Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/664171
Under-used tools and techniques may be hiding in your tire shop By Ann Neal T here are only so many hours in your shift, so making the most of your time in the bay is critical. Here are some tools and techniques for making mounting and bal- ancing high performance and ultra-high performance tires faster and easier. We asked manufacturers to name the most under-used tools and techniques in the shop, so chances are something here will be new to you. Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, Hunter Engineering Co., Hennessy Industries Inc., and RavAmerica, the U.S. divi- sion of Ravaglioli SpA of Italy, responded. Bosch, Joe Atteo, product manager for service equip- ment: 1. Lug-centric centering plates. They help reduce come- backs and increase accuracy when balancing wheels. 2. Weight placement measure- ments taken by machines. Bosch has a weight place- ment feature on its wheel b a l a n c e r s t h a t e n s u r e s pinpoint weight placement of aluminum wheel weights for accuracy and to reduce comebacks when balancing high performance wheels. 3. Wheel service machine soft- ware. Bosch wheel balancers use advanced software for accuracy in measurement and weight placement that all technicians should be using. It reduces the risk of error during wheel measuring and weight placement, helping eliminate comebacks and customer issues. When used by a trained technician, newer software will make balancing tires a faster, more effcient process. Hunter, Greg Meyer, product manager for wheel balancers: When mounting and balancing high performance and ultra- high performance tires and wheels it is extremely impor- tant to use adaptors such as flange plates and collets to ensure proper centering and protection of the high-end fnish of these expensive wheels. The low-taper of Hunter's BullsEye collets provides a direct ft and the dual-taper design provides better hub bore contact to improve centering. The next step is to verify that the wheel is centered. All of Hunter's balancers feature CenteringCheck, including the Road Force Touch balancer. CenteringCheck can be used to verify proper mounting and identify possible centering errors. If the assembly is not properly centered, the wheel cannot be balanced accurately and improper measurements will occur. Technicians should also use a balancer that can measure road force, such as the Road Force Touch wheel balancer. A road force measurement solves vibration issues, identi- fes vehicle pulls and provides customers that "new car ride." High performance and ultra- high performance tires and wheels require a road force measurement because the chassis of high-end vehicles are more sensitive to vehicle vibra- tions and the vehicle owners are more discerning when expe- riencing an unpleasant vehicle vibration. Hennessy, Don Vander- heyden, director of marketing: Up to 60% of vibration-related comebacks are directly related to mounting errors. Coats Adjustable Pin Plates combine 15 plates into one solution and provide the precision to achieve the ideal performance balance. The low angle of the Coats 8-Piece Collet Set aids in repli- cating the vehicle mounting by more closely matching the center bore of the wheel. When back coning, the shallow depth and low angle ensures the collet engages the mounting surface and ends prior to engaging the cosmetic front hubcap on plastic faced wheels. Virtually every motor vehicle wheel suffers from dynamic unbalance, a combination of static and couple unbalance. A w e i g h t - s a v i n g b a l a n c e r assesses both static and couple unbalances. The machine calculates corrective weight amounts and weight placement location(s) that eliminate or reduce static unbalance, but leaves a residual ("leftover") couple unbalance that is theo- rized not to cause a vibration complaint. In addition, under certain conditions, conven- tional dynamic balancers can leave excessive residual static unbalance. The Coats Vero Series V200 Wheel Balancer with ProBal- ance Technology uses a unique balancing algorithm and unbal- ance correction methodology that solves residual unbalance. Bosch says its WBE 4430 wheel balancer includes high perfor- mance tire mounting accessories to speed up and ease the process of removing and installing UHP tires. RavAmerica says ma- chines like its new RAV Memory are ideal for mounting and demount- ing UHP tires and wheels. The Memory has a three-arm ar- ticulating help device, no-mar plastic demount tool with memory; safe hub mounting system, and 220v variable speed drive. 28 Feature