How to balance your tires at home and how to modify your Harbor Freight/Amazon bubble balancer! 

I can absolutely confirm- this WORKS. I watched this vid last night, it 'sorta' made sense but I told myself, I'll try it tomorrow and see what happens. I widened the hole about 5/16" being careful not to go too deep because I didn't want to disturb where the actual 'head of the pin' was going to rest. I just left enough room so the little shaft didn't run against anything. ONLY the point was touching the cone assembly. Well- right away, I could tell there was a huge difference. The cone assembly didn't 'settle' right away- and that was without the wheel even being placed in position. Then I put on a wheel that was supposed to be 'balanced' - not even close. I removed all the weights I put on and started all over only this time, with this 'new' setup- I got it right. I did both front tires, took the car for a ride- no vibration @ 50MPH- no vibration @90MPH. I was beside myself. Anyway- THANK YOU for making this vid.

My grandpa taught me how to use one of these almost 30 years ago, I finally bought one at harbor freight today and I'm glad you saved me a ton of of precious brain power to make it work right

I just did this to mine. What a difference. It swings for days now and centers perfectly. Thank you brother🤙

Old school here love it. Restore

Great video! I love the budget-friendly approach and the friendly tone. The gratitude section at the end of each video is is pretty classy too. Cheers!

You guys make a great team, and awesome mod. Thanks.

Thank you. This is another one of those videos that provide great information.

Great mod. I've seen several mods and this is by far the easiest and least expensive. This is only the second video that I have watched of yours and I have just subscribed. looking forward to seeing more of your stuff. You both make a great team by the way.

I appreciate you getting back to me. Thank you….

Excellent job.very helpful.thanks you guys

Best tip I've seen in some time. I just completed this mod and it's insane how much difference it made.

Pretty Kool 😮 I got the new HF Black tier changer still in a box, Awsome job drilling it to balance better.

If your bubble is inside that circle, you are good to go. There is so much unsprung weight in those old wheels and suspension that you don't have to be perfect. Most balance issues will show up at the 55/60 mph mark. If you are smooth there, you are good. Bubble balance takes care of the static balance which is 95% of the issue. Splitting the weight between the inside and outside takes care of the dynamic balance for the most part, the last 5%. Great video!

Great job, on the modifications to the tire machine and wheel balancer ..

Top work, well explained, Cheers.

That was beautiful. I like it. Great job and makes a whole Lotta sense whole Lotta sense.

Wow! i just ordered one on Ebay. Will check for this point issue, and use the drill if its off. Thanks for the video!

Great modification , thank you man

Greeeeaaaaaaattttt video! Thanks! Great to see non-spastic, non-quick edit videos by real people. So much better than most videos on youtube! Keep up the great work!

I just received my bubble balancer. I knew from watching several of these videos that it was basically a "kit" I would have to tune. Your video gives me hope that won't be too onerous a task. Thanks much!

It's great to see how well you two work together! Thanks for sharing that with us.

Thank you for charing a great modification. I love how you both cooperate ♥️. I wished my wife was interested like your.

Great video guy's, thank you 👍

Great video! Entertaining and informative !

I've been changing my own tires for a couple decades to save a dime, and have recently noticed a very slight vib at around 70 mph in one of my vehicles. I have one of those harbor freight balancers, and am considering trying it out. Thanks for the pointers.

Well done! This is the second vid of yours I've seen, the first one being the tire changer mods.Great ideas and plan on reworking my HF tire changer. One mod i made on mine was putting a spring on the bead breaker. That way i dont have to hold it up and out of the way while I'm sliding tires in or out.Thanks for the vid and keep up the good work!

I just discovered your channel and what a great, informative, and entertaining channel for the DIY'er. They get 30 bucks a wheel here in long island and and now I see how I could use these tools and mods to do a pretty decent job on my 66 stang time and time again. Thank you both sooo much!

Thank you for sharing,good job

I LOVE THIS. Thank you sooooo much!!!

