Harbor Freight Tire Balancer Long Term Review

[@james10739]

Im pretty sure you can do full size truck tires just not 3/4 ton and bigger

[@solino2002andrea]

I heard someone complaining about too much play between each pin and its relative hole in the ring that actually don’t change tyre position because it’s centered by the cone, but can move its own weight, giving wrong feedback. I think it could be modified applying longer and more precise bushings which do not allow lateral ring movements.

[@zmby322]

talking a little about tires, some have a red dot that is placed next to the valve stem this will make balancing much easier, say if you have some tires that do not have a red dot, now what would you do to solve this one. the fix, you have to look in side the tire, look to see if you can find leaped over rubber joining s, would look like lines of rubber going across length ways in side the tires, if there are 2 lines or 3 or what ever, take a white chock and mark the line with chock right in the middle of those line, and it have to be in the middle, and this chock mark is the heaviest part of the tire, now, you can put the rim only the rim on the bubble balance to find the light spot, now the light spot of the rim is where you have to add led waits, but do not add any waits, just mark it with a strait line with your white chock, our just use the valve stem on the rim for your heavy spot, now put the 2 white marks to gather when you put the tire back on the rim, and i will also tell you guys on here if you like how to find out if your bubble balance is off set from the center bubble, what this means is, when you balance a wheel and tire on your bubble balance and line up the bulls eye right in the center where it should be when balancing a wheel, and if you are heaving trouble balancing well, your bubble balance if off set when it was made at the factory, now this is how you can fix your balance to make it work like a 4 thousand droller spin balance, take a tire and rim the same size as you are using on your car our what ever, but the car wheel is going to work better, go home with the wheel and place it on your bubble balance, but before you place the wheel on the bubble balance, make sure the balance is on a flat floor and cant move around with a wheel on it, one thing you do not wont is your bubble balances moving from side to side while balancing your wheels, and if your bubble balance got the 3 little stub legs on the base bottom, put your safety glasses on and grind off thous stupid legs, did you ever try to sit on a 3 legged chair? well it just not going to work you need 4 legs our nun at all, because every time you put a wheel on the balances it is tipping to one side the length of the 3 legs, and the only reason it do not tip right over is the legs are short, if the 3 legs was 1 inch long then the balance would tip 1 inch to the side, now, anyways you have your tire on the bubble balance that you got balanced at the garage on a spin balance right? NOW, take notice of where that bubble is going to settle at, and it do not matter where it lands you know this tire is balanced at the garage right, even if the bubble is off the center, don't add any waits, your only using this balanced wheel to check your bubble balance , and to fix it if it is off set and not working very good, NOW take a black pen that makes a very small mark,, draw a line around the side of the bubble close as you can get to it, because it is heading in the middle of the bulls eye circle, but maybe not right in , could be half ways out, the part that is headed in the center circle because the bubble is not right in the circle right? and this is why your bubble balancer is not working right, now, after you have the line draw-ed around the half of the bubble that is coming in the circle, but not right in, now take the wheel of the bubble balancer very slow and easy and lay it a side, now your bubble should go back in the circle right, now do you see where you drew the rounded line with the small tip pen,? now add some waits on the side of your bubble balancer to make the bubble go back in the same place as you made the rounded line with the pen, and make sure you have it in the very same place, now the bubble on your balancer should look the very same as when you had the wheel on the balancer that you balanced at the garage mark it on the balancer where you got the led waits at, because you need them after , don't touch the led waits yet, now take your little screw driver and set the bubble back to the center of the bulls eye circle where it should be when balancing a wheel, now you have to stick our glue what ever waits you have on the top of your balancer, and in the same line as you have them placed of the on the balancer but for the balancer to work right you need to get the led , stick them on ore like i just said , you can put the led down lower on the balancer head but in the same line you had the led when you made the test,, and if you put the wheel that you balanced at the garage on your bubble balancer, and the bubble is right in the bulls eye center , well then you don't need any thing your balancer is working perfect. and if you do have tire shaking problems and bubble balancer not working right , this works,,

[@TheHopson]

zmby yellow dot to valve stem, red dot is just the high spot, yellow is the light spot, hence why valve stem helps balance since it’s a 1 ounce weight.

