Tire shop put different ammount of wheel weights on every wheel....

Capote

Original poster
Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 14, 2014
24,227
Atlanta, GA
I've never seen this before, why would every wheel get a different weight, yet its the same exact tire and wheel. And yup, got vibration at highway speed. These people already pissed me off scratching my wheels.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
My china tires were balanced like that (some tires had 3-4 inches of weight around them) different significantly on each rim. The ones I have now only have little tiny ones on each tire. If you have a vibration they messed up. They could've been using a bubble balance instead of an electronic one? I would take it back.
 
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AWD V8

Member
Jan 12, 2015
463
It's very common that each wheel has different weights, but they should all be close if the tires and rims are decent.

Balancing factory wheels with good quality tires should be no challenge for any tire shop. The problem comes when the tires or rims are cheap quality or the rims are not designed to accept weights on the outside. If they can't put the weights where the machine tells them then things get questionable. If the wheel assembly needs to have weight added to the outside edge but the rim is not designed to accept a weight there, or the customer does not want a visible weight stuck to the rims edge, a guess has to be made about how much to stick further inside, a poor compromise.

Now another situation. Even if the wheel and tire ARE balanced perfectly, if the build quality is poor and the tread thickness/density is not consistent, when the vehicle is rolling on the roads surface, the inconsistent tread density will cause a vibration as the vehicle's weight rolls. Imagine having a tire with a hard spot on the tread, it would create a jar in the suspension every time this spot contacted the road. This is often overlooked and instead is a suspected tire quality issue.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Rarely will you get a tire and wheel combo that is exactly the same balance, and most times will need differing weight correction. I've almost always had a couple wheels with differing weight amounts.

My truck has balancing beads instead, which is rather nice actually. Nothing stuck to the wheels, or pounded on the rims of the wheels, any of that.
 
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Capote

Original poster
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Jul 14, 2014
24,227
Atlanta, GA
Thanks for the input gents, just never had to go get tires balanced before, my last tires were balanced and mounted by Tire Rack when I ordered my wheels over 2yrs ago. This was the first time I had to replace the tires for these wheels. So was unsure as to if the weights should all match or be variable. But makes sense that these may not have equal weights because these are Nankang's brand High Performance tires. Good ratings from a lot of sources, but they are Korean iirc. Mostly a brand used for drifting apparently. I do need an alignment too, perhaps that is the cause of the very slight vibration?
 
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northcreek

Member
Jan 15, 2012
3,310
WNY
The car manufacturers have first pick and get the best(balanced) tires from the tire makers. That's why the original tires on your vehicle usually have less weights, even if you replace them with the exact same tires.
So basically we are left with the rejects...:sadcry: Mike.
> but, hey!.. we buy 4 at a time, GM buys 4,000....
 
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Chickenhawk

Member
Dec 6, 2011
779
Don't forget that Nankang is headquartered in Taiwan, but much of the manufacturing is now done in Jiangsu China. If you want to find out for sure, just smell them; your nose will instantly tell you if they are made in China. (All rubber products made in China have a very strong and offensive odor.)
 

Mounce

Member
Mar 29, 2014
13,667
Tuscaloosa, AL
Everything differs. Every tire is different, previous answers are spot on.

If you get vibration at speed, however, they do need reballanced. Take it back to them and hope they get it right or hit up another shop and drop about $35 for a balance-only. Once you get in to sticky weights on aftermarket wheels like you have it becomes much more difficult to get balancing correct. Standard rims that accept hammer-on weights on both the inside and outside lips are stupid easy though.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
I hate hammer on weights thought because they always ruin the finish on the lip and lead to nasty corrosion over time.
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
I had a set of Chinese tires that came with the Saab on the stock 18" rims. Sport type, don't remember the brand. Went to three different shops and they just wouldn't balance. No visible defects or uneven wear, no broken cords, nothing. Then I found a good used set of quality run-flats (can't remember brand/model) and they balanced perfectly even with stick-on weights.
 

Mounce

Member
Mar 29, 2014
13,667
Tuscaloosa, AL
I hate hammer on weights thought because they always ruin the finish on the lip and lead to nasty corrosion over time.
Have to blame that on design. No one will use sticky weights unless they have no other choice, if it has a lip for hammer-on that's what will be used because it's the easiest form of balancing. Any corrosion or discoloration is the rims fault. Just one of those things.

