 | Wes Grimes is President and Owner of The Tire Store at 1458 S. Broadway. The Tire Store specializes in tires, wheels and accessories, as well as service, for all types of vehicles. Wes’s father, Dennis, opened The Tire Store in 1977. Wes began working for his father sweeping floors and stocking merchandise in 1987. Later he became shop foreman and in charge of outside sales. He purchased the store from his father in May of 2000. Wes’s hobbies include water-skiing, snow-skiing, mountain biking, horse-back riding, camping, fishing, traveling, and being outdoors in the mountains or at a quiet lakeside getaway. You may contact Wes at the store at 267-4381 or by e-mail at wes@tirestoreinc.kscoxmail.com |
Cars, Trucks, Vans & Automotive
2002-12-01 09:12:00
Choices on lead wheel weights
ANSWER: If you have chrome wheels, and hate ugly balance weights showing, you may want the wheels static balanced. Nothing worse than having ugly lead weights on the outside of the rims. However, while having the balance weights on the outside may look ugly, it really is required to properly balance the wheel dynamically. Static balance only balances in the plane of the tire, which is certainly the largest imbalance effect, however a side-to-side imbalance will not be taken out this way and can still lead to a noticeable vibration. Obviously you have to make the decision for yourself - looks or balance. Note that by no means am I saying that you'll always need weights on the outside. In many cases an acceptable balance can be obtained with inside weights only. I just wanted to point out that if the balancer says you need them on the outside, you have to decide which is more important. Of course, you could always try to get the tire guy to dismount the tire and rotate it on the rim to try and better match the two. Another option is dynamic balancing with stick-on weights on the backside barrel of the rim. Weights are put either in the middle (static); or on the flat barrel part between the inside edge and the outside edge by the wheel lip.
