22 Rims Counter Weights?

[chanadian85]

Looking for some help as I am not familiar with the terminology and area...

 

I had my 22 Pirelli's replaced with Yokohama Pirada Spec X's two weeks ago. The new tires are great, but I started noticing a slight steering wheel vibration at around 45-55 mph. After looking at the tires, I noticed what I think are counter weights missing from the inside of the rims. Looks like this damage could have been done when they were putting the new tires on the rims. They look like a strand of 2 to 4 grey cubes attached in a single line. Some of my rims have them, while some do not.

 

Are these in fact counter weights and could that be the reason for the wheel vibration? It's not a terrible vibration, but it's noticeable.

 

Any help is appreciated!

[RustyEdge]

It does sound like the counter weights were there at one point. Normally they remove the previously applied ones when installing new tires and start from scratch which does leave a residue that they're usually not too diligent in removing. The small amount of residue shouldn't affect anything other than being a dirt magnet now.

 

This doesn't mean that anything is damaged or that there are missing weights. Each rim can be slightly different from one another along with the tires being slightly different which is why everything needs to be balanced individually.

 

Either way within two weeks of installation I would bring it back to the same place for re-balancing. Any reputable place will gladly re-balance them for you at no cost within such a short amount of time. If they did indeed place new weights that fell off then it is their fault and they should stand by their work.

 

-Russ

[chanadian85]

Russ,

 

Thanks for the response. So it sounds like the weights are not really necessary to have on. Should I have them remove the remaining weights off of the tires before having them rebalance?

[factor99]

If you take the weights off, expect the vibration to get a lot worse until they are redone. Also, if weights are taken off, the shop won’t know if the balance was really the problem and might want charge you to replace them.

 

If there is an issue with the balance, they should take off the current weights and replace them when rebalancing (or they have to balance out the old weights as well as the wheel and tire).

[RustyEdge]

Definately don't take the weights off, you do need them (at least some of the / or more of them) but then they won't be able to see their mistakes. Most likely they will throw the wheels onto the balancer as is and see if it tells them to remove some or add additional weights.

 

You could ask them to clean up any remaining residue from the previous or removed weights. They should really clean them off completely, but I haven't seen that often. A little bit of goo gone will do the trick of the remaining adhesive bothers you after all is said and done.

 

-Russ

[enigma-2]

Thanks for the response. So it sounds like the weights are not really necessary to have on. Should I have them remove the remaining weights off of the tires before having them rebalance?

They will first check the balance by spinning the tires. If they find one still out of balance they will either remove the weights and start over or add to the existing weights.

Some tires are just hard to balance. I had a set put on once and they never could get them to balance property. Had them take them off and went to a more expensive tire.

Most tire outlets will balance at 60 mph and sometimes skip over the lower speeds. The should be able to get the tires to balance smooth at all speeds if their good quality. Which tires are they?

[chanadian85]

Thanks for the help everyone. Had the tires rebalanced and they found that the front right was the problem and has been smooth ever since. The tires are Yokohama Parada Spec X.