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Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
California Continues Its War On Vitamin Pb: Lead Wheel Weights To Be Banned After 2009

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Vintage Racer - with V-12 goodness
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Just a thought... Couldn't you guys have just printed the challenger pic, and then re-run all our comments from yesterday??? Need more hits for the ad revenue???
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rickerbr
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Ever wonder why good wheels (BBS etc.) cost in the hundreds? Its because they have the casting and forging process refined. I suspect the 20" muscle car wheels are cast by the lowest bidder and some of them in horribly unbalanced before the tire is even mounted.

What drives me crazy is that the average tire store goon doesn't realize how to properly mount and balance a tire anyway. The ink circle on the sidewall is where you are supposed to line the valve stem up to for best balancing. Failing that if the tire/wheel combo needs an excessive amount of weight, break the bead, rotate the tire on the wheel 90 or 180 degrees and spin it again. It's not that hard and if you have the audacity to charge $6-7/wheel to balance a tire, I'm going to make you do it right.
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

@rickerbr: If you can find $6-$7 per corner, I'm shopping with you.

I just had a set mounted, at it ranges from $12-$15 (Walmart or Jiffy Lube) to $20 at a good tire shop. A few bucks more if it's over 18". Even if you buy the tires there, most places only cut you a small break. Which is why it pisses me off to get my car back with wheel scratches and/or more than 3-5 weights on it.
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Elhigh
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
I have TPMS,too - old-school dial kind, with the little push-to-reset button on the back. It's backed up by Mark I Eyeball (W/Correcting Lenses)
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bluecoupe
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Why is TPMS manditory??? I have never had a problem telling when my tires were low -or- flat. Just more government regulations invading our lives.
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Ben Wojdyla
05/29/09

@bluecoupe: Remember Firestone and the Explorer? That's why they're mandatory. Another case of bad owners being protected from themselves.
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brandegee
05/29/09

@Ben Wojdyla: I would guess it's also a case of tire and car companies protecting themselves from bad owners. Depends on who did the lobbying.
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SpeedWagon
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Just snap a beauty ring on the... oh, wrong era - well thats what you kids get, with your fancy "I'm too good for steel!" and "Meow. Meow. I can't use fifteen inch rims!"

BACK IN MY DAY the only choice was whitewall or not'n!!!
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SpeedWagon
05/29/09

@SpeedWagon: ...and we drove barefoot. UPHILL!
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
05/29/09

@SpeedWagon: And we LIKED it!
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Danimal
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
uh... They're just wheel weights? Who cares how many. I have yet to see a picture of an unacceptable amount of weights. Yeah it's more that you would expect, but this clearly seems to be pretty common practice now.

I feel you may be making a story out of nothing, and I don't want any of that on my Jalopnik. (unless hilarity ensues, of course)
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

@Danimal: "I have yet to see a picture of an unacceptable amount of weights"

Don't ask me how or why I found this:

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Danimal
05/29/09

@Ash78: wtf?
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Ubiquitous Silver Honda
05/29/09

@Danimal:

[how-to-build-a-pilgrim-sumo.wikidot.com]

It makes sense in context.
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
05/29/09

@Ubiquitous Silver Honda: At least that was in a thread for a reason. I'm still pissed about the time I found a Red Bull can wedged in my Traklite 2s at school a few months ago.
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Subarufu
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Just wait, Jalopnik is starting a new pissing contest between muscle car owners. Who has the most/least wheel weights.
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Ben Wojdyla
05/29/09

@Subarufu: Curses! You've discovered our plan! It's too late though, you can't stop us, soon we'll have the buff mags comparing the diameter of cupholders, the thickness of rear tail light reflector lenses, the number of hangers on the exhaust system! They'll be so busy in the minutia they won't be able to assemble fun stories and we'll be busy doing donuts in parking lots and going off-roading. Mwahahahahahaha!
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underwear-ninja
05/29/09

@Subarufu: I win that contest with a whopping zero weights... and zero muscle car. Hey guys come check out a 90-something Corsica!
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pauljones
05/29/09

@underwear-ninja: I'll see your 90-something Corsica and raise you a 90-something Saturn.
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mechimike
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
At least the weights are on the inside of the rim, so as the wheel rotates the forces will naturally tend to keep the weights there.

OK, I'm done being Mr. Physics. Where's my moonshine?

