I didn’t draw any conclusions that your wheel weights fell off
That story was about one of my own experiences
For what it’s worth, many of my colleagues over the years have seen the same phenomenon over the years . . . stick ons fall off before the life of the tire is over
And I believe them. They have no reason to lie. They have nothing to gain. And I believe they did a good job cleaning the rim before putting on the stick ons
I have no reason to disbelieve them either. And I have no doubt that you’re describing your own experiences with wheel weights honestly and your conclusions are valid based on your experiences. My experiences have simply been different, that’s all.
Any weight can fall or get knocked off. When I wrote that I would not assume that residue on the wheel indicated that a weight fell off, I did not mean to imply that a tape weight cannot get knocked off, only that it could also be leftover residue from a previous balance. That’s a common source of blank residue rectangles. My first assumption upon seeing residue is that it’s leftover from a previous balance. Unless, of course, the tire being removed is scalloped of has other wear signs of an imbalance.
I think we just have different assumptions about those leftover residue squares based on different experiences. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’ll spell out my experience, on several of my personal vehicles.
I bought the vehicles used, and the previous owners had elected to go with stick ons. I know this, because I rotate tires every oil change. Since there was no shaking, I decided to just go with the stick ons, for the time being
We don’t hit a lot of bumps, potholes, curbs, etc.
From one day to the next, the steering wheel was shaking on the freeway. This was after a few years, by the way, but the tires still have a lot of life, and aren’t bald or dry rotted
I put the car on jackstands. The stick ons were gone. Every single one. Yet the residue was clearly visible. And it was quite clear that the stick ons had very recently fallen off
For me, that’s proof positive that stick ons are inferior
Once I rebalanced . . . with clip ons . . . the shaking was gone
Please don’t take this the wrong way . . . I don’t have assumptions what those leftover residue squares were. I absolutely know what they were. Because I rotated the tires many times, I know there was no residue from previous balances. that is, until the stick ons fell off
For me that’s only evidence that likely either the prior owner never bothered to balance the wheels or didn’t bother to clean the rims before using the tape weights. Since they were all missing, and since it was shaking off & on from day one, I’d suspect that the wheels were never balanced in the first place.
How you could possibly know that the stick ons had just recently fallen off when you just bought the car is beyond me. And how you knew that the residue squares were not from previous balances when these cars were used is beyond me. But if that’s what you believe to be the case, I certainly have no reason to doubt you.
The bottom line is that we have different opinions of tape weights. You don’t trust them and I do. There is no right or wrong here, just different opinions.
I hate stick ons, even though I realize sometimes they’re unavoidable
Read my story again . . . the stick ons didn’t fall off until a few years AFTER I bought the car used. The stick ons were there when I bought them. There was no residue from previous weights. I know, because I inspected the car carefully
You say you have no reason to do doubt me . . . with all due respect, it sounds like you are
You are entitled to do that
I’m happy to hear that other people have had positive experiences with stick ons
However, those have not been my experiences
It’s like when you buy a car that turns out to be an unreliable lemon. You’re turned off on it, and you probably wouldn’t buy it again, if you had a choice
Some of you guys apparently had bad experiences with the Vega, for example. You would be happy to hear that somebody else had a positive experience with their own Vega, but you probably wouldn’t buy one again
LOL, thanks, db.
I’m not mad at you either, we just disagree and have reached an impasse on this question. it’s nothing personal.
Naw, never had braces. When I grew up not too many people did. Interestingly enough, even though my teeth are admittedly crooked they’re all original and all still there except my wisdom teeth and one that was removed when I was young to alleviate overcrowding.
