Reply to "Balancing tires"

Hi Chris- the pro bubble balancer I use is from E-Bay along with a Coates semi-automatic tire mounting machine. They both needed TLC as received in 1990 but work well, just slow by today's stds. I successfully mounted & balanced 295-50 x 15"s on 10" Campys & 245-50 x 17" aluminum Z-28 wheels without damage. Those are about the max size wheels the air-powered Coates will accept. Air is only used to break the bead- the rest is arm-power with a 3 ft mount/dismount bar. If I at my age can use it, anyone can.

Besides the mentioned problem with balance shops, I once had a Mickey Thompson aluminum wheel BROKEN IN HALF when a shop tried to use a 'fully automatic' tire mounting machine to put a tire on it. I called Mr. Thompson in CA on the shop's phone and Mickey told us all that automatic tire mounting machines should NEVER be used on alloy wheels. Then he told me to go back to the Speed Shop where I got the wheels and tell them, 'Mickey said to give me a new one'. Which they did, no questions asked. I was just a voice on a phone a dozen States away. The guy was always a class act! I miss him.