[Steen Carstensen]

Someone told me long time ago to look inside the tire, you will see an area where the inner carcass overlaps, try to mount the tire so that area is opposite to the valve stem. You can also balance the tire/wheel on the front spindles using stick on weights.

[Ric mcDade]

A tire balancer of some kind is a must! At least to have them on the money. Found everywhere from shops to eBay for $20-60 range. You can search for tire balancing beads. They work great, but hard to keep when remounting tires.

[Sean S]

Steen, thanks man!
I though of doing that on the spindle but I thought that the negative camber of the front end would thrown off. I’ll give it a shot and see how close it gets.

Ric, I know… I know… I need one but I’ve been hesitant to pay $60 + $20 for shipping. There has to be guys that got around that price and thought of something simple as two legs and a horizontal bar.

Level/balance out a shaft w/hub clamped in a vice… Just thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Just balance them on the hub on the kart. I always do mine about 5 minutes before I head down to the grid.

Rears aren’t that important to balance, in sprint karting at least. I only do the fronts.

[Rodney Ebersole]

Just turn the streering wheel and lock it at zero camber. Instead of spinning the tire and wheel and waiting to see where and how it stops. Tap the top of your king pin bolt with a hammer and watch the heavy part of the wheel and tire roll to the bottom. Generally placing two smaller weights at 2 o’clock and 10 o’clock will balnace out quicker than one heavy weight at 12 o’clock.

The cord overlap (heavy area) runs across the inner part of the tire at a 45 degree angle. Put a mark on the outside of your tire where that bulge is at when it passes the center of the tires inner carcuse and then mount the valve stem ligned up oppisite to the mark.
It is also interesting to mark the tire and rim to watch for the small amount of tire rotation that accures from use and effects from mounting lubes.

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