Tire balance with TPM

I replaced my tires on the R1200R LC with PR4s. All went well but upon balancing the wheels/tires alot of weight is required to balance them. The front is balanced with 103gms and the rear with 78gms using a static balancer. The weight is needed on the opposite side of the valve and the TPM sensor. The BMW specs are within 5gms for the front and within 45gms for the rear. The maximum weight is 80gms. Should I remount the tires and rotate them and see if it changes or should I just place 80gms and call it a day?

I would try rotating it before adding a lot of weight.

I think someone else just had a heavier than usual spot Michelin tire the other day as well.

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?84739-Tire-Balancing-Issues

I would dismount the tire and balance the wheel. Then paint-mark those weights as "permanent". Then mount the tire and balance the wheel/tire combination. This will tell you whether it is a wheel issue or a tire issue. It also usually makes balancing future tires easy - often no weight, or very little new weight needed.

Thanks for the advice. I will remount and rebalance.

Good point about balancing the wheel for the TMP before putting the tires on I like that, I never had too many issues with my 09 RT, but I will check this when I do the tires on my new R1200R LC.
JT

I always balance the wheel with TPS & leave those weight alone. I then re balance after the tire is mounted & add weights for the tire. Some of the time I can just leave the factory BMW weights on & add weights for the tire.

Can we assume the wheels and tires come well balanced from the factory? Every new R12R I have seen has the same location and amount of weights on the front with no weights on the rear. Does it really matter?

radrider said:

Can we assume the wheels and tires come well balanced from the factory? Every new R12R I have seen has the same location and amount of weights on the front with no weights on the rear. Does it really matter?

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I am willing to expect that an out-of-the-crate bike from BMW would have the wheels/tires on it balanced. That of course goes away at the first tire change.

Rear can be a bit out of balance without it being noticed, especially on a two-up or heavily loaded camping rally bike. But ride the same bike briskly, solo with no luggage and the imbalance often appears to the rider.

radrider said:

Can we assume the wheels and tires come well balanced from the factory? Every new R12R I have seen has the same location and amount of weights on the front with no weights on the rear. Does it really matter?

Click to expand...

Bro in laws 07 R12R took 2 oz to balance just the rear rim. His 09 only took 1/2. H's would need maybe 1/4, so I just balance at tire install.
The Michelins PR's from France from my unofficial results of changing a "few" sets rarely needed tweaking if the rim was balanced, either by me or luck in rim casting/machining. The Spanish ones fairly consistent, the Thailand stamped ones have often taken more playing with the get balanced. Both PR's and Anakees from that plant seem to be a little off.
I use the bar code as a reference to be consistent and have rotated a tire 180 to try to eliminate the need for a lot of weight,sometimes it works...sometimes you just get close and be happy.

And yes, it matters on most bikes with most riders, especially a front wheel as mentioned. YRMV and that's OK.

PGlaves said:

I would dismount the tire and balance the wheel. Then paint-mark those weights as "permanent". Then mount the tire and balance the wheel/tire combination. This will tell you whether it is a wheel issue or a tire issue. It also usually makes balancing future tires easy - often no weight, or very little new weight needed.

Click to expand...

That's what I did on my GSA. This is the front and after removing the old tires balanced the wheel which required two large weights (1 oz each) opposite the stem and those stay. The current tire took two small weights (1/4 oz each). The weights are difficult to see because I painted them black.