I bought a set of tires ($650) and the installer placed weights on the inside and outside of the tire. I asked them to remove the outsides ones because they were unattractive on the chrome wheel.
They were going to use tape-weights, but they just left the ones one the inside of the rim.
They car does not vibrate. Should I be concerned?
Not if your wheels do not vibrate. A static wheel balancer can not determine where the out of balance mass is located on the tire. It could be on one side of the tire or the other or somewhere in between. Weights on both sides is the best guess possible to put the weight where it is needed. When tires were narrow, it mattered little where the weight was placed, inside or outside. With wide tires, it is more important but, as I said, you can’t do better than success if the car/wheels don’t vibrate.
Do real wheels vibrate? If not, how does one know if a one-sided weight is ok?
If there is no vibration in the car as you go down the road at 70 mph your tires are balanced. The problem with stick on weights is they can come off. If they stay on all is fine.
You didn’t want the weights you could see, and now you don’t trust the stick on weights will work. You are a tough customer to please.
You need to inspect the tires on occasion for any irregular tire wear. It’s possible that being off a little may not be noticeable to you while behind the wheel but over time could show up on the tire tread.
The reason for weights on both sides is that this generally provides a better balance than using the inside only. Granted, outside weights on alloy or chrome wheels do look kind of tacky though, along with marring the wheel rim.
I was told that they would use the tape weight rather than the lips ones. They took off the outside lips weights, left the inner ones on, and did NOT use tape weights. They did not do what they they said. I should be peeved after spending $650USD.
Is it possible they used tape weights and hide them behind the spokes? The Hunter GSP9700 has a procedure to do that.
Bottomline, if you don’t have a vibration between 50 and 70 mph - where wheel end vibrations are the worst - then you don’t have anything to worry about.
Where vanity and serviceability collide is always a bad wreck…
Will the car function well in your opinion?
Thank you everyone for your input!