A (Wheel) Weighty Question

Why the obsession with hammer on wheel weights from the 80’s?

The new ones stick well. Go try removing them! You’ll need a chisel!

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On a clean surface, with new schticky schtuff, I never saw one thrown from high speed racing wheels: hammer-on weights? Yes.

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An informal survey of the cars sitting in the driveway, (`15 MB, ‘13 MB, 07 BMW) none of the OEM alloy wheels have an external lip to attach a balance weight to. It’s tape, or nothin’.

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Around 2000, or so, I bought 4 new tires for the '98 ML320 I was driving at the time from the Tire Rack website. I was in a hurry to get them put on, and the only place I could find was a used tire shop in the sketchy part of town. Well, I grew up in the sketchy part of town, so a trip there was old-home day for me. Older black gentleman swapped the tires and carefully balanced each one on an ancient horizontal bubble balancer. I think he charged me $10 or $15 per tire for the whole job. I figured the bubble balance would good enough for the short tern, til I could get them done right on some computer balancer. They were rock steady at 80mph. I never touched them.

Done properly, bubble balances as good as a machine (assuming the balancer itself is properly balanced) It’s how I did my race car tires.

The secret is finding the heavy spot, then splitting the weights, equidistantly apart from that spot.

??? Been talking too much with your tech buddy!!!

That is a steel wheel. Not that I knw everything, but no XJS cars ever were made with steel wheels…

Carl

Then how did they come off my wheel? :confused: I don’t think anyone intentionally removed them. I also checked out the aluminum tape … unless a person has chromed wheels, it looks like it would really “show up” and look cheesy/cheap on wheels. :-1: (and, what we really need are the CLIP ON ones, not knock on, if they are even still available at shops … )

I don’t see the relationship, though … those are much newer cars than our XJSes … :confused:

But then why are they showing that illustration in the XJS factory parts manual? :crazy_face:

Using the tape to cover the stick on weights on the inside of the wheel are basically invisible. Putting the tape over knock on weights on the outside would be very ghetto.

Your link to weights is iffy. I checked my honeycomb wheels in the shed and I do have hammered on weights on the inside. But there were also stick on weights also.

Get over the hammer on weights. They are not needed in this day and age. Stick on weights are what is now.

Gordon

Well, if that’s truly the case (and again, I was NOT condoning knock-on weights, but clip on, btw! :confounded: ) I guess I’ll take Superblue back to NTB and insist they reinstall them at no charge, then (and re-balance the wheel for good measure, although I don’t believe I purchased “lifetime wheel balancing” w. the new set of tires), since apparently their installation was defective, albeit performed almost two years/7K miles ago. :thinking: Anyone have a problem with htat? :confused: Hopefully driving the last several months w. a wheel unbalanced hopefully didn’t damage anything, too … :pray:

I have no idea as to why it shows a steel wheel. but, it matters not! Your car is shod with alloy wheels. deal with alloy on steel to resolve the stuck three!!

Saw a TV You tube guy dealing with that issue on his wife’s Toyota SUV. In that case it was the spare alloy on an external steel mount. He got it off. A bit brutal.
Cleaned the mount and applied anti seize and remounted. Life in the snow country of New Hampshire does that!!

Carl

Or, apparently, Pennsylvania … :frowning_face: I’m curious though, since “alloy” as used here apparently = “aluminum”, then how can the wheels be rusted on (i.e. to the hubs)? Even if the hubs are steel, I thought aluminum doesn’t rust (although it can “oxidize” a bit and turn kind of white-ish)? :confused:

It’s that aluminum oxide–the white, crusty stuff–that is a type of ‘rust’.

It can get as bad as steel-to-steel.

The steel to alloy bond has been around for along time. aye Pennsylvania and New Hampshire share a weather clime. Cold and wet winters !!!

Some older USA cars featured alloy heads on iron blocks. Packard V12, Lincoln V12. Removing them was brutal at times…

Most prducts aka aluminum are actually an alloy of aluminum and other metals. Google and have a look.
In my day known as “Mags” short for magnesium,. No such thing, really an alloy of aluminum… As most of my life has been in a dry clime, that “bod” has never been an issue on any of my “alloy” shod cars.

Carl…

I’ve wondered if the engine cover on the AJ16s that is supposedly “magnesium” is really made of that metal, or an alloy with some other metal. :confused:

Hit it with a blow torch, if it disappears in a large flame then it’s Magnesieum :smiling_imp: :bomb:

If it is magnesium then I think it will be indicated somewhere on the casting. My Yamaha mcycle cam cover is magnesium and it is cast into the cover. I think it may we’ll be a safety initiative because it is difficult to tell by looking …but if there is a fire the magnesium is hard to deal with.

From what I recall, if magnesium catches fire, call the insurance company. It takes tremendous amounts of water to cool the metal to stop the burning.

Aircraft wheels are made from magnesium and when they catch fire, wow what a mess. A fire truck normally won’t have enough internal water to extinguish the burn. Not a pretty site.

Gordon

Quote from a fire dept;

The engine arrived to a vehicle involved in the interior. The crew got off the engine, pulled a front bumper 1-3/4-inch hoseline and advanced it to the vehicle. As the crew got closer to the vehicle, the dash exploded from the violent reaction with water being introduced to the magnesium. One firefighter was rushed to the hospital. That firefighter no longer works in the fire service due to the injuries sustained from the car fire.

Last thing you want at a Magnesium fire is water!

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