The editing is hilarious! The explosion after hitting the weight had me cracking up.😂 And thanks for the mod knowledge. I came for the mod, I stayed due to the good energy, concise info, and the edits! Perfect balance of entertaining and informative. Pun intended. Good work!

He is so excited over that marker. She is adorable

Thanks for encouraging all of us, I spent a few hours replacing 4 tires on aluminum rims today, using your videos as a great source of tips. I made a "contraption" to mount the duckbill similar to yours, and it really works well. I drilled the center of my balancer as well, works like a charm now. Thanks again

I've used mine on all my wheels with success so far and it's paid for itself easy , thanks for video great advice.

I got one of them had it cents 1978 or before it’s old but still good. Great thinking again never wood of think that to do to it. But I’ll check it out thanks again for showing telling see ya next time see ya bye.

You two work so well together, my wife and I are the same way. Love your content. I was actually wondering about that balancer and how well it would work and now I know. Thank you for doing this video and showing how easy the mods were.

So much good info. Thank you!

Thanks for the tip !

Bought everything you folks have from princess auto up here in Canada 🇨🇦 works amazing after I did the mods

Thanks for this, big help.

Mine wobbles for a long time out of the box. This is a great idea for the ones that don’t !

Excellent mod

You guys are adorable 😂 and absolutely love the diy content

Just found your channel, enjoyed this video. I can't remember if it was in high school shop class, or the gas station I worked at while in high school. The bubble balancer I learned was pretty cool, because it had a lever to lift the bubble assembly to balance, after finding the weights needed, you would move the lever to lower the bubble assembly to a solid surface to hammer the weights on without having to take the tire off and back on for the recheck.

Great info, brother. Watched the tire machine and the balancing. Jess is a keeper, too!

Man, it's best car channel i found in my life. The exact thing regular guy do in garage. Thank you. I was looking for diy tire change vid for a while and finally ended up with here.

The 14" set i put on my sons corolla dint have the red dot but the 17s of nexens did have the red dot i dont have a balancer yet so had to get them balanced the 17s i couldnt mount broke the changer and the tool that came with it i had alredy cut the ends off and welded them to a solid steel benh press bar thats made to hold a lot of weight and bent the crap out of trying to mount the 215/65/17s was going to buy a amazon install bar but after i watched your last video im going to go that rout. Thank you again for a great video!!! Have a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!

Thanks I'll try it

Outstanding.

I did what you did and drilled it out a bit, and now it wobbles long time rightly. Thanks again!

Awesome video Great work !

Very nice video on how too use old school tools I’ll be getting one of those thanks

Thank you!

Good stuff guys ,much respected

I'm 67 ... I was mounting and balancing tires (on a bubble balancer) when I was 15 at our local Western Auto! 1970-ish😜 (Would you want a 15 year old kid mounting and balancing your tires today unsupervised? 😁 ) Great memories! Don't remember anyone ever bringing tires back for balance issues! Another great video!!! Thanks!

I hope to get lucky with my china made wheel balancer I just ordered. I really wasn't expecting to make any modifications to anything when buying it. Thank you very much for making this video

Good job

Great fix to make a cheap product usable. I like to use balancing beads now, much easier and no need to rebalance. Used on 5 motorcycles and one car. Always have a smooth ride, even after 30k miles on a set of tires.

Glad I got to see your video on this. I'm going to do that to my balancer. I thought that's what was wrong with mine, but I just wiggled and spun my tires a few times just to be sure that they will center each time. After 3 times then I marked the spot and then put my weights on. I balance my tires every time I rotate them.

Just found your channel tonight. You have a new subscriber

No doubt that Jess is a champion. She is definitely a keeper brother. The looks she gives you sometimes are priceless. Thanks for sharing her with us. Thanks for the video👍👍🇨🇦

Love it. You guys did great, and explained everything very well!!!

nice and simple.

My Harbor Freight balancer is sitting in the shed this past 20 years because I couldn't get the damm thing to balance right. Use to do static balancing at a gas station during college. Thanks for sharing the moods to the tire changer and balancer.

Thank you Sir 👍

That was a good tip......

