I've heard that it is still possible to get "one side wheel balancing" done in the US. If you have weights only on one side of the wheel then you might be suffering from an inferior calculation...

...have you checked your wheel bearing clearance a la FSM? Have you got relatively new engine mounts?

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I had a tire shop do this to my Volvo a few years back and they even argued with me that this is the CORRECT method to balance tires. I've ****ing had it with tire shops and finally decided to mount and balance my own tires using this method.
AircoledTech.com's "Tools-On-The-Cheap" Wheel balancing With Beads
This yields by far the smoothest ride I've ever had. It never goes out of balance and theres no wheel weights to lose.

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

One of the things I've discovered is that since the shops in NY have moved away from lead weights, wheel weights are larger than they used to be. The significance of that is that when they put clip on weights on the inside of my wheels, they sometimes interfere with the outer tie rod ends. Not only does this produce a regular vibration, it can tear the rod end boots to shreds. And sometimes the weights are just knocked off the wheel. When I have my wheels balanced, I now ask that they use adhesive weights on the inside of the rim.

TjTs1, I have never heard of this technique but sounds awesome. I wish I had known about this a few weeks earlier when I put new tires on. Maybe I will get lucky and find some sharp objects to drive over so my tires will need replacing.
BTW, I am in Glendale. If you are free, we can meet and race 0-25 and see who gets there last.

Thanks for the links Jay, really helped. I think I will order whatever parts I can find for the linkages. Many of the things that I think are bad are unavailable - which isnt the end of the world. The way I see it, if I can at least change the regulating rod mounts and tighten everything up, it should stop the rod from jiggling about at speed or at least make movement difficult. If not, I will leave good enough alone. Since installing Greazzers OFV spring and cleaning my fuel system, the car feels great. Its nothing like a 2015 Mercedes or a W210 with an OM606 turbo (both of which I drove recently) but nice!
BTW, my mounts are Lemfoerder. I ordered Phoenix from PP but they sent me Lemfoerder. I assume either one is OEM.
Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

Sorry I didnt get a chance to take a video of the loose regulating rod. I will try to remember tomorrow.

Interesting - thanks for the link.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

That sounds fun, I'm in Brentwood but I split my time between the Bay and LA. Let me know when you find yourself on the west side.
This video demonstrates the principle of how it work (obviously 3.5oz worth of airsoft bbs in the tires isn't exactly the same but you get the picture). From what I've read it doesn't work well on low profile tires. I've done it on 195/65R15 and 195/60R15 tires with good results.
https://youtu.be/ullnFQD4F1I

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words