Wheel Balancing Weights

[lincomatic]

I've never had a wheel with this many balancing weights on it. Sheesh, is my wheel or tire out of tolerance?
Or is this common?

My other wheels each have only 2-3 weights.

 

[turbo2ltr]

mine are like that too. Seems odd.

 

[Volusiano]

I never notice how it is on mine, but I've also never seen this kind of weight balancing design before. In all my previous ICE cars, the wheel balancing weights seem to be clipped on the edge of the wheel instead of lying flat like this, and there's only one or two on each wheel, with varying sizes for the varying weights.

It looks like in the Leaf's case, they're all uniform size so maybe you need to put several smaller/lighter ones on instead of having 1 bigger/heavier one on.

 

[lincomatic]

Some alloy rims use these stick on weights instead. I have them on my BMW that has run flats.

 

[Jim66]

My wheels all have 8 to 13 weights on them, mostly opposite the valve stem. It may be that the TPMS is in the valve area, requiring balancing weights on the opposite side.

 

[LEAFer]

The older style (that were "crimped" onto the rims) were usually lead-based; that's why they could be crimped (softer material). The lead weights often end up along side the road ... bad for the environment. The new "standard" is the non-lead ones (not sure of the material), and they are "pressed" on as they have an adhesive backing ... so the installer usually tries to find a flat surface to do so, subject to the limitations of the wheel-balancing machine's instructions for the best location.

 

[DaveEV]

I think most wheel weights are non-lead these days.

The stick on ones are typically used on alloy wheels so you don't have ugly weights hanging on the lip.

If you have steel wheels with hub caps, they'll probably use the "clamp on" ones that are hammered on to the rim.

That does look like a lot of weights for a wheel - must be because of the TPMS if it's opposite of the valve stem. Tires these days are usually marked with a light/heavy spot so the tire mounters know to mount the heavy spot opposite of the valve stem.

If you don't notice any vibration, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[lincomatic]

If it were because of TPMS, I would expect all my wheels to be that way, but the other 3 only have 1-3 weights each. In any case, the wheel's not vibrating. I was just wondering if it was a common occurence or not.

 

[LEAFguy]

It is not uncommon to see this many weights, as others have posted. Keep in mind that two items are being balanced - the wheel and tire. If both randomly happen to have the heavy area mounted coincident to each other, this is the result. It does not portend problems, and as long as the result is no wheel shimmy, everything's golden.

 

[TomT]

Most of the better manufacturers do wheel and tire matching where the heavy part of the wheel is placed opposite the heavy part of the tire... I wonder if Nissan does not do this.

It is not uncommon to see this many weights, as others have posted. Keep in mind that two items are being balanced - the wheel and tire. If both randomly happen to have the heavy area mounted coincident to each other, this is the result. It does not portend problems, and as long as the result is no wheel shimmy, everything's golden.

 

[garygid]

The red dot on the tire?

How much does your Nissan dealer charge for a regular (not pressure sensing) stem, mounting a tire on a spare LEAF rim, and balancing?

 

[LEAFguy]

Most of the better manufacturers do wheel and tire matching where the heavy part of the wheel is placed opposite the heavy part of the tire... I wonder if Nissan does not do this.

I have never heard of this, although not saying it doesn't happen. How do they know where the heavy spot of the tire is prior to balancing?

 

[garygid]

A dot on the tire.