[Tom Vaught]

I guess I am one of those Automotive Engineers. LOL.

I guess "It Depends".

Every balancer should be tuned for the type of engine it is based of the different harmonics of the engine: 1st Order, 2nd Order, 3rd Order, etc. A 4 cylinder engine will have different needs vs a V-10 odd fire engine. You put the wrong balancer on a V-10 engine and you WILL break the balancer if not the nose off the crank.

Same deal goes for V-8 engines as far as the orders go but now you are more concerned about where you tune the orders. A Trans-Am engine likes a heavy balancer as it has a lot of up and down the rpm type cycles. A drag race engine might be able to run with almost a basic hub in a supercharger 14-71 application for 6 seconds or so.

For the TA guy the extra fraction of a second is not worth the durability over a 50 mile race. TA cars run several races without a teardown other than normal maint items and checks.

Factory balancers with the rubber material between the ring and the hub work fine on typical street applications. The factory engineers both the Z-28 guys and the Ram Air V guys went to massive heavy balancers for Road Race and high rpm applications. These people were not stupid folks.

Drag racers are a different crowd, trying to balance a steel beam on a razor blade type deal. What works for one guys deal might not live in anothers application.

If the car is typically not a pure drag race car go with the heavier aftermarket steel balancers and you will be happy. JMO

Tom V.

The wrong balancer design will also kill the first two mains over and over. Something to watch for in the field.