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5/7/2012
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com
One of the most overlooked handling problems in R/C is un-balanced wheels and tires. Perhaps it is because most wheel balancer's on the market today are extremely complicated, hard to work with it, and include what seems like a thousand little pieces. Not to mention, they usually only fit one wheel size.
GridRC has just released their all-new BalancePRO Wheel Balancer, which we were fortunate enough to get our hands on for a LiveRC wheel balancing test of our own!
First Impressions
As we opened up the delivery box to find the GridRC BalancePRO Wheel Balancer inside, we were pleasantly surpised immediately at the simple sight of it. Inside the package the GridRC Wheel Balancer comes fully assembled and includes 12mm, 14mm, and 17mm hexes for a variety of different size wheel and tire balancing. We searched and searched for the tiny set screws, or little springs and collars that other brands use to hold your wheel in place, but found nothing. GridRC has simplified the art of wheel balancing by simply using the hex size of your wheel and additional hexes included to hold your wheel in place!
The balancer also includes a very detailed and easy to read instruction manual which tells you anything and everything you need to know!
The base of the unit features three adjustable legs (screws) that can be used with a bubble level (not included) to maximize perfection on nearly any surface to make sure you are completely level before balancing. The BalancePRO features four micro bearings, in which the balancing rod sits on, and is by far the most "free spinning" balancer we have ever used.
The Test
As usual, when balancing wheels, we prepared ourselves for the high levels of frustration and time consumption. As we grabbed our wheels and tires (the new JConcepts Mono 12mm hex wheels), we set down and got started. I wanted to compare the BalancePRO with our other balancers to see the difference and what makes this really a Balancing "Pro". We first started with our old tire balancer, but it is a one size hex which was too big, so it was immediately eliminated from the comparison.
Our next balancer had the right size hex after we additionally purchased the additional hex. It took us almost 4 minutes to prepare one wheel and tire, which we never fully got balanced after nearly 15 minutes of working on it.
The GridRC BalancePro took us 15.1 seconds to setup the balancer with our wheel and tire, and took just under 5 minutes to fully balance the wheel (that includes the time I stopped to play with the putty). The easy, yet very stable, hex system is unbelievably quick to change from wheel to wheel of nearly any popular size. The micro precision bearings allow the wheel to spin so free that a near perfect balance was easy to achieve.
The Conclusion
Rarely does a movie in theatres receive a full 5 stars, rarely does 5 star resort cost less than an arm and a leg, and rarely does anything that looks as good as Eva Longoria make its way to the backwoods of Missouri. The GridRC BalancePRO has just broken those rare streaks as it receives a full 5/5 Beacon Rating for it's unbelievable performance, it's price tag of only $55.00, and it's aluminum CNC machined beauty.
As an honest "hater" of the wheel and tire balancing process, the GridRC BalancePRO has made our lives considerably easier, our cars handling considerably better, and our pit space looking considerably cooler.
$55.00
Part No: TG99196
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