Hoosier VFF vs Slick balance weights

[Steve Robertson]

Starting in 2023 the SEDiv CF tire rule will include the vintage treaded tires in addition to the R60A slick. I am making the switch to the Hoosier VFF and went to Road Atlanta a few weeks ago to get a set mounted so I could setup the car. It wasn't a race weekend for me so I did not race. The photo below shows one wheel required 14 1/4 oz wheel weights to balance. The weights cover a quarter of the rim perimeter. Is this normal for the treaded tires? Are they inherently more unbalanced than the slicks? The other three wheels with VFF tires required 5, 8 and 10 1/4 oz balance weights. That's 37 1/4 oz weights in total. When cleaning the wheels before going to Road Atlanta, a total of 17 1/4 oz weights were removed from the four wheels with slicks.

Note that the tires were NOT installed by the usual SEDiv Hoosier tire distributor (i.e. Appalachian Race Tire).

[halcyon]

I haven't seen a significant difference in weights required to balance the two tire options.

[stonebridge20]

Are there any weights on the inside of the wheel?

[Steve Robertson]

There are no weights on the inside of the wheel. That is different from the slicks as well. ART usually installed wheel weights on the inside only.

[problemchild]

I have seen large quantity of weights on some of the FF spec radials. If you are getting at the track from one of the big dealers, they will probably take that tire back. I will attribute the issue to the difficulty Hoosier is having finding manpower for their production facilities. The QC is not where they would like it to be but the best they can do. Although not pretty, I have not had any issues with the heavily weighted wheels/tires. It is what it is.

[Jim Edmonds]

This happens from time to time on street car and truck tires. The tire shops let the air out, break the bead, and rotate the tire on the rim to a spot that is closer to natural balance.

Alternately: Discount Tire in Phoenix had a habit of not mounting the rim properly on the balancing machine; then telling you that all of your rims are bent. A little push back sometimes helps. Discount's training has been lacking lately.

YMMV

Jim Edmonds

[Garey Guzman]

This happens from time to time on street car and truck tires. The tire shops let the air out, break the bead, and rotate the tire on the rim to a spot that is closer to natural balance.
Jim Edmonds

^^ This is what I do. I was mounting some for a friend last weekend and the balancer asked for something like 80g. I broke the bead, rotated the tire 1/3, reseated and rebalanced, down to 25 g

BTW, the other 3 tires were below 40g. I'm sure that if a person was trying to minimize weights, it can be reduced a little more.