Re: Wheel balancing and weights

[esw5@postoffice2.mail.cornell.edu (Ernest Wong)]

[from Chad Clark]

>           Well, rather than tell you the whole long, drawn out story, I
>guess I'll just ask the simple question: Is there a difference in
>Factory/Dealer balancing weights from Audi compared to the hammer on type
>that one gets at the local tire/rim shop?  I had the cheap pound on type
>that not only looked like they may come flying off but did this last
>friday while coming home at about 120 MPH!! Talk about scary!! The noise

[snip]

Glad no real damage ensued except for skipping a couple of beats of the ole
ticker.:-)

I bought a set of wheels from Tire Rack couple of years back to give my 5KS
a nicer (read fatter and grippier) set of shoes. They came with stick on
weights that attach to the inside of the wheel. You can specify the balance
job to be done with stick on Vs. rim hammer on weights. The newer wheels
with the nice curved rim edge prolly don't give the clamp-ons much to chomp
onto.

Advantage: Centripetal force will keep weights glued to wheel even at Warp 8.7.

Disadvantage: There needs to be more weights attached to balance the rim
since the weights are further in the wheel. There might also be a problem
with the weights clearing the brake calipers. There's higher chance
clearance prob if one has small diameter wheels or upgraded the brakes to
mongo Porsche turbo territory sized brakes.

stuff to think about. . .

Ernest Wong
email: esw5@cornell.edu