back in september I purchased new tires for my XJ-6 (yes I know this is the classics forum but I wanted to share this here),

the 4 new tires were installed in the XJ wheels and balanced. I picked them up and installed them myself in the car because I don't trust air impact wrenches tightening my lugs. I torque them by myself manually.

I took the car for a short drive and inmediately started feeling and hearing this horrible scraping with every rotation of the rear tires. I called a friend to figure out what the heck it is. He drove the car and came back puzzled.

To diagnose the noise we raised the car on stands and ran the rear tires with engine running, transmission in Drive,

Conversation went from rear axle wheel bearings to stuck calipers to differential damage to axle shafts to u-joints and I was ready to cry. The XJ has never done this before. The noise only happened once in every rotation of the rear tires.

As a last resort I got under the car to look around and then I saw it:

The wheel balance weight was scraping against the hub with every full rotation. The lead weight had been clipped to the edge of the wheel and it was too close to the hub edge.

Here's the way the balancing weight looked after I removed the wheel from the car. The scraped lead material can be seen:
Let THAT be a lesson for me. I know better now. I took the rear tires to the shop and they used stick on weights inside the wheels, No more scraping.

 

Wow. That's a new one for me. I only use adhesive weights these days.

Pleased for you it was something simple.

 

Jose
I had the same thing happen on my S3XJ6 a few years ago. Luckily I picked it up in the first 100 yards and promptly returned to the tyre shop.

On the subject of air impact wrenches I have the same philosophy as you.
However I have "trained" my favourite tyre shop and they only lightly tighten the wheel nuts,
They then torque them up using my own supplied torque wrench to the manufacturers specification which I have extracted from the vehicle handbook.
They won't let me do it in their shop due to "occupational health and safety" but are happy to do it with me looking on.
Bill Mac

 

So what was being used before, or was it just coincidence that the weights were juts large enough this time around to come in contact with the hub ?

 

JeffR, the wheels had stick-on weights on the iinside surface of the wheels before the new tires and balancing. I told the shop to not put any weights on the visible out side of the wheels and they didn't but used the clipped weights on the inside edges. I use XJ40 "TEARDROP" wheels in my Series 3 XJ-6. those wheels have a deeper offset and I use fat tires 225/60/15.

BillMac, the shop won't even let me come in the work area. Insurance regulations. I can look but only from outside. I leave the car on stands and just bring them the wheels. But it never dawned on me there would be a clearance issue with those clip-on weights.

Glyn, new for me too. After the re-balance the car drives smoothly. I am relieved no damage was caused. The aluminium hub survived.

 

Some years ago, my wife bought me a very nice set of Daimler dust caps for the tyre valves of our DD6. Since then, it's had two sets of tyres. Now there are only two caps left. The tyre men claim, "it was missing when you brought the car in," which is totally untrue. The point is if they can't even keep track of valve caps, can you trust them to do anything else right?

 

yes the kid doing the balancing was stuck to his cell phone most of the time.

 

Thats why it says only specialy trained persons should fit tyres, its people who have managed to get their knuckles to scrape across the floor while they walk.

I had a set of tyres fitted to a mini pickup that all went flat within 24 hours because they hadn't cleaned the alloy rims up, I had a set of tyres fitted to a frogeye and they badly scraped every wheel and they had to have them re powder coated, I had some directional tyres fitted and one was backwards, I had the tracking done on a passat and they heated to the trackrod end up so much that it melted the nylon cup, they then adjusted it and sent me off in it and when I got to the first pot hole the knocking was horrendous, the list goes on and on. There are a few good ones but generally they are just monkeys.

 

The head of Michelin SA says "Tyre dealers & their staff are just a thinly disguised bunch of hoods"

 

I always thought that there were two businesses that were worth investing in. Tyre sellers and funeral directors. Never ending business coming through the door.

 

i would prefer selling tires to caskets.

 

... but the turnover in tires has declined over the years due to longer life.

 

while casket sales increase daily.

 

while casket sales increase daily.

 

while casket sales increase daily due to shortened lives.