I had new Hankooks installed on mini s-lites and noticed the weird balancing. There seems to be lots of weight used, and in may cases the weights are on opposing sides of the wheel. I have never seen this kind of weight arrangement. Any thoughts?

 

Well I have seen a few tires which were unevenly heavy from inside to outside before...but this many in a set ? And Hankooks are a good tire.

I would say the balancer tech neglected to remove the old weights from previously mounted tires...the old ones being those attached to the inside of the rim lip.....

 

Agreed, the stick ok weights and the hammer on weights aren't used in the same balance.

The weight on the barerel of the wheel, next to the spokes and on the inside edge of the barrel - are typical for dynamic dual plane balancing.

The weights on the lip section we normally only use on steel wheels.

Alex

 

The weights on the inside edge are new. Would anyone take them back to gripe, or would I this be too nitpicky.

 

That is a dual plane inside wheel balance. It is not that uncommon but that does look like a ton of weight. There is nothing wrong with using both kinds of weights on the inside of the wheel, it's actually preferred if it's an option.

An ape can tell a new stick on weight from an old one so you will know if te old ones were removed.

One of the plusses to newer balancerd is that they grossly reduce the amount of weights used. My hunter 9200 does a great job of this.

 

I disagree. Hammer on or crimp weights can easliy crack the paint finish on an alloy wheel- leading to future finnish issues. Stick on is the prefered method in Tirerack's opinion.

Alex

 

There is no doubt that a "clip on" (which is the proper term for "hammer on" weights) can, in fact, scratch the clear coat. However, we are talking about the inside lip of a wheel. If the proper weight style is chosen (there are at least 7 clip on styles these days) there is incredibly little damage done to clear coat...and in most cases, where higher end weights are used, they are coated to protect against this.

I have probably sold/mounted something like 250,000 tires in my career and never have witnessed a truly cracked finish, except when someone tried to hammer on the wrong weights (which happens sadly often at crappy tire shops).

There is no debate that a dual plane balance is best. To be fair, I prefer to use stick weights as well...but there is no reason you cannot use the method shown in his pictures.

If we were being perfectly honest, the number of non new wheels with zero damage is roughly 1 in a million. The 2mm mark a clip on weight leaves on the inside of a wheel is virtually never an issue. You could do as much damage cleaning the barrel of the wheel for the stick on weights.

 

I'd rather not damage products we sell, no matter how small.

If you clean in a carful manor with a strong cleaner, but not an abrasive/ caustic one your good to go.

I'd say you can use any weights in any fashion you'd like. Balancing is like car detailing - many ways to get to the same point.

I'd never use a wool cutting pad without a paint meter.
Plenty of shop would do it, and never meter it. Their detail may turn out fine - but the 1 customer who's clearcoat is removed... he'll remeber.

We use GSP9700's - giving your balance the most uniformity from match mounting. Quite often this match allows us to use less weight than coventinal methods.

These machiens are picky on exact weight placment - you need to use stick-ons for them - they give specific lateral and radial placment.

Does this mean that every other non-road force balance gives an inferior balance? Not at all. But our choice has leadsto fewer issues day 1 and pontentially in the future. We sell a few sets of pre mounted wheels and tires here.

Save the clip-ons for steels where finish isn't an issue.

Alex

 

The last time I had new tires (expensive Michelins) mounted on my R-84 wheels I was shocked at how many weights it took to achieve 'balance.'

 

Alex, I think our difference of opinion comes from the difference in our business model. You guys do an amazing job in your niche, best in the business as far as I am concerned. However, your model is mostly brand new wheels and tires. In the replacement tire market wheels come to the shop so heavily damaged there is no hope that the mark from a wheel weight on the INSIDE lip is the biggest issue with it. We sold 70 tires today not a single wheel was in "perfect" condition. Hell, we probably spend 2 hours a day cleaning bead area corrosion and "straightening" steel wheels. It's just a completely different business.

I will say this, when I did my wheels I used only stick on weights...and it did kind of **** me off when my R/T Charger had clip on weights on the outside from the manufacturer

JAB, my Blizzaks on pretty scuffed up 17" stock wheels took about an oz of weight on average, none took more than 1.5oz.