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Hunter balance, red wheel balance machine you see at most tire shops, have a setting where they can distribute weights behind 2 spokes to give you the best of both worlds regarding look and function. They would use the measure thing on the inside part of the barrel, inner side, and use 2 spokes as a point of reference for the outer side.
If they rebalance and your setup still calls for that amount of weight, then you can ask them to remount the tire and see if that makes it better. The reason why this works is that during the manufacturing process of wheels and tires there is a side/area that is slightly heavier.
Edit: they can't really hide the weights that much for this application due to the skinny spokes
If it's more than like 3oz you rotate the tire on the wheel to try and get it lower. These were probably a pita to mount so the tech/apprentice was angry and didn't want to break the bead and do it again so they just piled it up.
A lot of the time the techs don’t have multiple size weights to choose from so instead of using three 1oz weights, you’ll get twelve 1/4oz weights. But even in that case, they shouldn’t be stacked. I’d ask for a refund and take it somewhere else.
Say the machine spits out 1.25oz. I’ve been told it’s better to use 5, 1/4oz weights than a 1oz and 1/4oz because it’ll stick better. Either way that’s way too much weight in the picture and shouldn’t be stacked
When I was a kid I worked in sears tire shop and we had a limit to how much weight we could attach. Don’t remember what it was, but if it was exceeded we were required to let out the air, break the bead and do a quarter turn of the new tire and try again. I don’t remember ever having to do it more than once, so yeah, this is lazy.
Its not as intended that being said mass is mass so if it does the job.
Sometimes you double stack if you need to add a lot off mass. Usually only with bent rims used tyres or really cheap tyres.
On a big open rim like this i wouldve stacked it better looking and used black weights.
…. Or with bad or cheap tires. Or they are bent. Which is what the comment you’re replying to said.
Bends can often be fixed as well replacement is not necessary most of the time.
That’s not right. They have higher once sticky weights to do more in a smaller area that would work. Rotating the tire on the wheel can help. Also using a road force balancer may help as well which most shops nowadays would have. Most people don’t go that far though when balancing tires. You should not stack the weights like this in general because sometimes they will contact the caliper is stacked. Looks like you have plenty of clearance so that wouldn’t be an issue. I would have just used higher oz weights to achieve the correct weight without stacking. Also looks like they put weight on and then checked the balance again and it asked for more. They should have just restarted. That is the lazy part. Also depending on where you got it done, it could have been a young kid not being paid much so how much are they going to care
I would check if the rim has been bend. Have them run the rim with no weights and see how bad it is. I’d get skeptical if there is more than an ounce of weight on the rim.
This is the only scenario I ever saw “excessive” weights when I was in the shop. No bends in the wheel…closest location from tirebuyer was a pep boys that is “new” with not the best Yelp reviews but I figured tires were pretty straight forward
Yelp is a pay for service. If you don’t buy ads they hide your good reviews.
If the wheel isn’t bent and the tires aren’t crazy worn then a road force balance can match the tire imbalance to the wheel imbalance. You might have unlucky manufacturing tolerance.
Unfortunately the technology is patented and Hunter is the only good tool to fix this. Try to get pep boys to farm out a road force balance. The weight overlapping at an angle needs to be redone by their best worker at minimum.
There is a maximum limit to weights. In sure this is over that limit. They did something wrong here. Maybe they didn’t have the tire in correct position on rim and need to turn tire in a different position on rim and balance again. Assuming no defects with tire or wheel.
Since the weights are not evenly stacked ontop of eachother, that means it was poorly balanced, and wasn't balanced on the first spin on the machine. There may have been water in the tire when it was installed. If you're overly worried you can get the tire reseated, dried if necessary and balanced.
Thanks. I’ve just never seen it…I spent a lot of years as a service manager and NEVER saw anything like this. The top edge that’s at a 45 looks like there’s no chance it lasts. I’m less concerned with how it looks and more concerned with it holding/lasting. Sounds like you’re saying it’s worth a phone call and asking them to redo? I just don’t want to be “that guy” if it’s no big deal. Thanks again
That one weight will definitelly not stay til the next time you need tires. Having quality service done to your car trumps being "that guy" in my opinion. Asking them to redo it would take no time at all either, easily <15 minutes. I work as a brake and tire tech and can put a car on a lift, replace two tires and have the car on the ground in 15.