[@zmby322]

PS, i have did this to my wheels on the back of the car, new tires and new rims steel rims, and had one hell of a problem getting them balanced, until i did what i was telling you guys on here, and i put the 2 back wheels and tires black on the ballancer after fixing the balancer as well, and lining up my tires on the rims,, and now i have my back wheels back on the car and i didn't need any waits at all, and my wheels are balanced perfect, but didn't line up my 2 front wheels tho, but the repaired balancer balanced them perfect as well, and you know what, my 2 front tires had yellow dot on the 2 tires, well one yellow dot on each tire, and i still needed led waits, 2.oz on one wheel, and 2,7 oz on the other wheel, strange, when i lined up my to back rims and tire i didn't have to use any led waits at all, you would think as smart as the china people are they would stick the 3 stupid legs on the bottom base stand of my bubble balancer, and would think that i would be 2 stupid and wouldn't know that it was tipping to one side,,,lol...

[@asanchez2974]

Can I do 20s with 35s

[@benkrom2737]

Bubble balancers are only as good as the operator. With that said I always keep my balancer intact and I haven't had to calibrate in over a year. I do cover it and keep it from being knocked around. I never slam tire on balancer and never install clamp weights while on balancer. I only use sticky back weights and line them up with center of rim. Most times it comes out perfect but every once in a while I have to redo a tire. I've had computer balancers come out worse. Hammering on clamp weights and flipping up mud guards shocks the oscillators in computer balancers and throws off its calibration. A good shop calibrated balancers once a week because of this.

[@queryhsje7514]

Can we use 17" with this tools? Some people said it is really hard to get goid accuracy, they've got different readings all the time, is that true?

[@Yophillips3272]

The instructions say up to 15", I'm trying to do a 16" rim. I don't know how accurate it is, it's consistently saying it needs weight near the valve stem but, I'm not sure how much weight to add, .5oz reads about the same as 2.5oz 🤔, you can't just put weight on and be done like a lot of the youtube vids say, when you move the balancer it will recenter in a different spot.

[@benkrom2737]

I've done 18s no problem. I believe these balancers have been around for decades with the same design and 15" was the largest popular wheels, and instructions are just as old. If center hole fits within the pyramid you are good to go.

[@oscarmoreno7774]

Correct me if I'm wrong but... Aren't you suppossed to take off the retainers at the bottom of the balancing cone that has the springed rods so that the flange set moves up and down depending on the weight of the wheel?

[@dodgeramsport01]

Oscar Moreno NO!

[@zmby322]

well i do know the bubble balances do work. some work better , and some of the bubble balancers are off set like hell, but there is a way to fix it .

[@TheHopson]

I went thru 3 of these balancers and all were junk, once you balance tire, if you pick it up and clock it 50%,, your wheel will be out of balance again, I took the balancers to my machinist, he put them on the lathe and all 3 were casted in an egg shape, ontop of the divot being off center! I recommend buying the older coats or Acra bubble balancers, those work phenomenal!

[@RonnieDaniel-n4g]

I give 85 for it it does a great job

[@shinigami117s8]

remember kids, keep the nuts on the shaft lolololol

[@zmby322]

good day sir, i know this video is 9 month old tho i was wondering if your balancer was working as mine is working, after i have the tire balanced i put the wheel back on the balancer again but now i put the wheel in a different place, what i mean is i turn the wheel so i have it on the balancer in a different place as the first time when i balanced the wheel, and every time i do this i have a different light spot, i did this like 20 time and have a different reading each time, so where is the right light spot on my wheels, lol, my car tires and rims fit on my trailer superficially, and my trailer got no brakes just baring and cones , and when i install my car wheel on the trailer and tightening up the lug nuts, give my wheel a little spin , leave it set for a few moments, the heavy spot of my wheel with all that other led removed, the heavy spot when right to the bottom, right where i wonted it to go, took my white chock marked the light spot added led so that my wheel stooped rotating , and this is how they balance the motor cycle tires and they are driving a lot faster then we are in our cars and they have no shaking or vibration nothing , couldn't balance a motor bike with this bubble balancer first turn you come to you shake so bad would end up in the woods , lol i am kinda happy and glad i have some way to balancer my wheels besides mr, bubble ferry bubble balancer , mine is the very same as you have sir, the only way that you can find out if your balancer is working the same as mine is , do the same test that i did , 1 would say i have about 50% with the bubble balancer, and a 150% balanced on my trailer , the bubble balancer is balancing the wheel of the right light spot of the wheel, this is why it is never going to be perfect balanced, so we need a 12 hundred droller trailer, and a 200. droller bubble balancer to save a few 100 bucks, but i love doing it the same even tho it's a pain in the big toe, i still save the money, lol but the funny thing when i bought the balancer they didn't ask me if i had bought the trailer first, and to make dubble sure my car wheel is going to fit on the trailer so that i can find the right light spot and that the bubble balancer is going to find like 25 light spots on 1 wheel, how we going to know what one to take to add our led waits, joke, i think it would have been a bit cheaper if i would have when with the computer balancer , not the bubble balancer and the trailer, lol

[@michaelharden512]

So you give a long term review on a tire balancer and you don't even balance a tire ? WTF you think i just want to watch you take your tire balancer out of the box ?

