Looking at buying some momo wheels ("Pre-owned"), and have a question about required balancing weight(s).
3 of the 4 wheels had only 3-5 weights (for dynamic balancing, stuck on back side of wheel) but the 4th took what looked to be nearly a dozen
Is this indicative of a defect in the wheel, or just an outlier?
Not familiar with how much weight the "average" wheel requires or variation wheel to wheel, but it has me a bit nervous. Buy them or run for the hills?
Is tires installed? An out of balance tire requires weight. Probably a combination of wheel and tire.
Yes, tires installed.
On a miata, coilovers, neat looking little car. Asked if he autocrossed or road raced, no, but did like to drift. 195/50's on it if I recall....
If the tires are on it still, seems to me it would be impossible to seperate the imbalances (if any) in the wheel from the imbalances in the tire.
In other words, wheels in all likelihood should be fine unless there is obvious damage.
If he likes to drift, seems to me that would be hard on a tire - perhaps a belt shifted or something? I know that I tend to prefer turning left when aggressive in a corner and or a bit of powerslide, so the right rear would take more abuse, in theory, and it was the right rear that had the weight issue.
I don't know tire technology so scold where appropriate - just hazarding a guess since the early consensous is wheel/tire balance issues are not readily identifiable unless separated....
OldGray320i wrote: Looking at buying some momo wheels ("Pre-owned"), and have a question about required balancing weight(s). 3 of the 4 wheels had only 3-5 weights (for dynamic balancing, stuck on back side of wheel) but the 4th took what looked to be nearly a dozen Is this indicative of a defect in the wheel, or just an outlier? Not familiar with how much weight the "average" wheel requires or variation wheel to wheel, but it has me a bit nervous. Buy them or run for the hills?
A good tire installer will "index" the tires if a lot of weight is required for balancing. This means the tire/wheel seal is broken and the tire is moved a quarter turn and then checked again for balance; this may take a full trip around the clock to find the best fitment. Good techs will do this as part of doing a proper job. Bad techs don't bother and just apply as much weight as the readouts suggest.
It sounds like the installation was "less than perfect" OR, there is something else wrong affecting the wheel/tire combination.
There is a possibility that the wheel may be bent slightly out of round. One of the 5Zigens on my RX-7 has a lot of weights on it. The tire installer said it was because the wheel was bent ever so slightly (the Dunlop Direzzas I put on them, were brand new).
Some wheel shops can do wheel testing to see if a wheel is out-of-round. IIRC, it cost me $35 to have it done on one of my RX-7's stock 15" wheels and that covered mounting/dismounting. Wheel straightening for 17" wheels or smaller cost $100. I have to have this done to the 5Zigen wheel I mentioned earlier. The wheel will not be as strong as when new and there is the slight possibility that it will crack during the process.
RexSeven wrote: There is a possibility that the wheel may be bent slightly out of round. One of the 5Zigens on my RX-7 has a lot of weights on it. The tire installer said it was because the wheel was bent ever so slightly (the Dunlop Direzzas I put on them, were brand new). Some wheel shops can do wheel testing to see if a wheel is out-of-round. IIRC, it cost me $35 to have it done on one of my RX-7's stock 15" wheels and that covered mounting/dismounting. Wheel straightening for 17" wheels or smaller cost $100. I have to have this done to the 5Zigen wheel I mentioned earlier. The wheel will not be as strong as when new and there is the slight possibility that it will crack during the process.
Interesting. Given that the 4th wheel had so many more weights than the rest, I am inclined to think that's the issue.
The guy wants 350 for the wheels, I thought I'd pay not more than 300 - but if I "need" a wheel straightened, there are new alternatives for around $100 a wheel and seems like I'd do as well to pass.
They are neat wheels though, and arguably look better than "new" alternatives (I thought about Rota RBs, TR Motorsports C1, and one or two others...).
What to do....
I agree, bent wheel or poorly indexed tire. And the tire may be less than spiffy as well (out of round and/or way out of balance itself).
Thanks for all the inputs gentlemen.
I may just go ahead and get these; even without the center caps they look wicked good - much better "live" than in pics.
In reply to OldGray320i:was at the tire shop 2 weeks ago, had a lot of weights on 1 tire and some fell off and i found them on my garage floor, so i went to get rebalanced, and the guy said my rim was slightly bent, and said sometimes you can get the wobble out of a bent rim with enough weights, but it isnt the right thing to do, and he wouldnt do it.
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