Balance tires with duct tape

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

So, for those that know me...I never take any of my cars into the "shop" unless I can't do the repairs myself....Have had too many bad experiences.


On this occassion, I've been having a problem with shakes and shimmies on my 03 Vibe GT. I've already replaced a set of 17" Dunlops due to abnormal tire wear at 20K, and I'm still having issues. So, I ask for a 4-wheel alignment, and perhaps a tire re-balance, since even after putting on these tires 2K agao, I've had a vibration.


So, the Pontiac delearship in East Brunswick, NJ takes 3 hours to work on the car. (BTW - my wife tells them she's going to wait for it) When she get's home, I read the alignment report and find out the driver's rear is not aligned. I call them up and the service manager tells me, "yeah, I know." So I ask him why the toe is out -0.14 and he says the car was made that way and to correct will require a shim kit. So I ask him if the tire will wear nd he says, "Probably. Keep an eye on it" I told him it's been like this since I purchased the car, and shouldn't it be fixed under warranty? He says yes, except that I'm over by a couple of months and a 2,000 miles. Jerk...

Yesterday, I'm out there with my neighbor, who just so happens to be a GM mechanic, and he asks why do I have duct tape on my rims. Duct tape???

The shop used speed weights and covered them with a few strips of duct tape...I guess to hold them on. Can you beleive this!!! When you're dealing with a few ounces here and there, putting duct tape over the weights has got to throw off the balance. If they were balanced with the tape on, then when the tape falls off in a year, then the balance will be off. Better yet, one rim has no weights on at all. I've never seen a rim and tire balance out perfectly. On another tire, the weights are stacked in a little pyramid and then taped over.

My buddy says to complain as this is not an approved GM method for balancing tires. I've got a call in now...


Has anyone ever seen this before?

[Joe 1320]

Yesterday, I'm out there with my neighbor, who just so happens to be a GM mechanic, and he asks why do I have duct tape on my rims. Duct tape???

The shop used speed weights and covered them with a few strips of duct tape...I guess to hold them on. Can you beleive this!!! When you're dealing with a few ounces here and there, putting duct tape over the weights has got to throw off the balance. If they were balanced with the tape on, then when the tape falls off in a year, then the balance will be off. Better yet, one rim has no weights on at all. I've never seen a rim and tire balance out perfectly. On another tire, the weights are stacked in a little pyramid and then taped over. I've used duct tape on some, others have been just the stick on weights and I've only had one come loose, I found that in the driveway after a cleaning session.

My buddy says to complain as this is not an approved GM method for balancing tires. I've got a call in now...


Has anyone ever seen this before?

Yup. As a matter of fact, the duct tape is a good idea. Tape on weights use a foam double stick adhesive that can break down with the use of wheel cleaners, water intrusion, etc. The correct method is to balance the wheel with the weight along with the duct tape. Under no circumstances are weights to be stacked.... that is the part that isn't correct. Duct tape simply seals the weight to the rim, prevents water from getting under the weight for a little bit longer period of time. I just had a weight come off, they were balanced about a year ago and not much mileage accumulated. The duct tape had split and sure enough the weight's self stick pad let loose. I taped it back in place until such a time as I can get it rebalanced. For the moment, there are no shakes or vibrations.

I always use tape on weights on custom or aluminum wheels, I don't allow clamp on weights on anything other than a regular steel wheel with a hubcab.

[fastTa]

Yeah, the duct tape is common and is usually a good idea. Sometimes if the wheel is really off or is even showing to be out of round, they will double stack weights. It is not all that common, but it is usually only done when the wheel is balancing really bad.

When you're talking ounces with the weights, the weight of the tape is meaningless and unnoticeable even if they don't balance the wheel with the tape. That strip of tape weighs likely less than 1 gram or 1/28 of an ounce. You would never feel that.

[Dave Vince]

That is the method that was used when balancing our 17" drag slicks. The weights were put on the inside rear of the rim, and covered with duct tape. I periodically checked the tape as it dries up after awhile. When I first ran the tires they were unbalanced. At about 130 there was a severe vibration.

[Injuneer]

Ditto..... I put duct tape on the stick-on weights on my drag wheels.

[wolfdogs]

super glue works good too. thats what we used on the comp and hawk wheel weights. never came loose.

[Trash man]

Better yet, one rim has no weights on at all. I've never seen a rim and tire balance out perfectly

i get alot of those ones at work, its not uncommon, hell i had a 245/70R16 Bridgestone Dualer Revo AT balace perfect on a 94 1500 Chevy. now that was cool!