Hunter Highlights Vol. 128

Hunter’s new SmartWeightTM balancing technology can not only improve ride quality, but also save car manufacturers millions of ounces in wheel weights and many rejected tires each year. In a white paper presented recently to the 2006 International Tire Exhibition and Conference (ITEC), Hunter’s Dave Scribner explained how.

According to Scribner, a 25-year industry veteran and product manager for Hunter wheel balancer and tire changer products, car makers often use 1970’s-era dynamic wheel balancing technology in new vehicle production. These dated methods use the same algorithms to determine correction weight for both static and couple imbalance forces. SmartWeight technology measures static and couple imbalance forces differently and applies an appropriate correction value to each. The result is exceptional weight savings and superior ride quality.

Already proven in thousands of retail shops around the country, SmartWeight balancers can save more than 30% in wheel weight costs alone. For OEMs, achieving optimum balance with less weight would also result in fewer tire/wheel assemblies being rejected because they exceed the manufacturers’ own maximum correction weight limit.

The entire white paper can be viewed at www.rubbernews.com, the Web site of the Akron-based ITEC sponsor, Rubber & Plastics News.

Hunter Product Manager Dave Scribner has traveled throughout the country presenting SmartWeight balancing technology to car and tire makers and other industry professionals.

SmartWeight technology is standard on Hunter GSP series wheel balancers.

Following the great success of his wheel balancing products shortly after World War II, Lee Hunter went to work on a new project that would again have a major impact on the automotive service industry. In 1955 Hunter Engineering Co. introduced Lite-A-Line, its first wheel alignment product.

The Lite-A-line system used projected light beams for accuracy, versatility and speed when aligning automobiles. It enabled three-plane mechanical compensation for wheel runout and measured seven basic alignment angles: camber, caster, toe, center steering, steering-axis inclination, turning angle, and rear-wheel track.

Lite-A-line was not only the first alignment system of its type but also the industry standard for 30 years following its introduction. The system was also a hit with car owners fascinated by its high-tech design, large light beam charts and wheel-mounted instruments. Hunter produced four generations of Lite-A-Line systems, including one capable of four-wheel alignment, before it was rendered obsolete in the late 1980’s by computerized systems and new vehicle designs.