Polished wheels and balancing

[willbiz]

hello- I have an experience person willing to strip the factory powder coating from my 99 rt wheels and polish them our to a chrome like finish. should i have any problems getting them re-balanced?

[azccj]

No, I can't see any reason why they can't be rebalanced once the polish job is done.

[OoPEZoO]

I haven't balanced a motorcycle wheel/tire in over 60k miles (including TKC knobbies on my GS) and haven't had any ill effects. I still get nice even wear, and haven't had any vibration or handling issues. I think its a waste of time and effort.

[tomk99r11]

Why would you? The wheel doesn't know, nor does the tire.

[eddd]

I haven't balanced a motorcycle wheel/tire in over 60k miles (including TKC knobbies on my GS) and haven't had any ill effects. I still get nice even wear, and haven't had any vibration or handling issues. I think its a waste of time and effort.

 

Initially I followed the advice of some that believe balancing is not needed, but on one new rear tire it was very obvious that there was a balance issue. I remounted 180 degrees and it got slightly better. That is when I purchased a balancer. After balancing the tire was fine. After that experience I balance every tire. It takes very little time and the cost is minimal.

[Big_Gray]

I haven't balanced a motorcycle wheel/tire in over 60k miles (including TKC knobbies on my GS) and haven't had any ill effects. I still get nice even wear, and haven't had any vibration or handling issues. I think its a waste of time and effort.

 

Initially I followed the advice of some that believe balancing is not needed, but on one new rear tire it was very obvious that there was a balance issue. I remounted 180 degrees and it got slightly better. That is when I purchased a balancer. After balancing the tire was fine. After that experience I balance every tire. It takes very little time and the cost is minimal.

I am kind of with eddd on this one. I bought a Marc Parnes balancer quite a few years ago when I decided to mount the first set of replacement tires on the RT. Surprise... I did an initial test on my rims with no tires prior to mounting. Front wheel was perfect. Rear was 2 grams off (and still is). I still balance the rim prior to mounting new tires.

 

When I mounted my last set this spring, I forgot to balance prior to putting the wheels back on the bike. I was going to remove them again and balance but I remembered the anecdotal testimonials on this board and said "what the heck" "I'll try it without balancing". At 110 km/hr, the motorcycle felt buzzier than I ever remember it in the past. I then removed the wheels and re-balanced them. The result was smooth, or at least as smooth as my boxer ever gets.

 

I can't draw any real hard conclusions from this other than an imbalance of about 2 grams (+/- whatever imbalance was in the tire)was definitely noticable to me, even if it was only in my head but I'm sure I felt it lower down in my body.

 

For the extra time it takes me (5-10 minutes) I am going to continue checking the balance each time the wheels are off the motorcycle.

[Big_Gray]

hello- I have an experience person willing to strip the factory powder coating from my 99 rt wheels and polish them our to a chrome like finish. should i have any problems getting them re-balanced?

 

Just a thought... what were you planning to do to the polished wheels to prevent the exposed alloy from oxidizing to a dull finish? I am not trying to be smart, I just believe you would need a protective coating and was curious what you might use.