[walkertelecoms]

I had 2 tyres fitted to my ISUZU TROOPER by Grahams Tyres at Halfway yesterday, I was confused to see instead of using the tyre balancer to spin the tyres upto running speed the bloke just span the wheel with his hand. I asked, who I assumed was the manager, if this was normal, he said yes as they only go upto a certain speed. I didn't expect lobbing the tyre round with your hand would simulate road speed, maybe 2mph?
Over the 30 years I've been driving and been through at least 60 tyre refits including company cars etc I've never seen a wheel balancer that didn't need a speed calibration of the tyre and wheel first at speed.

Maybe I'm wrong, I do telephones not tyres

[G-tech]

Hand-spin wheel balancers are quite common, they work exactly the same as a motorised balancer, but you spin them by a crank-handle until a lamp indicates that you have reached the required speed for balancing. The weights required are then displayed in the digital readout.

The reason they are hand-spin is because they are a budget machine. Less parts means less cost, so they have no motor. I haven't used one in a long time bt a quick google shows that they are readily available still (see link here)

[ANGELFIRE1]

Aye, my mate has the manual version in his garage, done my wheels many a time, as good as the "electric" version IMHO.

Regards

Angel.

[walkertelecoms]

Ah cool this explains it then, just looked a bit tinpot compared to what I've been accustomed to over the years.

Cheers