Visible adhesive weights on alloy after tyre fitting

neglectarino

Hi All

I got my tyres replaced last week and this evening noticed several scrabble tile like metal squares on some (not all) of the alloys. I Googled it and I believe they are adhesive weights to aid the balancing of the tyres.

My question is... should these be as visible as they currently are? (5 spoke alloy; tiles are visible between the spokes) Or should they be hidden within the alloy?

Thanks

JBokeh

They're pretty visible on alloys with a fairly open design unfortunately, not a lot you can do about it unless you go for the powder that they use in truck tyres, or the really unsightly weights that hammer on over the lip of the wheel

Guy:Incognito

neglectarino wrote: »

My question is... should these be as visible as they currently are? (5 spoke alloy; tiles are visible between the spokes) Or should they be hidden within the alloy?

They arent just stuck on randomly. They are put on in the spot the balance machine says to to balance them correctly. If you're lucky that will be behind a spoke. Nothing you can do if they are in view. Putting them in the wrong place will mean the wheels are even more unbalanced.

The Sidewards Man

Count yourself lucky they didn't bate on alloy hammer on weights on outside of alloy. Also any decent tyre shop will have balancer that will determine where to put weights hidden behind spokes.

neglectarino

Thank you for your replies. I'll now have to reattach the handfull I yanked off, thinking they were just some type of grip!

shietpilot

neglectarino wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. I'll now have to reattach the handfull I yanked off, thinking they were just some type of grip!

Have you considered bringing the wheels to a garage and asking them to balance the wheels so they are less visible? Won't cost much, €5 per wheel or something.

CJhaughey

neglectarino wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. I'll now have to reattach the handfull I yanked off, thinking they were just some type of grip!

You may as well go back to the garage, you won't reuse them securely and one of them coming loose at high speed is like a bullet.

crosstownk

CJhaughey wrote: »

You may as well go back to the garage, you won't reuse them securely and one of them coming loose at high speed is like a bullet.

This.

You'll need to have the wheels rebalanced and new weights fitted. If you look at the weights you removed you'll probably find that they are different weights so if you were to refit them you won't know which one went where.

neglectarino

I should have said that I only removed 4 from one wheel. Point taken though. Cheers

corglass

Apt username OP

biko

Possibly they can attach weights to the inside of the rim, out of sight

kavanada

They can be hidden behind the spokes no problem, OP.

If the balancing machine they used is a good one, the mechanic can tell the machine to offer up different locations if the machine advises to put them between the spokes.

The mechanic will spin the wheel again and a different weight value will be offered up by the machine to take account of the different location on the rim.

Was the place you went to a tyre and exhaust franchise, by the way?

Hal1

There's about 9 2oz weights on my drivers side front wheel .

kavanada

Well that's just sloppy then, to be honest. A real case of chasing your tail, for the mechanic.

2oz's is 60g, OP. You've 9 of them?! That's half a kilo needlessly (most likely) spinning around on just 1 alloy!

Take them back.

Ah, just realised that's not the OP above^^^^. Hal1, think of the fuel burn��!

Hal1

Actually that was a slight miscalculation. It's just that they can be noticeable through the spoke and it looks like there's a lot more then there is. There's nowhere else for them to go tbf.