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???
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.
@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.
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!!!
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)
@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.
@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!
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.
@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.
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.
@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.
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.
@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.
@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.
@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)
@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...
@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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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.
05/29/09
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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BACK IN MY DAY the only choice was whitewall or not'n!!!
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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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Don't ask me how or why I found this:
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[how-to-build-a-pilgrim-sumo.wikidot.com]
It makes sense in context.
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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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Call back in 2020 when trucks like mine are rare, then we can talk.
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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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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.
05/29/09
05/29/09
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.
05/29/09
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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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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