Lester tire imbalance

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I have found the balance problem with Lester’s mentioned in several previous posts. I gave up on ever getting Coker Firestones after waiting  for 16 months and bought some barely used Lester’s in good condition. After getting them mounted and balanced the plethora of balance weights glued to the inside back of the rim were too thick to fit over the drum. Took one of them back and they found some slightly thinner weights and it barely fits. The other three are at the tire shop now, they were more out of balance than the first and unclear whether they will be able to get enough weights to balance.

One of the problems is I think that my ’35 845 Eight has rolled rims that previous threads indicated were used on V-12, not Eights. I think normal clip-on balance weights can’t be used on the rolled rim, or am I wrong?

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Have you considered removing the weights and using dynamic balance beads?

https://counteractbalancing.com/

 

 

 

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Interesting idea, never heard of these but looking at the website it doesn’t appear they are viable.  Quoting from their website:

Unlike some companies that recommend using their compounds in small passenger vehicles, we know from extensive testing, suspension dynamics, and a variety of other elements of physics that you cannot guarantee success or improved performance. Having produced Counteract for over 25 years, and working with large manufacturers and suspension specialists, we have only been able to achieve a 74% success rate in passenger vehicles. From our research and testing, the largest culprit in the passenger vehicle segment that prevents the product from performing at its best is due to the soft suspension of most cars.

Elsewhere on the site they say it has worked on “classic” cars which of course is a general term which nowadays means any car with a body shell more than 20 years old. They say it has worked because of their  stiffer suspension, which makes me wonder what “classic” era they are talking about. 1910’s?

At any rate the installation and removal process looks to me like it is for tubeless only (which doubles the curiosity about what classic cars could they possibly be talking about?) Modified hot rods or race cars with bone shaking suspensions?

Thanks, it is pretty interesting.

I got my tires back and balanced with a lot of small weights, a bit crazy but at least they are on the car now.

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I had Lester tires installed new on my ’36 probably 25 years ago.  They could NEVER be balanced properly.  After installing BF Goodrich 750’s 15 years ago, I discovered they needed NO balancing at all.  Others have had this problem.  I felt bad at the time, Tom Lester was a brilliant collector and a good friend of mine.  Moreover, the rigidity of the tires seemed to be flimsier than  other makes I have used.

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