I just installed new tires. Does it matter if the tire shop installed smaller weights on the back vs. front?

Question

I installed 4 new tires on my toyota highlander.
i noticed that the weights on the rims are much smaller on the back vs the front of my rims. I can actually see the indentation marks of the older and longer weights I used to have. Will this have any impact when I rotate my tires or will it have any impact on the life of the tire? I noticed that when I drive between 60-70mph the steering wheel has a slight vibration so I was wondering if it might be from these new, smaller weights that the tire shop put on my back rims. Why would they only install smaller weights on the back rims by the way?

Answer 1

Size of Wheel Weights will vary according to tire types, size and brand. The fact that wheel weights vary in size is not uncommon. These weight's are to balance tire onto wheel. Generally tires are balanced with a tire balancing (computerized) machine. I would not be concerned about weights not being position in the exact position as previous weights. It is very rare that you would discover New Weights installed in existing locations. However, I would be concerned about the new vibration that has come on after you had new tires installed. I would take your vehicle back to original place of purchase (new tires) and insist that they re-balance all tires. It could be possible that a weight has fallen off or their balancing machine is out of calibration. These machines can be thrown out of calibration depending on the conditions they are exposed to. Also size of weights is not a factor on how too or when to rotate. One thing that will impact life of tire, are tires that are out of balance and suspension alignment. Also to get the most life out of your tire's, It is best to rotate and balance every 5 to 7 thousand miles

Answer 2

Dragon P. Proper tire balancing balances the tire plus the wheel not the tire alone. Generally speaking aluminum wheels are straighter and balanced to much closer tolerances then steel wheels.

If you'd like a cleaner more precise wheel / tire balance job go to Hunter Wheel Balancers on line. The site will direct you to a shop near you who has such machines. The Hunter Force Wheel Balancer is (in my opinion) one of the best ever made. It detects wheel and tire irregularities separately. Two revolutions of the wheel / tire detects out of spec. tires and wheels before final balancing is attempted. The real beauty of this balancer is the weights may be applied inside the rim perpendicular to the wheel flange hub completely out of sight. Any necessary additional small clip on weights stay on the back side of the wheel. New Toyotas with aluminum wheels have balance weights applied in this manner. Toyota does not want come - backs because of wheel vibrations. They must know what they their doing.

I've personally had a a set of 4 of new Yokohama TRZ tires re-balanced on the Hunter balancer because of a small latteral runout on one tire and another had a TIR runout. The two remaining wheel / tires were true as a dime. The force wheel balancer completely cured the two seperate runout vibration problems that the Coats balancer missed. This machine tells the operator exactly where the weight benifits the situation not where it's the most convenient such as hammering on unsightly weights on an aluminum wheel.

Answer 3

Those weights are what the balancing machine said to use when they balanced the wheels w/the new tires. They did the same thing with my truck when I had new tires installed, it's a perfectly normal procedure.

If you're getting a bit of steering wheel shimmy, you could always go back and have them check the balance again. You might need a front-end alignment.

Answer 4

well vibration can be from misballanced tires - but if the rims are balanced correctly the size of the weights you see may be irrelevent. There may be a weight on the inner side of the rim too or the weight amount needed for the tire was smaller with new tires - or they did misbalance the tire and are causing the vibration. Take it back and have them spin blanace them again.

Answer 5

i used to work at a tire shop, some wheels are harder to balance then others, maybe that person just didnt balance them right. The weights being smaller on the back means that the tires in back are more centered then the front ones, Thats why the front tires need bigger weights, Bigger meaning more weight.

Answer 6

My cousin owns a tyre shop and i used to watch him balance the wheel. The machine will tell you what weights to put one. Wheels will always deform when you drive so after a while they will keep having to balance it to get it as in shape as possible. With your steering problem you might have to get you alignment correct or it can also be if your using cheap tyres. Lots of places will cheat you for the alignment because it takes a long time to learn and trainees won't know it.

Answer 7

This is normal. If the tyres you just bought were made with better balance than the old tyres, then they'll need smaller weights to finalize the balance. Small weights is actually a good thing - it usually means that the tyres are built better.