a simple question about wheels

[cookie321]

I just changed my tires on 2008 then I look inside the OEM wheels it has a few square aluminum stick together sit on inside area of wheels. my question why is sitting there for? because after changed tires I notice one my back wheel does not have it, may be the install guy remove it. other three still have it but it been moved to new areas. It looks like it uses some kind of glue to stick it down. Anyone has any idea?

thanks

[opm1805]

balancing weights maybe

[Pops]

Those are your wheel weights to keep the wheel balanced, they are made of Lead not Aluminum. If you remove them you're gonna get a rougher ride and tear up your tires a whole lot faster. You need to take it to a tire shop to have them rebalanced and they will replace / relocate the ones that you removed.

[cookie321]

thanks Pops,

I just installed my 4 tires at discount tire shop 2 days ago. Today when I look at the wheels, I saw my rear passenger wheel did not have that lead strip so it meant the guy who installed my tires removed it on purpose or he forgot it. I did not remove it Pop, I thought when he installed the tires he suppose to balance all the tires right?

[Pops]

Some are already balanced and don't always need any weights. One thing you'll find is the only consistency is inconsistency. As long as the ride is smooth I wouldn't worry about it.

[stellato1976]

They may have but a balancing bag inside the tire before they mounted them. Some places use them instead of the weights because you dont see them.

[Pops]

Originally Posted by stellato1976

They may have but a balancing bag inside the tire before they mounted them. Some places use them instead of the weights because you dont see them.

Interesting, How is that possible? That sounds like the wheels would have to have been manufactured already balanced and they usually have to spin on a machine to find the weight locations?

[gt-leo]

Pops, It was interesting in my part to about this bag balance stellato1976 was talking about I had to look it up. Hes actually right although I think it uncommon cause its kind of pricey. But, they use a bag full of beads that you throw in the tire before installation. The beads stick to the innards of the tire from centrifugal force and gives a uniformed balance including rotor/wheel bearing balance. Kind of neat but the 13 years of me working on cars I've never heard about this. I don't know if this is new technology but I learned something new today. I don't know if I'll feel comfortable with beads in my tire but as much as I read its supposedly a good thing.

Cookie321. Dont worry about it. it might of not need a balancing weight just for that tire. If you go 70-80 miles per hour and feel the wheel shaking then maybe you need to go back and tell them to rebalance that tire. If its out of balance you'll have a crappy ride and im sure you'll notice the difference. The tire/rim isn't 100% true weight balanced. so once they mount the tire on they spin the tire/rim combo on a balance machine. after the spin, the machine stops and tells the user what weight to mount and if its in the inner side of the rim or outer side. Since the outer side that you see will look weird with a weight sticking on the side of the tire they add a stick on weight in the inside portion so you dont see it.

[Pops]

Originally Posted by gt-leo

Pops, It was interesting in my part to about this bag balance stellato1976 was talking about I had to look it up. Hes actually right although I think it uncommon cause its kind of pricey. But, they use a bag full of beads that you throw in the tire before installation. The beads stick to the innards of the tire from centrifugal force and gives a uniformed balance including rotor/wheel bearing balance. Kind of neat but the 13 years of me working on cars I've never heard about this. I don't know if this is new technology but I learned something new today. I don't know if I'll feel comfortable with beads in my tire but as much as I read its supposedly a good thing...

Ahhh... There's no question he's right, I'm just curious. I think for me peronally I would be concerned about the sticky glue eventually giving in and letting go. What would be cool though would be to just throw some bearings in there w/o any glue and they somehow use the centrifugal force to automatically rebalance as needed so the wheels would never be out of balance. .