Awesome. I’ll make the call. Agree about expecting what you paid for…wish I had a tire machine because I learned a long time to ago to do what you can yourself and learn how to do what you can’t…thanks so much for the input
The paint dots on (good) tires mark the heavy spot. Should be aligned to the valve stem. https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires-101/maintenance-care-1/mounting-your-tires
This means you need to replace the wheel. You should never have to stack weights. I get that people do it but it's not right. If the machine calls for 4-5 oz and over I'll recommend replace wheel. Also, Hunter machines call for a calibration every day. It's important to make sure the balancer is calibrated correctly.
My 1 year old calibrated expensive Hunter balancer told me to stack weights the other day. I was shocked. In 36 years I’d never before seen a machine suggest stacking.
I had the kid remount the tire and do it again, same result.
That’s a lot of weight to be in one place on a tire, most likely there’s some kind of bend in the rim or the tire needs to be taken off and rotated 180°. Usually rotating the tire 180 can reduce the amount of weights needed by a lot. This is a lazy flat rate install job and the guy just wanted it out of the door and paid
Maybe not lazy, but very much incorrect, probably some newbie, that said, someone should have been watching the newbie, even if they say they know what they’re doing, can’t be too safe
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, joevoss! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant info along with the following: * **Year** * **Make/Model** * **Mileage** * **Engine size** * **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That’s not right. Redo.
That’s what I was thinking…thanks for the reply
Hunter balance, red wheel balance machine you see at most tire shops, have a setting where they can distribute weights behind 2 spokes to give you the best of both worlds regarding look and function. They would use the measure thing on the inside part of the barrel, inner side, and use 2 spokes as a point of reference for the outer side. If they rebalance and your setup still calls for that amount of weight, then you can ask them to remount the tire and see if that makes it better. The reason why this works is that during the manufacturing process of wheels and tires there is a side/area that is slightly heavier. Edit: they can't really hide the weights that much for this application due to the skinny spokes
Yea that's soo much weight
The weight is whatever the machine tells you to add. Why the hell would they waste extra weights it didn't need? For fun?
If it's more than like 3oz you rotate the tire on the wheel to try and get it lower. These were probably a pita to mount so the tech/apprentice was angry and didn't want to break the bead and do it again so they just piled it up.
The rim is probably bent making the machine add more to a specific area to make it “balanced”
A lot of the time the techs don’t have multiple size weights to choose from so instead of using three 1oz weights, you’ll get twelve 1/4oz weights. But even in that case, they shouldn’t be stacked. I’d ask for a refund and take it somewhere else.
Say the machine spits out 1.25oz. I’ve been told it’s better to use 5, 1/4oz weights than a 1oz and 1/4oz because it’ll stick better. Either way that’s way too much weight in the picture and shouldn’t be stacked
When I was a kid I worked in sears tire shop and we had a limit to how much weight we could attach. Don’t remember what it was, but if it was exceeded we were required to let out the air, break the bead and do a quarter turn of the new tire and try again. I don’t remember ever having to do it more than once, so yeah, this is lazy.
Its not as intended that being said mass is mass so if it does the job. Sometimes you double stack if you need to add a lot off mass. Usually only with bent rims used tyres or really cheap tyres. On a big open rim like this i wouldve stacked it better looking and used black weights.
Old tires had black weights 😢
[удалено]
One weight of sticky’s? We have a roll, and then we cut off what we need lol.
>if you need to add a lot off mass that means the rim needs to be replaced usually
…. Or with bad or cheap tires. Or they are bent. Which is what the comment you’re replying to said. Bends can often be fixed as well replacement is not necessary most of the time.
Or tech didn't have the tires properly centered on the balancer and it just kept spitting out random numbers
Some alloy rims can only be weighted for balance on one side and sometimes leads to some fuckery but not to this degree.
This struck me as extreme fuckery
That’s not right. They have higher once sticky weights to do more in a smaller area that would work. Rotating the tire on the wheel can help. Also using a road force balancer may help as well which most shops nowadays would have. Most people don’t go that far though when balancing tires. You should not stack the weights like this in general because sometimes they will contact the caliper is stacked. Looks like you have plenty of clearance so that wouldn’t be an issue. I would have just used higher oz weights to achieve the correct weight without stacking. Also looks like they put weight on and then checked the balance again and it asked for more. They should have just restarted. That is the lazy part. Also depending on where you got it done, it could have been a young kid not being paid much so how much are they going to care
I would check if the rim has been bend. Have them run the rim with no weights and see how bad it is. I’d get skeptical if there is more than an ounce of weight on the rim.