Thank you 👍

So this is the second of your videos with the tire changer being the first and I just have to say, you have a great wife my friend. I imagine you two have a great time together as best friends busting each other's chops.

Great video good content. Keep it up!

Great static balancer!!!!

i use an 1/8 inch ball bearing works great also raze the height of the bubble on a aluminum shaft about 4 in makes the bubble have a greater swing

Liked you’re video!

Nice one 👍

You got yourself a subscriber! 👍🏽

Just found you keep up the great content

In 1964 when I was 19 and working at a gas station we balanced with a bubble balancer and never had anyone come back with a vibration problem. Now at 78 and still working on old cars I might just get one of those balancers and use your modification. Lefty

I got two things from this one I'm going to do it now and second if you were my neighbor it would be awesome

I did read the patent filed 1957 for the Y method, the purpose was to enable a tire shop to only need to stock 3 different weights and still be able to balance any wheel. 0.6 oz & 1.6 oz & 2.25 oz. With normal balance method a shop would need to stock many different weights.

I'm buying one on my home from work. Great video and buy the way your wife is a keeper and has beautiful hair.

I had never seen this mod anywhere before, so I tried it on a brand new balancer, and after I balanced four tires, threw them on my Ranger, I can scream down the highway at near 80 miles an hour, and the things as smooth as silk

Lead weights are very soft. They can be easily cut with a hacksaw to customize the weight amount.

OD Green Daluth. Very nice Army Veteran approved.

Good thing you timed the way it came. There may have been some confusion!

good video

Just a quick one. I use a piece of chalk to mark on the tire. That way you can just rub it off when you're done. Thanks for the video. I think I'll go out and buy me a balancer...

It nice job

Alright, you guys got the job. I'll be by next Tuesday with a set of Michelin's 🚗 😉

Sweeet... hat! 💯👊🏼

You guys make a good couple

Genius🎉

Jess is the cutest little bubble balancer on RU-vid! ❤

WOW

Those weights are a pain haha i worked at a shop that used those. Got to the point i could hold them, swing and let go before it hits and get them on lol great video ive been wanting to just do everything at home.

wow you have it really awesome with a wife that does things with you. treasure her. I might suggest why not use litle chalk marks on the tire instead of a red dot. of course black dots would work unless you make a mistake and not cover it with a weight later. I watched your tire mounting video too. I like your informative way. I may buy these now. being in Canada will see princess auto.

Enjoyed the video very professional and very detailed thanks for it. I was wondering have a 1000 watt inverter. Bought 6 foot inverter cables. Trying to figure out how to run the cables from my battery to inside of my vehicle, which is a 2017 Toyota Yaris. My purpose is to be able to heat of my food while I am own my lunch break and not go to my break room. with a 700watt microwave inside my vehicle,it is possible but trying to figure out how to run the wires, thank TC.

I like the way your wife does the heavy lifting. P.S. Jess you look awesome in the coveralls. 👍

I used 1/2" drill bit to make a wide, shallow, cone.

I bought one of these off Amazon and thought it moved pretty freely. enlarged the hole a bit and it wobbles around for a long time now. Just mounted and balanced a set of tires the other day and I feel a little bit of a rumble on most roads, not very noticeable but I think I can make it better. Can't really say it was the balancers fault as 2 of the tires balanced ok with the weights from the previous tires so I let those fly and probably shouldn't have. Gonna give the Y method a try.

i always divide the wight for each side if rim , prevents wobble, love that you work with your wife . your wife looking good on camera

Gd day!, before anything, best assistant in d world!!!, well from the tech aspect it'll work 95%-98%, the rest is science of nature will take over,,,, good work!!!! As we marines say , practice makes perfect!!! Since it' patented i'll probably reinvent my DIY mod,,,, well Einstein wiĺl be proud of yo folks!!!!

Man this brings me back. When i was a teen with no $$ my dad would make me change my truck tire with two large tire irons and a can of starting fluid to bead her up. The first time my friend and I worked on it for hours to no avail and my dad shook his head grabbed the irons and removed the tire and replaced it in just a few min bit i never could get it down it always took along time for me. Great channel btw keep it up.