-at my work we've had customer provided cheap tires that want 5+ ounces to balance whereas quality tires we provide take an ounce or less. Main factor is the tires unless you have a warped wheel.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Obviously the pound on ones are easiest, no argument there. But, corrosion being the rim's fault? That a piece of metal was beat onto the lip and etched the paint? Hardly. It is just an inherent (and unavoidable) flaw in pound-on weights. You're bashing a hunk of metal onto another, naturally that's bound to scratch something up lol.

Any wheels I care about never get pound-on weights because of that. Doesn't matter how good the wheel is, a pounded weight will likely scratch it (plus they just look ugly!). But, no sets of wheels I have have a lip that you can pound anything onto, which is good.
 
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Capote

Original poster
Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 14, 2014
24,227
Atlanta, GA
I didn't have an vibrations tonight guys, I checked the lug nuts to see if they were all properly torqued during my lunch break. Everything was all good there. I don't know why things felt better tonight, did 2 WOT up to 80mph and didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

Don't forget that Nankang is headquartered in Taiwan, but much of the manufacturing is now done in Jiangsu China. If you want to find out for sure, just smell them; your nose will instantly tell you if they are made in China. (All rubber products made in China have a very strong and offensive odor.)

Oh right, Taiwan. I knew it was somewhere in Asia where these were manufactured. Yeah these tires had quite an odor; sat in my apartment covered by drop cloth for a few months until I got around to mounting them to my wheels. They still smell, even after they've been on my truck since Saturday exposed to the outdoors and road.

I had a set of Chinese tires that came with the Saab on the stock 18" rims. Sport type, don't remember the brand. Went to three different shops and they just wouldn't balance. No visible defects or uneven wear, no broken cords, nothing. Then I found a good used set of quality run-flats (can't remember brand/model) and they balanced perfectly even with stick-on weights.

Damn that blows man. These Nankang SP-5's have very good ratings across multiple sources and tire review sites, that's why I chose them. Good reviews, a performance type tire, and an affordable price for me at the time, when my money was much tighter. Was also a brand I've heard of before, unlike a lot in their price range. So far after driving on them i'm impressed. They're extremely quiet, smooth running, and I have a lot of control, no bouncing like my previous tires. They are so far on par with the General Grabber UHP's I ran before, but quieter. And those were pretty much a tier under Nitto 420's.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I don't think commercial vehicles here are allowed to have anything but hammer on. The sierras rims aren't too messed up I don't think.

Tried beads on a friend's car, still felt a vibration. Definitely damped but it was there. You probably wouldn't notice on a more aggressive tread but a straight HT it was there. And the little noise it makes it when you stopped annoyed me too lol.
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Swish swish swish :biggrin:
 
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HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I would be pissed if my tires all had same weight. I have done enough personally to know that basically never happens.

You need an alignment before you try to take them back if you know there is an issue with it. Silly to try and blame it on them when you know of another issue that is highly likely the cause.

I ran a couple sets of Nankang and they were not bad really. About like any other basic tires. If you have too much weight in one spot then they should spin the tire on the wheel and balance again.

I really do not see how the corrosion or discoloration is the rims fault??? The weight either scratches the finish on steel and causes the rust or the clip on the weight corrodes against the aluminum...both issues caused by beat on lip weights. 20 years ago I stopped using or allowing their use on my shit cause of it. Shitty old design and only to be used on old shitty stuff.

I ran the beads with swampers...they make noise like rain at stops. i am going to run them on my next set and may try them with the used set I need to put together soon though. They seem to work as well as anything with big used rubbers.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
Do you see manufacturers using hammer on weights? They realized the flaw and do not use em anymore either. Would take quite the coating to stand up to having a chunk of metal hammered on to them.
 

swede

Member
Jun 22, 2014
1,576
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Redbeard

Member
Jan 26, 2013
3,466
Another option to a ultra smooth ride is to have the tires trued. The tires are ground perfectly round while attached to your vehicle. Many moons ago I had mudder tires on my 1974 dodge truck and a friend of mine had just had his tires trued on his motorhome. So under his suggestion I had mine trued. Wow! smooth as smooth could be. Suggestion to anyone who has not seen this done before is don't look at the shop floor where the tire was ground. There is a large pile of rubber on the floor that previously was attached to your tire. You will swear most of the tire has been removed and not in shavings on the floor.

redbeard
You may not like guns.
That is your right.
You may not believe in God.
That is your choice.
But if someone breaks into your home, the first two things are going to do are…
1. Call someone with a gun
2. Pray they get there is time
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
So how much mileage do you lose over the life of the tire when they true it? Even a 32nd is 10% of typical tires service life.
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
I would think even with it being trued, you would still need some form of balancing. Rims aren't perfect either...
 

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