Due to a recent puncture (and I'm talking about a 16 p nail hit at 70+ mph ), I had to abruptly swap out my rear tires. I was annoyed, distracted, and not paying attention when they mounted and balanced my tires. Instead of the tape-type weights, they used the older style, clamp-on lead weights.

Is there any real problem with this? Surely you purists will decry the inhumanity of this. Is there any likelihood of a weight flying off at Texas World Speedway as I go 135 mph down the front straight ?

Regards,

Al

 

I don't think that the outside lip of the OEM rim on the S2000 is designed for clip-on weights. As you suggest, I would worry about them staying in place. On the inside lip of the rim, there is a nice "ledge" of aluminum that allows clip-on weight use. The outside lip does not have such a ledge, and I suspect that the shop has damaged the rim finish by using clip-ons. If it were my car, I'd go back to the shop that did the work and have a discussion with the owner of the establishment. In any case, have the weights removed and the wheels rebalanced using stick-on weights where appropriate.

 

Sorry, I didn't say that the clip-on weights are on the inside edge of the wheels. From the outside, you can't see the weights.

Al

 

Agreed! My understanding was that you were concerned because the weights were mounted on the outboard rim lip. There are two rim lips - one is visible from the side of the car (outboard lip) and has a finished surface; the other is on the inside (inboard) side of the wheel and has non-finished surface with a ledge for mounting clip (clamp)-on weights.

So let me clarify - there are two acceptable ways to add weight to the OEM rims -

1) Clamp-on weights can be safely used on the inboard rim lip. They should not be used on the outboard rim lip.

2) Tape weights can be placed in the inside of the rim. Depending on their location, they may or may not be visible through the voids between spokes. They should not be placed anywhere that there is a finished surface on the rim.

Often, combinations of these two weight placements are used to correctly balance a wheel, especially if they are dynamically balanced.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AATees
[B]Due to a recent puncture (and I'm talking about a 16 p nail hit at 70+ mph ), I had to abruptly swap out my rear tires.