Bubble Balancer vs Spin Balancer: How Do They Work?

A lot depends on the right kind of wheel balancer that you use regularly to make sure your wheels are balanced. 

When the wheels of your vehicle are unbalanced and uneven, they are more likely to cause vibration when the vehicle is in use. Not just harmless yet annoying vibrations, uneven and unbalanced wheels can also lead to various components bending, a cupped tire or wear in the pattern of the wheel, as well as premature wear and tear in the wheels and the loss of traction.

In short, it is extremely important that your wheels are always balanced. At the same time, it is the front tires of any vehicle that are usually more quickly and severely damaged than the rear ones, making the vehicle more susceptible to accidents and mishaps. 

It is also important that the right kind of wheel balancers are used for this job. Most of the time, you’ll have two options to choose from: a bubble balancer and a spin balancer. So, let’s find out the difference between bubble balancer vs spin balancer

What is a Bubble Wheel Balancer? 

The process of using a bubble wheel balancer is also called dynamic tire balancing since it’s both an advanced and expensive method of doing it. 

After continuous and regular use, wheels of vehicles can become off-center with use, preventing them from rolling in an even line. When this happens, the vehicle starts to shake, especially when going at high speed. This is felt more around the floorboard of the vehicle and around the lower seats. 

Basically, a bubble wheel balancer is a tool that finds out all the imperfections that are present in the distribution within a wheel’s weight.

Using a bubble balancer corrects this problem of extreme shaking by determining which tire is unbalanced and causing the most problem so that the situation can be rectified. 

How Does a Bubble Wheel Balancer Work? 

A bubble wheel balancer comes in three parts: a base, a few springs at the top and a post. The springs are usually placed at the top of the bubble balancer where the tire needs to be fastened for balancing. 

A bubble wheel balancer needs to be used in a flat and level area; otherwise, it is impossible to know whether your wheels are balanced or not.  The screws that are beside the bubble is also an indicator of whether the floor is even enough to balance your wheels or not. 

Next, some of the weights of the wheels need to be hammered to make sure that they have been perfectly placed on the bubble balancer. The wheel needs to be placed on the top of the holder where you can find the spring.

The position of the bubble will indicate whether the wheel is perfectly balanced or not. If the bubble is outside the ring, it means that the appropriate weight needs to be added to the portion of the wheel that is making it off-center. 

When the bubble inside the spring zeroes out, it means that the wheel is perfectly balanced. 

What is a Spin Balancer? 

A spin balancer, on the other hand, is a more traditional method of doing the same thing. In this particular method, the wheel and tire assembly is placed on a spin balancing machine. The spin balancer spins the wheels around and around the machine to make sure it is perfectly balanced or imbalanced. 

A spin balancer is mostly used in a retail shop before wheels are sold and purchased. It is an easy way to determine exactly how much a tire is unbalanced and where that particular unbalance is.

After the location and the type is determined, balance weights are then fitted into both the inner and outer flanges of the tire so that they become better or perfectly balanced. 

Spin balancers are actually a new method that has been invented recently after types have been balanced for decades with a bubble balancer.

This method is considered to be just as accurate and effective as most other methods of wheel balancing. This is somewhat because with a spin balancer, the balance of the wheel is determined both in the outer and inner portions of the rim of the tire. 

How Does a Spin Balancer Work? 

With a spin balancer, the wheel and the tire are placed in combination on the balancer machine. This is done with the help of a set of cups that is in the center of the hub and comes with a locking handle. 

A technician will enter the diameter and the width of the tire’s rim and the offset of the vehicle into the machine, and the machine will be started.

This usually requires the push of a button. The machine will immediately start to spin, taking the tire up and down the machine with an average operating speed of 60 miles per hour. 

The tire will be sitting on a shaft in the machine, which will be calibrated as it runs into the balancer machine. The computer that is connected to the spin balancer machine can detect the location of any kind of unbalance inside the tire, as well as any kind of deflection in it.

The results will be displayed by the computer in an LED display, which can also show you where the weights need to be applied.

Once the machine has stopped spinning, you’ll know how even or uneven your wheel is and where the weights need to be adjusted and fitted. 

Which One is Better: Bubble Balancer vs Spin Balancer?

Using a spin balancer machine is a new way to make sure all your tires and wheels are perfectly balanced so that there’s no mishap on the road, even when the vehicle is running at a high speed.

This method requires a large and industrial-grade machine, which is something that’s only available in a retailer shop or a workshop. At the same time, it is a much more complicated machine that are mostly used by professionals and people with technical knowledge and experience. 

On the other hand, using a bubble balancer is an advanced but fairly easy technique. A bubble wheel balancer is a machine that’s compact and easy to use, something that can be used at home by a layman.

In the comparison of bubble balancer vs spin balancer, it can be concluded that using a bubble balancer is a much simpler task to handle compared to using a complicated spin balancer machine.