Norm Peterson

You can get wheels balanced with all of the weights on the inside, but make sure that the technician doesn't stick you with a static balance.

Proper balancing requires that the weights be in two planes separated by enough distance that the dynamic poprtion of the balance can be achieved. That's why you normally see clip-on weights on both flanges - that's as far apart as you can get them, and makes for better balance with less weight.

A word about getting a dynamic balance - it is necessary for the technician to enter the distance between the weight planes into the machine, so that it can compute how much weight to put and where the technician needs to put it. If he measures and/or enters a distance that doesn't agree with where the centers of the weights actually end up, his check spin will show that the wheel/tire is still out of balance and he'll have try again. With more weights. Or unstick the first set and start all over. Or re-check it statically and let it go if it passes that. This all gets more likely when all of the weights are on the inside, as it becomes a crap-shoot that he'll stick the weights where he told the machine that he'd be putting them. I'm not bad-mouthing tire techs ingeneral, as I've seen some that were really good at it. But it's not an "A-tech" position, so you will find those who should be doing something else for a living.

One more thing associated with stick-on weights. They can come unstuck. I suggest bending them to conform to the wheel curvature before sticking them on, rather than using a hammer to shape them afterward. And ascrude as it sounds, duct tape will keep them stuck down and isn't particularly visible as long as your wheels are not a really "open" design. Mostly, it's a racer's trick, but it also works for daily-drivers. I did it the last time around on our '01 Maxima, for which I had the opportunity to do the complete balancing job myself (and got all four to check out at zero-zero on the first attempt, BTW).

I'll agree that for a car built primarily for show it's generally to your advantage to not have all sorts of large-ish weights hanging off the wheel lips. But for a car that gets driven hard or even just a daily driver, when the car is doing its job - getting you from here to there - the weights will become all but completely invisible. And anybody who needs towatch my wheel weights while I'm driving really does need to get a life.


Norm

wingman75

Orion_240 what brand knockoffs are those? They look good on the Bullitt wheels. I wonder if they create a balance problem? Do they balance the wheels with the knockoffs on I wonder?

Orion_240

No they are the standard Ford spinners. Usually cost about $90 for the 4.
They are chromed plastic and I don't think they'd change the balance much.
I suppose a true balance job would be done with them on... I'll have to let them know if I ever get those 18" black bullitts!

wingman75

The knock-off spiners from BRS, an MF sponsor, are triple plated aluminum, through bolted for security, and I guess they possibly would be heavy enough to have some impact on balance. Can any of you tire pros comment on this, please?