A load of wheel balance weights

[Truckedup]

Got new tires for my 50 Chevy work truck.This truck has different gearing and more power so it cruises fine at 65 mph maximum. Bought them at a small rural garage that only installs tires and does alignments.I have used this shop several time before,they are always busy,no complaints...
Tires are a made in USA Cooper off brand,215-85R16 load range E mounted on early 60's truck rims.These rims previously had radial tires mounted..
Man,there's 4 one ounce weights butted together on the front of three rimes...plus 2-4 ounces on the backside spread out a bit.
I asked about this...I was told "the rim itself is half the weights and then the tires. He said it will be smooth on Hiway at 60-65 mph.Don't worry,I stand behind my work"
I have no reason to doubt these guys based on my past experiences ...But it does seem like a load of weights.

 

[Artem]

it happens... If you've never had that much weights on these rims in the past, then it's obviously the tires which are at fault.

We're talking about ounces here so a tires simply need a bit of a correction to keep the vibrations down.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Did he try match mounting it first (aligning the tire's measured high point of radial force variation with the measured low point of the wheel's radial runout or aligning the tire's lightest spot with the wheel's heaviest spot.)?

Anyway, as long as it rides smooth, I don't think this amount of weight would be a problem. I've got 4 oz of weights on my winter wheels, and that's not even a truck.

 

[Kestas]

I needed 7oz to balance one of the winter tires I bought last year. Maybe that's why they were for sale on Craigslist - somebody may have rejected them. The tire runs fine. No shimmy on the freeway. And no, I didn't match mount them.

 

[Truckedup]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Did he try match mounting it first (aligning the tire's measured high point of radial force variation with the measured low point of the wheel's radial runout or aligning the tire's lightest spot with the wheel's heaviest spot.)?

I have no idea but I do notice the pink spot on the sidewall is located different on a 4.
Thanks for the replies,it all seems reasonable now.

 

[ahoier]

4 weights seems like a lot.....if I recall, if the wheel requires more than 3....it's either a tire, wheel, or technician problem...

But I mean, if it rides fine......may as well leave it at that....


You say "butted together" - is this shop using these new-fangled "sticky weights" which I believe are made of steel?

 

[Hokiefyd]

Dad used to have a set of ProComp Extreme A/Ts on his Wrangler. I think they're also made by Cooper. 3 of the 4 tires needed over 1 pound of weight. 18-20 oz on each wheel. I've never seen that much weight. These are large and heavy tires, so naturally more weight will be required. But still...

Be's got BFG A/T KOs on it now, same size, with 6-8 oz of weight on each wheel.

 

[Ken2]

I've been told that the tire is OK as long as there is room on the rim for all the weights needed to get the tire balanced, but that seems to me to show a poorly manufactured tire.

The very large off road tires have a lot of weight toward the outside of the tire and the rim is way inward---poor leverage. In some cases balancing beads inside the tire do a better job. Dyna Beads is one brand.

 

[pjf]

My suggestion is to take your wheels to a shop that can straighten bent rims. Some shops can even straighten bent alloy wheels.

After an off-road hunting trip, I had one steel rim that could not be balanced. Another two rims required heavy balancing weights.

I took my SUV to a local wheel shop. The shop straighten out the three bent rims. The rim that could not be balanced before now requires only a small balancing weight. The other two rims now need no weights at all.

The cost of straighten each wheel was less than $40. While this is an expensive way to balance a wheel, it corrects the root cause. In contrast, placing ugly weights on a wheel is a very crude solution.

 

[MNgopher]

I note that we are dealing with a Load Range E truck tire and an off brand. The last off brand Load Range E tire I had was on a spare, and I bet it had 5 ounces on the outside and three on the inside to balance out. It had less than an ounce on both side with the name brand tire that was replaced due to age.

More likely its a heavy tire without the relatively tighter tolerances of the bigger name brands. Part of the hassle when getting the lower price. Still works and is safe, but a hassle for the installer...

 

[HerrStig]

My experience has always been that good quality tires on good rims don't take much weight, but I have always considered it good fortune when a wheel needed little or nothing.