New tyres/wheel balance query

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Mercy1

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Car
It's a car - just a car!
I have just had two new rear tyres fitted to my C350. When the car went in, both rims had wheel balancing weights on them. The fitters have removed them all and all that is left are the black sticky pads.
Can this be right? Are the wheels still balanced? I know nothing about this procedure so any help would be welcome.
Tyres off were Conti 3s. On went Pilot 3s.
Thanks...
 
So if the wheels needed balance weights with the old tyres, i presume it's fair to assume they need weights now. In other words they have left my wheels "unbalanced". Great!
 
It gets worse. Just checked my invoice and see they charged me £6.33 each wheel for balancing. Clearly not done, I'll be back there tomorrow! Thanks.
 
They wont have necessarily put them in the same spot as the old weights so have a proper look to make sure you havent missed them before going back.
 
They wont have necessarily put them in the same spot as the old weights so have a proper look to make sure you havent missed them before going back.

Thanks, I've already checked. Just dirty black marks where the previous weights were. That's what alerted me. Would they have to take the existing weights off to change the tyre?
 
It is standard practice to remove all existing weights prior to fitting new tyres that then gives a base to balance them from. As tyres are not all made perfectly they have a coloured dot on them usually Red/Yellow so it is easily seen. This is to denote the heaviest bit of the tyre. A good fitter installs the tyre on the wheel with the dot at the valve point as this is the lightest part of the rim since metal is missing. They then spin them up on balancer to check if any weights and what size need adding. They could have done this and found that no balance was necessary. Unlikely I admit on both wheels. All I am saying is that the could have done it and surprisingly no balance was needed.
When you take it back ask to watch them do the check.
Don
PS you can get the old black adhesive off with a bit of solvent if it looks unsightly.
 
Is it possible they fitted the balance weights on the inside of the wheel where they're no visible, rather than the on outside rim?

All of the wheels on both my cars have been done this way as the older style weights look unsightly, and when badly fitted can damage the rim.

Just a thought.
 
Is it possible they fitted the balance weights on the inside of the wheel where they're no visible, rather than the on outside rim?

All of the wheels on both my cars have been done this way as the older style weights look unsightly, and when badly fitted can damage the rim.

Just a thought.

OMG, thank you so much Millo - you're right! Just checked again with a torch and there are weights right on the inside of the rim, already covered with dust!!
Thanks again to you and others for taking the trouble to answer - saved me yet further embarrassment. Dooogh...
 

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