Someone stole all my wheel weights

[henry]

I do hope that my title is not offensive to anybody. But im sure it was them.

When I purchased by Land Rover It came with 5 almost brand new Insa -Turbo Sahara tyres. They had all been balanced, all be it with A LOT of weights. While I was removing my starter motor today I noticed one of my lead weights on the floor, only to find on closer inspection that all of the weights from the 2 wheels next to the pavement had been ripped off!

Following the discovery I was quite unimpressed at how destructive some people are, and may have said a lot of bad words out loud. I then realised that I know nothing about tyres and balancing. Is it expensive to get them re balanced? is it bad to drive long distance unbalanced? Can people resell them for a fortune?

H

Edited March 20, 2010 by Miserableolgit
Title etc edited as you really don't know who took them.

[western]

might have been kids looking for lead to meltdown & turn into fishing weights.

find a tyre place that does 4x4 or tractor tyres, most car tyre places can't balance LR wheels due to the centre hole not being circular. a short trip to get the tyres rebalanced won't do any long term harm.

[Mutley]

Surely if you're UNBALANCED you shouldn't be driving any distance!?!

[ajh]

Get some Dynabeads and put them inside to do the balancing. It also helps when they get out of balance due to mud etc.

[Litch]

Getting your wheels balanced is a cheap job but most important.

Most garages will do it for just a couple of £ a wheel as long as you take the wheel to them (take it off in their carpark). I wouldn't bother with the likes of the fastfit outlets as they are not usually the most helpfull, check out your local garage as they are (usually) more likely to do a decent job.

[bishbosh]

Take this opportunity to use air soft ceramic beads to balance them I have used them with excellent results and nothing on the outside to be stolen / ripped off when off roading.

[rovernut]

Take this opportunity to use air soft ceramic beads to balance them I have used them with excellent results and nothing on the outside to be stolen / ripped off when off roading.

I am running Insa Turbo,s and I have always been unhappy with the amount of external lead needed to balance them.

How do you know how many airsoft beads to use?

[mmgemini]

Shouldn't be LEAD weights. Lead was banned years ago for balance weights. I've not tried to melt down this other stuff.

[FridgeFreezer]

How do you know how many airsoft beads to use?

Have a look at Dynabeads chart and then get on eBay for some airsofts

I really must get round to doing mine sometime.

[LR NUT]

local garages will do them quite cheap and get them balanced from the inside problem sorted

[M&S]

Just a note on Insa's - I found mine were out of balance when newly fitted. Not massively but enough for me to go back. Anyway, after some discussion and realising they probably couldn't get them much better I agreed to drive on them for a while longer. 500m later and they had settled down. 1000m later and they were fine. Now they are spot-on - when not full of mud

Dunno the technical reasons why, but they do seem to need a bit of bedding in.

[western]

Shouldn't be LEAD weights. Lead was banned years ago for balance weights. I've not tried to melt down this other stuff.

OK, so it's probably white metal softish,grey & looks like lead.

[mmgemini]

OK, so it's probably white metal softish,grey & looks like lead.

I know when they forst brought these ones out, there was a bit of trouble with them coning off too easily when driving.

[cieranc]

New weights are zinc, much much lighter than lead, meaning you need hundreds of them to do what a few lead weights could do.

When I balanced my Insa Dakar's, I raided the yard for old lead weights rather than use zinc (using the weights off the original tyres as well).

I found that getting the wheel straight on the balancer was a nightmare. First spin tells me I need 300gms in one spot. Shuffle the wheel round on the machine and it's down to 200, then 100.

Eventually got them balanced spot on, but as I say getting the wheel straight in the first place is a chore.

I think this is the reason we see so many Landies have a hundred weights on each wheel - because the tyrefitters just go off the first reading when the wheel isn't quite straight.

[Retroanaconda]

Have a look at Dynabeads chart and then get on eBay for some airsofts

I really must get round to doing mine sometime.

