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Wheel buying advice- wheel weights bad sign?


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So I am thinking of buying some wheels from Japan for the first time through Nengun. They'd be for my beater 510 so they don't have to be perfect. But not knowing much about this sort of thing, should I be worried about the wheel weights on the front of them? Is that a sign of a bad wheel or does balance really come into play when the tire is mounted.

 

Id rather not have wheelweights on the front naturally!

 

BellRacingWheels.jpg

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So I am thinking of buying some wheels from Japan for the first time through Nengun. They'd be for my beater 510 so they don't have to be perfect. But not knowing much about this sort of thing, should I be worried about the wheel weights on the front of them? Is that a sign of a bad wheel or does balance really come into play when the tire is mounted.

 

Id rather not have wheelweights on the front naturally!

 

BellRacingWheels.jpg

That's weird maybe whoever installed them was too lazy to install them on the other side, to my knowledge if weight is needed on the face side of the rim you can get by with installing them on the inside behind the face

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That's weird maybe whoever installed them was too lazy to install them on the other side, to my knowledge if weight is needed on the face side of the rim you can get by with installing them on the inside behind the face

That is what I would think too. I found it odd. And looking at the only pic I see of the back, there is a weight in the back side of at least one of them as well.

 

BellRacingWheels2.jpg

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Looks like someone may have only had stick on weights and didn't change the settings on the wheel balancer for behind the face. 

Cool, that theory makes me feel a bit better about it. THanks Draker!

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Start with this. Does the wheel itself run true?  the specification for a Datsun 521 is .060 runout, to, and away from center, and side to side.

If the wheels do not run true, no amount of weight is going to correct  the vibration.   That specification is for a 521, what was a utility vehicle when new.

 

To check wheel runout, you will probably need to get a dial indicator, and do it yourself.

 

So you got four wheels that are running true. and you go to a tire store, and get tires mounted.  Lets say, for arguments sake you need two oz. of weight on the side of the wheel away from the valve stem to balance the wheel, when it is spun.  It could be possible you need the 2 oz. on the inside of the wheel, on the outside of the wheel, or even two 1 oz weights, one on the inside, and one on the outside.

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Start with this. Does the wheel itself run true?  the specification for a Datsun 521 is .060 runout, to, and away from center, and side to side.

If the wheels do not run true, no amount of weight is going to correct  the vibration.   That specification is for a 521, what was a utility vehicle when new.

 

To check wheel runout, you will probably need to get a dial indicator, and do it yourself.

 

So you got four wheels that are running true. and you go to a tire store, and get tires mounted.  Lets say, for arguments sake you need two oz. of weight on the side of the wheel away from the valve stem to balance the wheel, when it is spun.  It could be possible you need the 2 oz. on the inside of the wheel, on the outside of the wheel, or even two 1 oz weights, one on the inside, and one on the outside.

Making sense. Alas I won't know that till I already have bought them, which is why I wanted to check with y'all if the weights are a warning sign. Are you saying they might not be able to balance the wheel without using front weights?

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Japanese wheels from Japanese car guys/culture.

 

Stick-on weights on the outside is a racecar thing.

So if "we" copy that, we haz racecar too.

 

 

I would pay it no concern.

Realistically, versus behind the facia, they will balance better the way pictured.

 

Make sense?

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A friend of mine down here ran his own tyre business for years.

 

He once told me a lot (not all of course) of issues with balancing wheels can be corrected to a degree i.e. markedly reducing the weights needed, by repositioning where the tyre sits on the rim.

 

It takes a lot of fucking around as the fitter has to break the bead, spin the tyre on the rim a bit, and then check the balance etc etc etc. And the majority of shops just arent prepared to do this as its not cost effective and easier to just chuck weights on.

 

He also told me, dependent on the brand, some tyres "balance" better than others. Wheel "trueness" also affects balancing, with even slight runout, gravel rash etc affecting balancing to a small degree.

 

Apart from that id go with what the others have said, noting a good fitter can hide weights to a degree (if they arent lazy).

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Wouldn't you take the weights off anyway? Those are there to balance the last tire that was on them. Can't see the wheel maker putting weights on the outside of the rim.

Thanks folks. Yes I'd certainly take them off Mike. Just wasn't sure if they'd have to go back on in some cases, if the wheel had more to do with it than the tire, I wasn't sure. But it sounds like if I take it to a good shop, they can get them on the back if needed.

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My Rota's on the Z balanced fine, with Kumho tires.

 

Now I have different Rota's with Toyo tires on my Mini. No balance issues. Less than two ounces of weights per wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have your tire guy put the tires on with the yellow dot at the valve stem. Good place to start, for balancing.

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Blah, blah, blah. 

 

 

Those yellow and red dots make so little of a difference. 

The lightest part of the tire(yellow dot) is barely any different than any other section and not enough of a change to offset the weight of the valve stem. 

 

 

 

 

Any tire tech worth his minimum wage pay will know how to mount/balance your wheels and tires properly. 

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weights on both sides is how most people will do it because it balances better 

you have to be specific with the shop and tell them I dont want ANY weights on the outside 

they can balance them just fine like that and on the rare occasion might have to struggle a little bit more 

rotating the wheel on the rim is called optimizing the balance and can reduce weight needed but is time consuming 

I had a tire shop optimize the tire to the wheel one time when they were fighting balance issues and I came to realize that I had to replace the tires which only had 20.000 miles on them because GOOD YEAR TIRES SUCK 

 

unless the wheels are bent you should be fine 

BY THE WAY THOSE WHEELS ARE COOL 

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