If you specialize in tires or sell vehicles you will want to be able to solve any type of vibration problem. Consider a balancer that can solve a vibration problem that is caused by a out of round condition. Many of these problems do not show up until the tire is mounted and rolling down the road.
- Stiff sidewall or out of round diagnostics – The sidewall construction is often stiffer in one or more areas around the tire, when this problem is present there will be a vibration with every rotation. Several manufactures offer designs to identify this type of problem, if the balancer does not have a way of loading the tire as it were driving down the road you will not be able to identify many of these problems.
- Tire pull – You can also select a balancer capable of reading the amount of tire pull present in each tire, when a set of 4 tires are balanced the balancer will instruct which corner of the vehicle to place each tire to neutralize any tire pull that may be present.
- Wheel lift – With tire and wheel assemblies as heavy as 150 lb. you may choose an integrated wheel lift to prevent back injuries.
- Laser sighting – A laser light to show an exact location where to place the wheel weight is to be placed will insure better accuracy.
- Specialty adapters – 3 jaw chuck adapters are available for larger truck wheels, these are a self centering adapter that fit a wide range of the larger center holes. Collect style cones are the lowest taper and do the best job centering the wheel.
- Printer – A printout is valuable to show a customer before and after results.
- Tire inflation – Proper tire inflation is needed prior to any balance or testing for out of round condition, an inflation system on the balancer will ensure you check every tire for proper tire pressure prior to balancing.
- Wheel weight saving features – There are balancers that can reduce the amount of wheel weights required to balance an assembly, a volume tire store can see substantial savings with this feature.
- Alternate wheel weight option – Commonly called split weight, this feature will allow you to select another size weight if you are out of the size required.
- Centering check – This is a feature that will tell the operator if the tire is centered properly on the balancer, this can prevent costly come backs.
Always research to see if local parts and service is available for the balancer you select.