[@davedanielson1331]

I'm sure if you look at his older videos he shows how it works.. But as the title says.. This is a long term review video not a how to video..

[@joeysanchez5926]

Can't you read ... the title.

[@zmby322]

good day sir, i know this video is 9 month old tho i was wondering if your balancer was working as mine is working, after i have the tire balanced i put the wheel back on the balancer again but now i put the wheel in a different place, what i mean is i turn the wheel so i have it on the balancer in a different place as the first time when i balanced the wheel, and every time i do this i have a different light spot, i did this like 20 time and have a different reading each time, so where is the right light spot on my wheels, lol, my car tires and rims fit on my trailer superficially, and my trailer got no brakes just baring and cones , and when i install my car wheel on the trailer and tightening up the lug nuts, give my wheel a little spin , leave it set for a few moments, the heavy spot of my wheel with all that other led removed, the heavy spot when right to the bottom, right where i wonted it to go, took my white chock marked the light spot added led so that my wheel stooped rotating , and this is how they balance the motor cycle tires and they are driving a lot faster then we are in our cars and they have no shaking or vibration nothing , couldn't balance a motor bike with this bubble balancer first turn you come to you shake so bad would end up in the woods , lol i am kinda happy and glad i have some way to balancer my wheels besides mr, bubble ferry bubble balancer , mine is the very same as you have sir, the only way that you can find out if your balancer is working the same as mine is , do the same test that i did , 1 would say i have about 50% with the bubble balancer, and a 150% balanced on my trailer , the bubble balancer is balancing the wheel of the right light spot of the wheel, this is why it is never going to be perfect balanced, so we need a 12 hundred droller trailer, and a 200. droller bubble balancer to save a few 100 bucks, but i love doing it the same even tho it's a pain in the big toe, i still save the money, lol but the funny thing when i bought the balancer they didn't ask me if i had bought the trailer first, and to make dubble sure my car wheel is going to fit on the trailer so that i can find the right light spot and that the bubble balancer is going to find like 25 light spots on 1 wheel, how we going to know what one to take to add our led waits, joke, i think it would have been a bit cheaper if i would have when with the computer balancer , not the bubble balancer and the trailer, lol

[@zmby322]

good day sir, i know this video is 9 month old tho i was wondering if your balancer was working as mine is working, after i have the tire balanced i put the wheel back on the balancer again but now i put the wheel in a different place, what i mean is i turn the wheel so i have it on the balancer in a different place as the first time when i balanced the wheel, and every time i do this i have a different light spot, i did this like 20 time and have a different reading each time, so where is the right light spot on my wheels, lol, my car tires and rims fit on my trailer superficially, and my trailer got no brakes just baring and cones , and when i install my car wheel on the trailer and tightening up the lug nuts, give my wheel a little spin , leave it set for a few moments, the heavy spot of my wheel with all that other led removed, the heavy spot when right to the bottom, right where i wonted it to go, took my white chock marked the light spot added led so that my wheel stooped rotating , and this is how they balance the motor cycle tires and they are driving a lot faster then we are in our cars and they have no shaking or vibration nothing , couldn't balance a motor bike with this bubble balancer first turn you come to you shake so bad would end up in the woods , lol i am kinda happy and glad i have some way to balancer my wheels besides mr, bubble ferry bubble balancer , mine is the very same as you have sir, the only way that you can find out if your balancer is working the same as mine is , do the same test that i did , 1 would say i have about 50% with the bubble balancer, and a 150% balanced on my trailer , the bubble balancer is balancing the wheel of the right light spot of the wheel, this is why it is never going to be perfect balanced, so we need a 12 hundred droller trailer, and a 200. droller bubble balancer to save a few 100 bucks, but i love doing it the same even tho it's a pain in the big toe, i still save the money, lol but the funny thing when i bought the balancer they didn't ask me if i had bought the trailer first, and to make dubble sure my car wheel is going to fit on the trailer so that i can find the right light spot and that the bubble balancer is going to find like 25 light spots on 1 wheel, how we going to know what one to take to add our led waits, joke, i think it would have been a bit cheaper if i would have when with the computer balancer , not the bubble balancer and the trailer, lol

[@charlespryor2889]

I wipe motor oil on the cone every time I use my bubble balancer. It let the wheel slide on the cone.