Track Tire Mounting
& Road Force Balancing

200 treadwear extreme performance

• HPDE, autocross, street-driven track cars
• Streetable and forgiving to mount. Road force still finds the ones that will shake on the highway home.

Sub-200 R-compound

• Time trial, competitive HPDE
• Stiffer sidewall and less compliance. Match mounting pays off noticeably here.

Racing slicks

• Wheel-to-wheel, time attack
• Very stiff construction, careful bead handling, and a set that gets changed often across a season.

Lightweight and forged wheels

• Any serious track package
• Low mass damps nothing and finishes mark easily. Protection during mounting is the whole job.

Staggered and multi-set programs

• Racers running several sets
• Labelling and records matter as much as the mounting, so sets stay traceable across a season.

What is road force balancing and how is it different from regular balancing?

A regular spin balance only measures where weight is uneven and corrects it by adding weight. Road force balancing presses a loaded roller against the tire while it spins to simulate the load of the road, measuring how the assembly’s stiffness and roundness vary through a rotation. Atomic Autosports runs a Hunter Road Force Elite at its Wickliffe, Ohio shop, which is how an assembly that balances perfectly but still shakes at speed gets identified and corrected.

What is match mounting and why does it matter for track wheels?

Match mounting means rotating the tire on the rim so the tire’s high spot lines up with the wheel’s low spot, cancelling the two out rather than masking the result with added weight. Atomic Autosports in Wickliffe, Ohio match mounts track assemblies where the road force numbers justify it. It matters most on lightweight wheels and stiff-sidewall race rubber, because there is very little mass or sidewall compliance available to absorb the variation.

Will you mount slicks and R-compounds on my forged wheels?

Yes, and protecting the wheel is treated as part of the job rather than an afterthought. Atomic Autosports mounts 200 treadwear tires, sub-200 R-compounds and racing slicks onto lightweight and forged wheels at its Wickliffe, Ohio shop, on a Hunter Auto34S, a leverless changer whose mount and demount head works the bead without a pry bar against the rim edge, so stiff sidewalls get worked rather than forced. Finished assemblies get tape weights on the inside face rather than clip-on weights.

Do you label wheels so they go back on the right corner?

Yes. Atomic Autosports labels every assembly by corner so a set goes back on the car the way it came off, which matters for tracking wear, heat cycles and pressures across a season. For drivers running multiple sets, the shop in Wickliffe, Ohio keeps that traceable rather than leaving four identical-looking wheels in the back of a trailer.

When should I book my seasonal tire changeover?

March and April are the busiest window, because that is when everyone in Northeast Ohio swaps to their track and summer sets at once. Atomic Autosports recommends booking ahead through that period. The shop is at 29251 Anderson Road in Wickliffe, Ohio and can be reached at (216) 329-4005 to get a changeover scheduled before the first event of the season.

My car shakes at highway speed after new tires. Can you find out why?

That is one of the most common reasons people bring a set here. Atomic Autosports measures road force on all four assemblies at its Wickliffe, Ohio shop and checks wheel runout independently, which separates a tire problem from a wheel problem from something else entirely. Where match mounting can correct it, the shop corrects it, and where a tire has simply reached the end of its life you get told that straight.