Wheel Weights... inside or outside?

[gb387]

I have always wondered why car manufactures still balance tires with the ugly wheel weights on the outside of the wheel sure some don't but I think its more because the wheel on the car has no "lip" to fasten a weight. I would guess not all wheels can be balanced on the inside, still nothing ruins a good wheel like a wheel weight stuck to the outside edge.

On my previous vehicle I had the tires balance with the weights on the inside of the wheels, now that I bought 2 new tires for my Lightning, I had the weights placed on the inside of the wheels and they look much better, nice clean look. Its a small detail but it drives me crazy, even more so when the coating starts to peel off the weights and they become a dark dirty gray on a nice shiny wheel.

I don't know maybe its just me!

[showtime]

I've had some mechanics tell me that it's a more "true" balance by having weights on the inside and outside. I hate how the lead, coated or not, corrodes the wheel. Either way, the best are the stick ons. My Fusion has the stick ons from the factory.

[Love 2 Detail]

Originally posted by showtime
I've had some mechanics tell me that it's a more "true" balance by having weights on the inside and outside. I hate how the lead, coated or not, corrodes the wheel. Either way, the best are the stick ons. My Fusion has the stick ons from the factory.

That's true Outside weights are more accurate

[kellyinkc]

I agree. My mechanic say's weights on both sides give better balance. Inside weights give a better look but not as good balance. Thats my .02.

Kelly

[gb387]

Originally posted by kellyinkc
I agree. My mechanic say's weights on both sides give better balance. Inside weights give a better look but not as good balance. Thats my .02.

Kelly

I can see why they might say that and it make sense.... With my previous truck and now this truck I have not been able to tell the difference in driving, my old truck I drove till it needed new tires didn't seem to shorten the life of the tire(wheel weights inside). Is there a disadvantage to the inside weights that you can "see"?

[kellyinkc]

No. If you can not tell the difference. Weights on the outside are a pain to clean between the wheel and the weights. Seems like there is always gunk in there. Vera anlge brush has helped in that area.

[Accumulator]

I've never had a problem getting perfect balance with weights on only the inside. Some wheels *can't* have weights mounted on the outside anyhow.

Make sure the tech is using a Hunter GSP9700 balancer and that he knows how to use it. Sometimes a tire needs to be dismounted/moved/remounted. Having a lot of balance weights on a wheel generally isn't as good as only having a few.

They guys who balance my wheels these days say that the "gotta have 'em on both sides" is just an excuse people use to make their jobs easier. I'm not saying that's true, but again, I've never had a problem and I've had a *lot* of wheels balanced this way.

[clickster34]

To have a true dynamic balance, you need weights on the inboard and outboard sides of the wheel. These can either be on the outer lips of the rim (pounded on) or with stick-on weights stuck inside of the rims as close to the outsides of the rim as possible. Pound-on weights are quicker and cheaper, so that is why you see them more often. Alot of aftermarket rims don't have lips on either side so you have to use stick-on and it does look much better. On advance balancing machines, you can even have it place the weights behind the spokes of the wheel. The quality and uniformity of the wheel and tire will determine how much balance weight is needed and if the tire was match-mounted to the rim. Some cars will react to an out-of-balance tire a lot harsher than others. If it looks good and rides good, then it probably won't cause and tire wear problems. Irregular wear is due mostly to poor allignment and lack of tire rotation.

[showtime]

Balance has more to do with smoothness than tire wear. The more balanced the tire, the smoother the ride. I had the mother of all vibrations the other day when I had snow packed inside my wheel. The day before I was driving with 8in of snow in the road. The snow stuck to the wheel all the way around. The next day it sits in the sun and a chunk fell off. I drove down the road and it felt like my car was going to fall apart. I actually took it in to the dealership to have them check it out thinking it was a suspension problem.

[gb387]

clickster34 Very interesting... I did notice all the weights were behind my spokes very clean look, just thought I got lucky, chances are they tried to do that huh!?!?

[Accident]

My friend has very nice looking rims, and then grey weights. I don't know about the inside of the wheel, but he has a lot on the outside. We cleaned his rims two days ago and it was really hard to get around the weights and they made the rims look bad. My tires only have the weights on the outside of the rims, but you can't see them anyway because my car is cheap and stock .