changing wheels without balancing is never a good plan. have a look at the stage 1 or 1.5 from barder.
one of our stock injector trucks runs the stage 1 and it is perfect for just a tuned truck. good spool, good mileage, good sound and cheap to boot!
soooo if you put new tires on your truck as long as they were the same size as stock you don't need to balance them? riiiight.
What does the size of the compressor wheel have to do with the assembly being balanced? Fill us all in please!
Well I cant tell if you guys were really curious or just trying to pick on someone... but it does not sound like you understand the concept of balancing, component balancing, assembly balancing, or how larger items can cause bigger issues faster when out of balance.
First off there have been 1000s if not millions of billet wheels sold over the years. Many of them are stock replacements. Most of the billet wheels sold are "balanced". I have also never heard of any failures caused by just bolting on a billet wheel. In fact adding a billet wheel to your stock turbo could help to balance it even more (NOT TO GET IT OUT OF BALANCE). Most of the big "box turbos" have very relaxed balancing practices. Some allow 4-7 points out of balance. There is no downside to bolting on a billet wheel. As long as you bought it from a reputable shop/manufacturer that had it balanced. (which I believe everyone does).
Saying that adding a billet wheel to a stock turbo is never a good idea is like saying that buying a box borg warner turbo is never a good idea... Most billet wheels that I buy and install are more in balance than any box borg warner turbo (but not limited to borg warner)
Your reference to truck tires make no sense... to relate it to a turbo you would have to understand that someone already mounted the tire on the rim, balanced it way better than any tire shop ever could and then shipped it to you balanced and you simply bolted it on your truck. That is called component balancing which is perfectly acceptable AND what most of big turbo manufactures do. All billet wheels that I have ever bought were already balanced... and you don't have to worry about tread depth, bubbles, un even tire wear etc...
So what is "assembly balancing". As long as we are using car tires as a reference point it would be like pulling the axle out of the truck with the tires installed on it then spinning them both at the same time. Then you would balance the whole assembly. With a turbo that would be the oil slinger, turbine, and compressor wheel. This is an awesome practice and definitely helps with longevity. VSR is a whole different concept but even "better".
Size makes a big difference. Ever try to balance a huge mud terrain tire vs a little tiny honda civic tire. Especially when it comes to "assembly balancing". Bigger items take more to balance because there is more mass spinning and you might have to take off even more material especially when paired to another item that used to be similar in size but are now totally different. Once you start over sizing everything on our turbos and trying to make the most power possible with WAY larger than stock components then you are much more likely to have issues.
I hope that helps to clear up any confusion
