Tool Review: Hunter ForceMatch Heavy Duty Wheel Balancer
When performing repairs, technicians want the best tools they can find. Kenny Smith, technician at Don Tire in Dunn, North Carolina, feels the Hunter ForceMatch Heavy Duty Wheel Balancer is the best of the best.
After being a technician for almost 20 years, Smith has used various other wheel balancers.
“The Hunter [wheel balancer] turned out to be the best out of all of them,” he says. “It does the job properly. It does it right, and if it does that, it helps me do my job right.”
Smith has also used previous versions of the Hunter wheel balancer. Though he says the old version is “not much different” than this new version, the old version did not have Road Force on it or many of the attachments. Additionally, the old version couldn’t set up the big wheels.
The easy-to-use wheel balancer doesn’t involve much setup before use, Smith notes, and though a manual is included with the balancer, Smith didn’t need it because he already knew how to use the machine.
Also included with the wheel balancer were some accessories.
“It came with a lift to help you lift the tires up [and] put them on the shaft,” he says. “It [also] came with [almost] all the attachments that I needed.”
The only accessory Smith still needs is the attachment for the bigger tires, but he says the shop will be getting one soon.
Smith used the Hunter wheel balancer for its primary use of balancing tires.
“[It can] do about any tire I can do, from a truck tire to a passenger tire,” Smith says.
The feature Smith enjoyed most about the wheel balancer was its Road Force matching. Though he liked pretty much everything about the tool, Smith says the only feature it doesn’t have is the ability to top off the air pressure on the tires, and that’s not a big deal because he says the shop has air compressors anyway.
Smith feels that overall, the Hunter ForceMatch Heavy Duty Wheel Balancer is the best on the market.
