Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing wheel balancing

Hi,
I have 15" steel wires fitted and will shortly be changing my tyres due to the walls cracking. Do the new tyres need any specialist fitting or balancing? I have heard the balancing needs to be done at a specialist.

Thanks. Mark.

I don't know much about wheel balancing in general, but it's not exensive to have them balanced properly. However, mwsint.com who are the supplier of the wheels to the M3W have a nifty, albeit expensive, thing to do balancing of wire wheels in ordinary car setups. However, you should be able to go to a motorcycle outfit for this, even for a 15 inch 4-wheeler.

Balancing wheels aren't expensive:

Nifty thing (read why it is important to have the wheel hung like it is on the car):
http://shop.mwsint.com/product_details.asp?id=1041

Balancing wheels:
http://shop.mwsint.com/productslist.asp?catid=70&pagenum=1

They also have some information on the various wheels, tyres etc. which reads so even someone like me understands it.

Hi, Check through Moss Motors Web site, their tech page has a good write up. I modified a front splined hud to fit onto the balancing machine allowing the wheel to be balanced without being damaged

Interesting , thanks.

Ring any Morgan dealer, or perhaps even more usefully, any other classic car workshop in your area - and ask them who they use for balancing splined wire wheels.

It cannot be done accurately with just the standard cones used by most tyre places, but you should find someone who can without too much trouble. Whatever you do, get them to use stick on weights not the dreadful hammer-on type (that the factory use, bless them!) that mar the rim surface, especially if painted or chromed, and then allow corrosion to start.

The wheels when put on a balancing machine need to have a cone on each side of the hub, NOT a flat edge on the inside edge of the hub as this will not be true to the wheels. If when balancing the wheels an excessive amount of weights is needed, then the tyres should be deflated and spun on the wheel to try and offset this. Clip on weights on the outer edges of the wheel rims according to my tyre fitter are a more accurate method of balancing. My car has clip in weights that are encased in plastic and will not damage the wheels or rust.

My understanding is that the standard cones used by most tyre dealers are not suitable for splined hubs, as they don't ensure the wheel is mounted correctly on the balancing machine. The better way is an adapted splined hub with machined faces that can be put on the machine and holds the hub perfectly square. I've seen a Morgan with painted wires damaged by plastic coated hammer-on weights - not the weight itself but the metal clip that hooks over the rim, the damage isn't apparent until the weight is taken off. I have s/s wires bought direct from MWS and ask for stick on weights on the inner rim, as for alloys, and I can't see why one method would be more "accurate" than the other...?

Where are you Mark?
If in the Midlands area, go to someone like Paul Harris Classic Tyres, who fully understands wire wheel balancing.
If you are in Bucks, try Millers Commercial Motors, they are Morgan enthusiasts (with a capital E ).

Agree clip on weights could damage the edge of a painted wheel, if the rear cone is the correct angle it will centre on the hub, obviously fitting the wheel and a centre splined hub is the perfect solution. The reason I was told that weighting at the edge was best was due to the dynamics of a spinning wheel and it meant less weight was needed.

I would say that Graham's advise is the best.

When my wheels had not been set up correctly it felt as though the car wanted to drift to the nearside at times , I thought it was the road camber . The tyre garage ( not a mog agent ) had not put any of the binding in the wheels that hides the spokes so for years the spokes and the inner tube touched . Its now spot on, on a streach of a certain road I can lift both hands off the s/wheel at a right old stonk ! and its like a train on a track .