Car cruise this weekend, if anyone's in the Greer, SC area. Bunch of guys leaving from the highway 14/ rt 29 area, up 14 and out to Cowpens and Strawberry Fields on 11. I'll be rocking my '64 Corvair convertible, boombox in the backseat cranking 60s music.
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mechimike
05/29/09

@mechimike: Sunday @ 2PM
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

@mechimike: Gonna swing by the Bimmer factory and snatch a couple of Z4s first?
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Elhigh
05/29/09

@mechimike: I wouldn't say no to that but I don't have a nice car for the cruise. An 80s pickup would just be...another pickup.

Call back in 2020 when trucks like mine are rare, then we can talk.
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mechimike
05/29/09

@Elhigh: You can borrow another one of mine. My Volvo 122 would be a cool ride...
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mechimike
05/29/09

@Ash78: No, but One Lap of America did swing by there a few weeks ago and they took spectators for a few laps on the track there in some new 5 series. They were smokin', and by that I mean tire-smokin', good times.
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zeeboid
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Can we get some photos of Prius wheel weights up in here?
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Elhigh
05/29/09

@zeeboid: They're rounded on each end for better aero.
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85_GN
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Mmmm... Challenger

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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
05/29/09

@85_GN - You Cant Decieve Me Asshole, I Know!: STOP DOING THAT! Ack!
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
The TPMS mandate has been in the pipe for a long time now, so one would imagine the added heft of the module would be offset in the design of the actual wheel

My first thought, as well. Make the opposite spoke a wee bit thicker and call it done. But is TPMS worldwide or just a US thing? Seems like it's still better for an engineer to create a perfectly balanced wheel, since TPMS sensors might be updated and change specs over time, which would then result in a costly re-do of the entire wheel design. Sounds like one more reason to hate TPMS. Assuming it's the culprit, which I'm betting it is.
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Canuck Chinaman
05/29/09

@Ash78: Well a simple observation is to see if the weights are mounted directly opposite to the valve stem then you'll know if the TPMS is the culprit.
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

@Canuck Chinaman: Yep, someone mentioned that up there. Sounds perfectly reasonable.
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Elhigh
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
It wouldn't be too hard to bunch up the weights behind the spokes so they were less noticeable. If it were me on the machine, I'd give the owner the extra ninety seconds per wheel for a really invisible job.

What you really want to sell is the emotional impact that the car is perfect. Hide the weights, get the guy back next time when he's got work that needs done.
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area_educator
05/29/09

@Elhigh: If the needed location of weights isn't behind a spoke, then putting them behind a spoke would be silly.
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Elhigh
05/29/09

@area_educator kids...: So split the difference, bracket the specified placement as necessary.

I really believe that it's worth it to give the customer the best possible service every single time. Silly maybe, but the guy paid extra for a gonzo car that looks, to his eye, like a million bucks. He doesn't want to see that line of toxic waste on his rims, but he does want it to ride smooth. Spend a few extra seconds on each wheel to tailor the placement, give him the smooth ride he wants without messing up the great look he shopped so hard for. That brings a customer back again and again.

And at the end, that's not silly. That's smart business. When your business is a service like wheel balancing, the service you give is the product you sell. I wouldn't sell anything but the absolute best.
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jodark
05/29/09

@Elhigh: Eh, except then they have a higher chance of coming off. They are only stuck with a simple adhesive, not an epoxy or anything.

On the inside of the outer wheel is the best place since they are continually pushed outward by the inertial force of the wheel spinning. If they were behind the spokes, that force would eventually pull the adhesive loose and the weight would be lost.
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
05/29/09

@jodark: When people say "behind the spokes," I take that to mean on the outer wheel, but hidden behind the spokes--not literally stuck onto the spokes (which, as you mention, would never work for long)
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Vintage Racer - with V-12 goodness
05/29/09

@jodark: We have a minimal amount of weights on the race car's wheels, but we just put a piece of aluminum tape over them. never had any come off, and the front brakes generate a lot of heat...
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PolishDon
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Those are wheel weights.....

They are not mounted to rotors, etc. These new rim designs prevent the mounting of wheel weights on the outside.

It's not the same as the Camaro or Mustang !
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Ben Wojdyla
05/29/09

@PolishDon: PolishDon, I hate to put a countryman down, but you've just stepped in it. All three use the same type of wheel weights. Camaro is the only car with the brake weights.
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Syrax
05/29/09

In reply to Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field
Anyone did the obvious test and remove them to see what happens? It's not like you'll hug a tree and die in a ball of fire is it? Is it?
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something_unique_and_descriptive
05/29/09

@Syrax: Around town it's not too bad, freeway speeds, you're looking for the tree.
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Dodge Challenger Wheel Weights Round Out The Field

California Continues Its War On Vitamin Pb: Lead Wheel Weights To Be Banned After 2009

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