New (very old building) shop

[napa68]

If you do not have them, get yourself a set of pin plates. It mounts the wheel lug centric as opposed to hub centric. Older wheels are not always hub centric, and some newer wheels (or aftermarket) do not have a proper surface to mount the wheel. The balance job is only as good as how it's mounted to the balancer.

The tire equipment is some of the best money I have spent (only second to hoists)

[Too Many Projects]

Happy for you that you got the tire equipment. I bought my old pair 10 years ago and have used the crap out of them. I was buying older wheels with junk tires at swap meets and having the tires dismounted at a local Walmart for a few dollars. Osha passed a law back then that they can't touch any tire more than 10 years old, as they may explode or come apart as the tech is handling them and cause an injury. I took 2 tires to them that were flat and the beads were already broken to remove and they still wouldn't slip them off the wheels. They claimed if they got caught doing that the Osha fine was thousands of dollars. Another controlling oversight of big brother gone awry. That was the turning point of me getting my own equipment. As you say, having the wheels properly balanced has been a big benefit of that purchase.