Quick question about wheel weight orientation.

I picked up some new tires for the rig and I've decided to mount and balance them myself. I'm going to use the stick on weights. My question is about orientation of the weights and why do people mount them as shown below? If there's enough flat real estate, why not mount the weights at 90 degrees to the orientation shown below? Mounting the way I'm thinking would place the weight in a more exact spot. Maybe I'm just wrong and not thinking of something because no one does it like that. What am I missing? Can someone explain it to me? Thanks.

 

Wheel weight and balance is measured by a centrifugal rotating force. Putting the weights across the width of the wheel will throw it off and most likely cause vibrations. They would most likely detach from the wheel as well.

 

Here’s what I know… using the “stick on” weights is referred to as static balancing. The Hunter machine tells me how much weight to put and where (inside or outside). In sure someone of much higher knowledge on the subject can chime in, but I do what the machine says and it works.

 

couple of thoughts on this. The machine will point out not only where on the circumference of the tire the weight should go, but also which side of the wheel the weight should go. So perhaps this is to center the weight towards the appropriate side of the wheel. Also, less likely, the weights come together in sticks like that, takes more time to break them apart than to just stick them on

 

Glass balance beads. Done.

 

Exactly! I was looking at these for my truck, but I'm having trouble figuring out if they're compatible. It's super convenient they come on a string that easily hangs on your shop pegboard.

​

 

Uhhhh.....

 

I've been thinking about this some more and this makes some sense. Wheel weights are needed because the center of mass of the tire/wheel isn't in the center. The ideal center of mass is directly in the center of the wheel, on the same plane as the wheel mating surface, making it balanced in three dimensions. It's pretty cool the new machines can do that. Being able mount weight, basically, anywhere on the surface of the rim, you can get three dimensional balance, making the hammer/clamp on weights obsolete. I found the below video and triangulating the balance makes some sense to me. I think, more than anything, whike having to use more weight to balance the wheel, it's decreases your margin of error. I'm going to pick up one of those bubble balancers so, no 3D balancing machine for me.

 

Thanks for all the replies, except for the glass beads folk.

 

I just read this again and I don't think we're talking the same. I was talking about the orientation of the entire strip, not the orientation of each individual weight. I was talking about mounting the weights like this, not around the circumference but, down it.

 

Oh we’re talking about the same thing. My first explanation was why they don’t put them like your image shows. My second (less scientific, more a reflection on the state of humanity and the workforce) explanation was as more as to why they are spread in a long line and not perhaps clustered on the spot needed.