CD wheels are practically undamagable ???

I would suggest that you find a real tyre fitter...

The tyre fitted in question is me you cheeky f***er! 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Absolutely could be my shite tyres. But I’ll spin the wheels without the tyres and see what I get
Lego tyres really won't be helping ;)
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johnnydog

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #5 on: 18 October 2018, 17:03:44 »

My choice of tyres for any car (budget permitting) is Michelin. I have recently fitted these on my 2.6 Elite, and they balanced up with no issues with very few weights at all. Our tyre fitter at work says anything can be balanced, but generally the better quality the tyre, the easier it is to balance with less weights.
As DG says, a lot depends on the tyre fitters experience. I have seen fitters stick weight after weight on a wheel in the hope of getting it to zero, when an experienced fitter can remove just one weight, re-position it slightly, and the wheel balance comes back at zero.
Another point many tyre fitter overlook / ignore are the tyres sidewall colour markings. Many new tyres have a red or yellow dot on the sidewall. This denotes the heavy or lightest part of the tyre (can't remember which), and this dot is supposed to be positioned adjacent to, or opposite the valve, for optimum balancing with the fewest weights.
Most balancing machines now have a laser and a weight positioning arm that ensures that the weights are positioned exactly where they are supposed to be, rather than the old 'hit and miss' method of rotating the rim to the upright position and then physically sticking the weight where the fitter thinks is the top. This works 99 times out of a 100 but, is prone to errors.
In extreme cases when there are balancing issues, the only alternative is 'forced wheel balancing'. This is not available at all tyre places. It consists of a large drum that exerts force on rotating wheel and tyre, and establishes the heaviest / lightest part of the tyre and rim. The tyre bead is broken and the tyre is rotated on the rim to the optimum position indicated by the forced balancing machine, and then balanced in the normal way.
This costs a bit more, but for problematic wheels, is a viable alternative.
 
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Webby the Bear

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #6 on: 18 October 2018, 17:22:27 »

I don’t think in this situation there’s much the fitter (ie me) could do. You spin it for the first time and it wants 100g on the inner and 60 on the outer. There’s either a bad tyre or bad wheel imo
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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #7 on: 18 October 2018, 17:54:39 »

Omega wheels are chocolate, so check them for oval and buckle first.

But even that aside, they seem to need to be balance to within a couple of grams, particularly the 17s and larger. A lot of balancing machines out there can't do that resolution.  And most tyre fitters are knuckle draggers as well, so don't understand the basics, just "the machine says 30g there".
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Webby the Bear

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #8 on: 18 October 2018, 18:21:24 »

Yes mate that’s what I thought!

Precision Welding said this is easy for them. £35 a wheel 👍
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Shackeng

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #9 on: 18 October 2018, 19:39:28 »

Yes mate that’s what I thought!

Precision Welding said this is easy for them. £35 a wheel 👍

For balancing? :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
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Webby the Bear

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #10 on: 18 October 2018, 20:12:32 »

No mate. For getting the wheels round again. I’ll then fit tyres and rebalance. And hopefully they’ll take a lot less weight. If not I’ll sod it and get some decent tyres.
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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #11 on: 18 October 2018, 22:22:18 »

I don’t think in this situation there’s much the fitter (ie me) could do. You spin it for the first time and it wants 100g on the inner and 60 on the outer. There’s either a bad tyre or bad wheel imo

That's a lot of balance weights for one wheel...


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Andy B

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #12 on: 18 October 2018, 22:34:22 »

....
As DG says, a lot depends on the tyre fitters experience. I have seen fitters stick weight after weight on a wheel in the hope of getting it to zero, when an experienced fitter can remove just one weight, re-position it slightly, and the wheel balance comes back at zero. ....

A local Mercedes dealer fitted tyres to my car a few years back. I drove off & then realised there was a whole box of balance weights added to the wheel ..... well ... 105 grammes   ::) When I took the car back, the fitter (a bloke in his 50s) seemed to think that was perfectly acceptable & said that he'd even used 200g before now ..... I just said that wasn't good enough for me & to do it again. He came back 20 min later and proudly announced that he'd balanced it with just 30g this time. As he should have in the first place.
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Webby the Bear

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Re: Why are Omega wheels so hard to balance?
« Reply #13 on: 19 October 2018, 19:26:09 »

I don’t think in this situation there’s much the fitter (ie me) could do. You spin it for the first time and it wants 100g on the inner and 60 on the outer. There’s either a bad tyre or bad wheel imo

That's a lot of balance weights for one wheel...

Agreed. As said I’m guessing the tyres crap. I may spin it up without the tyre and report back 👍
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