Centramatics Wheel Balancers

[AdrianLee]

I had a set of Centramatic Wheel Balancers installed at the Centramatics HQ this morning. Then we drove over to Corsicana, TX, about 75 miles on back highways with about 19 miles on I-45. I cannot believe the difference in the ride and handling of our coach. Suposedly the tires were balanced but after only 6000 miles they have changed I guess.

I am not necessarilly sure they are any better than the Master Balancers or the Equal and the other powder that goes in the tire but they are really well worth the money.

[AdrianLee]

I had a set of Centramatic Wheel Balancers installed at the Centramatics HQ this morning. Then we drove over to Corsicana, TX, about 75 miles on back highways with about 19 miles on I-45. I cannot believe the difference in the ride and handling of our coach. Suposedly the tires were balanced but after only 6000 miles they have changed I guess.

I am not necessarilly sure they are any better than the Master Balancers or the Equal and the other powder that goes in the tire but they are really well worth the money.

[John_Canfield]

Adrian - what sort of a ride/handling problem were you experiencing pre-wheel balancers?

[AdrianLee]

John,

It just seemed kind of bouncy. It was not really a problem per se. I just never had that comfortable feeling at 65 mph. 70 was not real safe in my opinion although not so much that I could not do 70 to pass a vehicle on the interstate as long as I did not have any curves coming up. The ride and handling feel was never something that I could specifically put my finger on, it just never did feel good. Think about sailing a Hans or an Catalina in heavy weather. Which one would you feel better in?

The ride and handling is still not up to the Hans but it is getting there if you can understand the analogy I am trying to make.

[tderonne]

I had them on two axles (of three total) of a class C coach that our Winne replaced. They improved the vibrations in a way no amount of balancing, of tires and driveline, and trueing of the tires ever did.

But at like $170 a pair I'm finding them hard to justify and would like to try some $7 powder.

[AdrianLee]

VIBRATION - that is robably the besgt word to use, They stopped the vibrations.

[TheRVGuy]

Adrian,

After having new tires installed at about 50K miles, I installed centramatics on our coach.

Yep, vibration is a great word for the thing removed. We paid $139 a pair for ours and they are worth far more. We presently have about 5K on them and I pulled tires to check them for any signs of wear or fatigue and they look just like they did when I put them on.

Good choice I believe.

Mike

[John_Canfield]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by AdrianLee:
Think about sailing a Hans or an Catalina in heavy weather. Which one would you feel better in? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>The Catalina is fine for lakes and near-shore, but I'll sail the Hans Christian offshore thank you. I understand the analogy.

[alvinc]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TheRVGuy:
After having new tires installed at about 50K miles, I installed centramatics on our coach.

Yep, vibration is a great word for the thing removed. We paid $139 a pair for ours and they are worth far more. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Where did you purchase yours and what model and part number were they? Centramatic has a 400 and 600 series, I presume the difference is the ability to balance heavier tires in the 600 series.

I have a 2002 Southwind W22 and would like to know what you installed.

[AdrianLee]

alvinc,

The part number is based on your chassie, wheel size, and brake hub size. Check their web site and you can see which ones you would need.

Centramatic

[MrTransistor]

Hi Adrian,
I'm intrigued. I have been having a left front tire balance problem for a while now. Started after some tire rotation and remounting prior to a front end alignment (1/4 inch too much toe in). It got much better when I removed the wheel assembly and replaced it 180 degrees from its original position. There is still a slight imbalance in both fronts and I'm sure the rears also.

From the Centramatic web site, it looks like the 04 Horizon would take the 700-710 on the fronts because of the disk brakes, and the 600-640 on the rear. List price $388.00 ? Has anyone found a discount retailer for these products that will ship? Installation looks fairly simple, remove the wheel, place the balancer over the studs, and replace the wheel. 500 to 600 Lb/Ft or torque on the lug nuts is easy with a 5 foot pipe. That 2 foot bar that Winnebago or Freightliner provides is (ahhh) 3 feet short! Unless you weigh over 275 Lbs.

[AdrianLee]

MrTransister,

I wouldn't even hint that they would fix your problem but I think they would be well worth the try. I am not aware of any discount dealers offering them. I have a friend who has a Dutch Star and he bought a set in Quartzite this year for $360. I think that's about as discount as you are going to get.

You are right - remove the wheel and put them on after assuring you are putting them on in the right direction.

As far as touqueing them yourself, I guess you could although I seem to remember a thread, either here or somewhere else, that said you could do some damage by over torqueing the studs. I think I would check with a tool rental place. The torque wrench they used was about 4' long. One guy held it on the lug nut and the other guy supplied the weight.

While I was waiting for them to be installed I talked to 2 truckers that had their trucks in the shop. Both commented, without me saying anything, that they hated to drive a truck without them.

[Warpath]

I tried these a few years ago on my Freightliner FLD-120 just before we converted it to a motorhome.

I was getting a vibration from 53-58 mph which was real annoying. I put a set on the front and back and it had no effect on the problem. The vibration was not that bad so I was sure that these would have solved it. The truck had steel wheels so I bit the bullet and replaced the rims with Alcoa's along with the steer tires and that solved the problem. Never did determine if it was a rim or tire. Tire shop did not recommend that I use them since they thought that it could mask a problem and so I never put back on.

So they may not fix a vibration from a rim or tire issue.

[alvinc]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by AdrianLee:
alvinc,

The part number is based on your chassie, wheel size, and brake hub size. Check their web site and you can see which ones you would need.

Centramatic </div></BLOCKQUOTE>AdianLee, Have you actually visited the Centramatic website? I found their catalog to be much less than useful. I was hoping for an applications guide that would list the chassis models, like P30, W22, F53, maybe coupled with the year and rim size.

Unfortunately I don't have this information, and since TheRVGuy has a W22 of the same year, I thought I would ask him which model he purchased. I could work the information either way, using wheel configuration, or chassis manufacturer/year. But I have neither, and the Workhorse Spec Sheet doesn't show the wheel configuration either.

Other web sites I checked out, seem to recommend the 400 series for P30 and 600 series for larger Class A's.