I've got thousands here, if anybody needs any let me know and I can probably save them some cash.

Haven't been airsofting since last August...so not exactly gonna miss them myself.

[Grizzly Claw 4x4]

Sometimes if you go off road you can move or rip the weights off are you sure this never happened? There are no resale value to weight as NOT lead but zinc now.

Should not pay no more than £5 a wheel mate, do not go ATS or Kwik Fit as will ask for to much

G.O

[Rob110]

Hi

When i searched for my tyres 285/75s, the websites say i need 8oz for each tyre, the kit that contains only 6oz is 28 quid so to do all 4 thats 6 kits for 168 quid, that cant be right surely???

I've searched for airsofts and its brought up bb's for air guns is this right? do they do the same job.

Cheers

Rob

[Diff]

Hi

When i searched for my tyres 285/75s, the websites say i need 8oz for each tyre, the kit that contains only 6oz is 28 quid so to do all 4 thats 6 kits for 168 quid, that cant be right surely???

I've searched for airsofts and its brought up bb's for air guns is this right? do they do the same job.

Cheers

Rob

Yes. I have ceramic BBs in mine. (0.2g 6mm dia).

The tyres have never been better balanced. Been in there about a year now. I bought a bag of 4000 from the Internet for less than £10 posted.

Regards,

Diff

[adam300Tdi90]

Here..

Does this really work? Can anyone explain it? The centrifugal energy somehow forces the beads to where they need to be?

[Ex Member]

Basically, if the tyre is out of balance, the beads move from the vibration. When balanced, they stop moving.

[Retroanaconda]

I use these:

http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/excel-20g-bb-3700

They're good for shootin' people, so should be good for balancin' wheels too

You can get them in heavier weights too, intended for more accurate fire, but 0.2g is the 'standard' if you will.

[Aragorn]

Do you just feed the weights in thru the valve or something?

[David Sparkes]

Do you just feed the weights in thru the valve or something?

You aren't going to get 6mm airgun pellets through the valve core, so for that cheap approach you have to unseat one bead.

For normal tyres the Dynabeads appear to be small enough to go through the valve after removing the core (which is then replaced).

For more aggressive and larger tyres, Dynabeads seem to recommend larger beads, which again won't go through the valve stem.

I'm attracted to the idea, but don't need to buy just yet. I also suspect I'll be using tubed tyres, so 'through the valve stem' is the way I'll have to go.

HTH

[KKMobile]

You aren't going to get 6mm airgun pellets through the valve core, so for that cheap approach you have to unseat one bead.

For normal tyres the Dynabeads appear to be small enough to go through the valve after removing the core (which is then replaced).

For more aggressive and larger tyres, Dynabeads seem to recommend larger beads, which again won't go through the valve stem.

I'm attracted to the idea, but don't need to buy just yet. I also suspect I'll be using tubed tyres, so 'through the valve stem' is the way I'll have to go.

HTH

Depends on what tubes you are getting / size!! If you are fitting 32inch upwards go for an agricultural (air / water) valved tube. If you gave the new type rim with the small valve hole you will have to drill it to a 16mm hole to allow for the bigger tube valve system.

When you remove the insert from the valve it has a larger hole for filling with water. in your case dynabeads!! then refit insert & top up to desired pressure.

If your fitting the skinnier type valve'd tube then take to the nearest tyre shop slice a hole in tube with say a penknife & fill with dynabeads then get them to fix a patch over the hole to seal it! This will save you time & aggrivation from the beads backing up in valve while trying to pour in with the filler funel you get with the beads.

I'm in the tyre trade & have done a few now!! the first guy that asked me to do them lost the will to live after it took him a hour & half to pour beads into one wheel!!!!!

Hope this helps??

[Bowie69]

If getting anything, get larger beads, my experience with D4x4 fitted tyres/rims/dynabeads is that they quite easily jam in the back of the tyre valve whilst airing down, meaning you have to arse about the the valve for 10 mins trying to get it to seal again...