Northern Mike

We're having a bit of a heatwave here with the temp now around -25'C (warmer then most nights the last two weeks or so). Though I would try a speed run with the new motor, but for the life of me, couldn't get a stitch of traction outside my driveway (which has about 2" of hard snow). On the road where it is plowed down to hard snow, I couldn't get any traction on the rear. Took out all preloads from the rear suspension and everything. The best I could do is 40.5kmph in 40ft in the driveway.
When I came in the house, I noticed that there is a lot of wobble to the rear wheels until they balloon. So I will need to reglue them for sure. This and balance of the chunky 2.8 Proline Sand Paws where not allowing me to get up to any speed on the hard surface.

Any tips or tricks to balancing these tires?

phmaximus

I dare say.... only guessing that those tyres are no good on hard packed surfaces. it might be to hard for them to dig in and do there thing.

For hard packed snow I would be tempted to try some slicks with thumb tacks fitted to them.

As for balancing. the trick is to find the heavy spot, then add weight to the other side untill there is no heavy spot.

if u dont have a wheel balancer. u can balance wheels on the front of a RWD drive car. or remove the dog bone on a 4x4...... providing u have good wheel bearings....

So what u do is, mount the wheel, then watch it. it will most likely start rotating and u will see it starts rocking back and forth until it evidentially comes to a stop.. that means the heavy spot is now at the bottom
take note of the rocking because the centre point between the rocks is the heavy spot. Depending on ur bearings u may notice that when it stops rocking its not quite in the middle.
sometimes its worth moving the wheel a few degrees and seeing if it rocks. u will find a dead spot of a few degrees. where if u move the wheel there it wont rock. u need to find the middle of this dead zone.

once u have the middle worked out mark the top of the wheel directly opposite the heavy spot. now u have marked the light spot.
now slowly add weight and watch the rocking motion. u will notice the more weight u add the less it rocks. but if u add to much it will start rocking but with a different heavy spot.
So the idea is to add just enough weight so in any position the wheel wont rock back and forth.... its ok for the wheel to rotate slightly when u let go... just not rocking.

For first timers, I would recommend starting off with bluetac for weight. its easy to work with and does not dry out and loose weight.
play around with bluetac then when u get the hang then start experimenting with 1:1 stick on wheel weights...just keep in mind they will need to be cut smaller...

hope this all makes sense,,,

1320Fastback

Beside balancing another thing I do with my tires is use a small gasket punch and put 4 holes in them evenly spaced around the tire dead center of the tread. This allows any dirt "weight"to escape and keeps them in balance. The vent holes on the inside of the rims will allow dirt to get into the tires and this will of course unbalance the tires.

Northern Mike

I don't know if its as much the tires as the road conditions. With the really cold temps, the road or parking lots are pretty slick. Even my wife's van with good tires was having a hard time to find traction.I tried the Dirt Hawg tires (warmed) on the -25'C roads and couldn't break 25kmph before the rear would go sqirly. I removed all preloads from the suspension and mounted the GPS near the middle. The weight was 63/37 rear to front weight ratio (2280g).

As for the balancing, I will give it a try this weekend with the sand paws.