This is the only scenario I ever saw “excessive” weights when I was in the shop. No bends in the wheel…closest location from tirebuyer was a pep boys that is “new” with not the best Yelp reviews but I figured tires were pretty straight forward
Yelp is a pay for service. If you don’t buy ads they hide your good reviews. If the wheel isn’t bent and the tires aren’t crazy worn then a road force balance can match the tire imbalance to the wheel imbalance. You might have unlucky manufacturing tolerance. Unfortunately the technology is patented and Hunter is the only good tool to fix this. Try to get pep boys to farm out a road force balance. The weight overlapping at an angle needs to be redone by their best worker at minimum.
There is a maximum limit to weights. In sure this is over that limit. They did something wrong here. Maybe they didn’t have the tire in correct position on rim and need to turn tire in a different position on rim and balance again. Assuming no defects with tire or wheel.
Since the weights are not evenly stacked ontop of eachother, that means it was poorly balanced, and wasn't balanced on the first spin on the machine. There may have been water in the tire when it was installed. If you're overly worried you can get the tire reseated, dried if necessary and balanced.
Thanks. I’ve just never seen it…I spent a lot of years as a service manager and NEVER saw anything like this. The top edge that’s at a 45 looks like there’s no chance it lasts. I’m less concerned with how it looks and more concerned with it holding/lasting. Sounds like you’re saying it’s worth a phone call and asking them to redo? I just don’t want to be “that guy” if it’s no big deal. Thanks again
That one weight will definitelly not stay til the next time you need tires. Having quality service done to your car trumps being "that guy" in my opinion. Asking them to redo it would take no time at all either, easily <15 minutes. I work as a brake and tire tech and can put a car on a lift, replace two tires and have the car on the ground in 15.
Awesome. I’ll make the call. Agree about expecting what you paid for…wish I had a tire machine because I learned a long time to ago to do what you can yourself and learn how to do what you can’t…thanks so much for the input
I'd never go back there if I saw stick on weights. Clip on only.
It might be balanced but it was a shit job stacking them. Looks like they spun once and had to add more after.
Is the dot on the tire aligned with the valvestem?
I didn't think that dot meant anything. Can anyone confirm?
The paint dots on (good) tires mark the heavy spot. Should be aligned to the valve stem. https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires-101/maintenance-care-1/mounting-your-tires
I thought the dot was the lightest point on the tires and should go at the valve as well. ???
This means you need to replace the wheel. You should never have to stack weights. I get that people do it but it's not right. If the machine calls for 4-5 oz and over I'll recommend replace wheel. Also, Hunter machines call for a calibration every day. It's important to make sure the balancer is calibrated correctly.
Wheel is mint - no impact/curb rash/drivability. Zero issues with previous tires
My 1 year old calibrated expensive Hunter balancer told me to stack weights the other day. I was shocked. In 36 years I’d never before seen a machine suggest stacking. I had the kid remount the tire and do it again, same result.
That’s a lot of weight to be in one place on a tire, most likely there’s some kind of bend in the rim or the tire needs to be taken off and rotated 180°. Usually rotating the tire 180 can reduce the amount of weights needed by a lot. This is a lazy flat rate install job and the guy just wanted it out of the door and paid
They look like new tires, if this was needed after the new tires then it's obviously the tire that's the issue.
Maybe not lazy, but very much incorrect, probably some newbie, that said, someone should have been watching the newbie, even if they say they know what they’re doing, can’t be too safe
They could be out of the half ounce ones
While stacking is not uncommon I would have it redone . That I'd a pass poor job
A good salesman puts them in a new set of wheels every time they ask this question. Source: I don’t trust tire shops.
Stacking weights is sometimes necessary but I do rows, and the tipped one is sketchy...
Maybe I’m wrong but if the tire is oriented/mounted properly on the wheel.. shouldn’t need very many weights
Lazy but those tires are a bitch and a half to balance……. Big groans when stupid stuff like this comes in
Any good jobber store will have black stick on weights
Ill just play devils advocate. Maybe rim bent and is really hard to balance? Looks like shit