Max Weight used to Balance Tires

JIMNLIN wrote:
The mgr said the store owner hires young kids for him..... cheap labor costs.

And gives minimum safety training.

My small town tire dealer (sells major USA brands) says he tells his tire techs to use the dot on the tire/stem hole for a reference point to be used in mounting and locating a position for the smallest amount of weight.
I watched his tire tech mount....then spin...then remount the tire at a certain point...then a final spin.
LOL...I remember one tire dealers tech mounted two 4" long hunks of lead on a new tire on the wheel that had one 1/2" long lead in one spot for the old tires. I showed the mgr the mark left on the wheel where it came from. He had the tech choose another tire and find a spot with the smallest weight. The new 1/2" long weight came out about 3" from the old spot. The mgr said the store owner hires young kids for him..... cheap labor costs.

SweetLou wrote:
If you are buying new LT tires, no matter the brand, what would be the Max amount of weight to balance would you accept before you would say give me a different tire?

I think you answered your own question when you where shocked when you seen the amount of weights installed on your DW car.

A couple of things to consider.
1. If there's too many weights being installed during installation the installer needs to deflate the tire and rotate it and rebalance until the optimum location is found.
2. Good quality tires typically don't require a lot of weights to balance, so perhaps that should be considered at your next purchase.

Dunno about auto/truck tires, but motorcycle tires have a dot for mounting, but some companies say put the dot at the valve stem, and other companies say put the dot opposite the valve stem. Plus the valve stem isn't necessarily the heaviest point on the wheel. Only way to be sure is to balance the wheel minus the tire. I don't think that's going to happen. I do it, but that's just me.

colliehauler wrote:

time2roll wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Rotate the tire on the rim and re-balance ---I am NOT leaving here with that much weight hanging on a new tire,
And it rotating the tire on the rim doesn't do it....get another tire

After rotating the tire 180* it took 1 weight to balance

If the installer knows his stuff he will line up the tire using the dots from the start.

https://www.tires-easy.com/blog/what-are-the-red-and-yellow-dots-on-my-tires/

That is what I thought as well. I've had to tell the person mounting the tires to line up the dots before. Good tire person will know this.

Ah ..... Mmmmmmm ..... Not exactly.

First, there is no standard as to what the dots on tires mean - or even if there need to be dots.

Further, the valve stem hole in a wheel is almost always punched in a random location. The only other potential mark is a center punch mark, but it is rarely used and it's hard to find even when it is used.

Ergo, matching dots on tires with anything on the wheels is almost always random matching - so why do it? (Note: It doesn't do any harm, but the average tire buster will quickly learn it's a waste of time and effort.)

time2roll wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Rotate the tire on the rim and re-balance ---I am NOT leaving here with that much weight hanging on a new tire,
And it rotating the tire on the rim doesn't do it....get another tire

After rotating the tire 180* it took 1 weight to balance

If the installer knows his stuff he will line up the tire using the dots from the start.

https://www.tires-easy.com/blog/what-are-the-red-and-yellow-dots-on-my-tires/

That is what I thought as well. I've had to tell the person mounting the tires to line up the dots before. Good tire person will know ths.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Rotate the tire on the rim and re-balance ---I am NOT leaving here with that much weight hanging on a new tire,
And it rotating the tire on the rim doesn't do it....get another tire

After rotating the tire 180* it took 1 weight to balance

If the installer knows his stuff he will line up the tire using the dots from the start.

https://www.tires-easy.com/blog/what-are-the-red-and-yellow-dots-on-my-tires/

not sure about LT tires, but at discount tire I had a never balanced trailer tire set I asked them to balance. One they said, NOPE we won't balance it , takes to much weight. So back to the dealer and got a new tire out of the deal.

Last time I bought new tires the left front had 4 weights hanging on it

The other 3 had 1 or 1/2 weights to balance

I told the manger ---remove that tire from my truck
Rotate the tire on the rim and re-balance ---I am NOT leaving here with that much weight hanging on a new tire,
And it rotating the tire on the rim doesn't do it....get another tire

After rotating the tire 180* it took 1 weight to balance


I'm a fussy consumer!


Industry Standards allows for 1% of total weight to balance which can be up to 3.75 oz (15...1/4 oz weights)

Not so much not round, but not evenly manufactured. Still round, but the weight isn't evenly distributed. Good quality tires seem to be better than the lesser quality tires, but no guarantees.