mdorn98

Today after holding out for a long period of time I had new tires put on my LS. The worn tires were on a set of telios chrome lexus wheels that came with the car but were beat up. I decided to replace the wheels as well so I ended up buying a set from a friend that had tires mounted and balanced but never driven on. I ended up only buying the wheels and not the tires and they had the wheel weights on them. At the dealer I asked them to rebalance the tires and paid 100$ for them to do so. However when I got back home and looked on the inside of the wheel the weights were exactly the same. I know lexus uses a different shape of weights and I know they didn't take the old ones off and rebalance. What should I do? All help is appreciated

robert1408

If I understand this right, you bought different tires to put on the wheels you bought. The dealer should have balanced them and you should see new weights. Before taking the car back, drive it fast enough to see if there is a balance problem. If it doesn't ride smooth, take it back. They may have neglected the balance.

If it does ride smooth, I can think of two things that might be happening:

1) If the wheels are several years old they can easily have some core shift in the castings. Such wheels usually take lots of weight just behind the front side. These weights may still be close to correct even with a different tire because they are there to balance an imperfect wheel. If the dealer charged you only for balancing and not for wheel weights, you may be ok.

2) The aftermarket wheel weight suppliers are moving away from lead weights and replacing them with a zinc based product. These new zinc weights are a dull grey color and look like old, oxidized lead. It's possible you are not seeing the expected shiny new lead and assuming the dull appearance is old weights.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Standard operating procedure when balancing wheels is to remove the existing weights before putting them on the machine. However, they may not have followed SOP. If you don't have any problems with wheel wobble/shimmy, I wouldn't worry about it.

VNTR

I completely understand you. I just had a same sort of issue at Lexus of....Complete negligence

Go to your service adviser directly and express the grave concern of the fact that mechanics neglected scope of detail per work order.


I paid almost $1000 to fix my sunroof (tree branch fell) and they had to clean glass per work order. Everything was assumed good (too focused on the girls there) until I checked later. They never removed the glass under the molding. Brought it back and they said theyll take care of it. Took it back and never looked, (its one of those things you assume people did since it was so simple and blatant) my mistake as they STILL did not touch the roof molding to remove glass under per scope of work detail. I also found they threw away the inner wind fairing to deflect wind noise.

Long story short they took care of everything and I had a loaner throughout the whole time they messed up. but...

You are getting your car fixed by a bunch of kids that came out of IT school at dealerships. I use to sale cars at Acura and would hang out with the mechanics (was mechanic myself/now injured). Not to mean it in a negative demeanor, but thats the truth and truth is, kids aren't as experienced as adults. simply put. These kids mess around often at work and dont care for service too much and will be the downfall to many dealerships. I've thought about bringing it up to the owner of Lexus of ----myself




ALSO...i had them inspect for wheel bearing damage by multiple technicians at Lexus of ------- and NONE could find an issue and said nothing was wrong even with sooo many signs. I ended up finding out myself the issue and replaced both front wheel bearings. all issues solved.


Boy, would you guys like to see the corroded seized bearing I got that Lexus of --- cant find!




P.s. outside of the mechanics, service staff is top notch 5 stars and is why i come back. because when their mechanics mess up, they will take care of me and beyond. It is also the reason i'd like to leave out the dealerships name.

VNTR

check scope of work detail and list what they state, verbatim.

i jumped into conclusions a bit, but maybe you're fine..

when i get my wheels balanced, they use Used weights and leave any i have on there that are perfectly fine and work. its a little math equation where they might leave some of ur old ones on and add others.

are you sure that all wheels have wheel weights in EXACT same spot and setup? as if they did not even touch any?

slimjimtel

Most shops leave the existing weights. The spin the wheel on the balancer, then add to the weights or remove as needed to balance the wheel.

I ONLY use discount tire for balancing and they use the same flat stick on weights. They never strip them all. They add or remove as needed. I sit and watch them, most all stores are set up to see the work being performed, they know me very well from bringing all my cars in.

mdorn98

Thanks so much guys. After more searching I found them on the back of the wheel (DUH). On a different note Im new to the forum and you guys are awesome.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

^^^ DITTO

When ever new tires are installed, SOP is to remove ALL sticker weights... (or any kind)

New Tires on wheels are then spun to see if any NEW inner or outer weights are needed.

Regards,

~ Joe Z

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Interesting - I use Discount Tire, too - nice big window to watch them balance the wheels and then torque them to spec. They remove the weights before spinning the wheel and balance as necessary at my store (Durham).