discount tire said they rebalanced my wheel after tpms replacement but i don't see new weights?

[apollo18]

hey all for my 15 rav 4 i got a tire rotation and while i was at it, i needed a new tpms sensor for one of my tires. i was just standing around watching when they were doin it and noticed they popped off the old weights off the wheel, but don't remember seeing them install new ones. i asked the tech after and he said they rebalance the wheels after replacing the tpms, so i assumed i missed when they installed the new weights. i drove home and the steering didn't shake or anything (the 'balanced' / tpms new sensor tire moved to my front left' however when i got home i went to take a peek and just saw the spot where the old weights came off and i don't see new weights unless i made a mistake. I also saw an area with some think white glue / white adhesive.

am i to assume that the tires were indeed balanced or maybe did it not the old weights since it drove fine? or should i visibally be able to see new weights?

i tbh don't think i see the new weights

thanks!

 

[Rand]

might not need weights? maybe sticky weights that are hard to see.. really need to remove wheel from vehicle and look good .. depending on wheel design

I had them forget to put tpms sensors IN my tires once.. so... I mean any screwup is possible. but likely??

 

[demarpaint]

Honestly if it drives fine, no vibrations, tracks nice and straight, and no difference than before you brought it in, find something else to worry about. That's what I would do.

 

[Jetronic]

Sometimes when checking no changes are needed, sometimes you need to remove some weights, sometimes you need to add and sometimes it's so far off you best remove all and start from scratch.

 

[apollo18]

ty yall i guess i will drive more and see if i notice any steering vibrations. oddly so i am certain i did not see them use the balancing machine but maybe i am wrong. i did indeed see them remove the old weights when changing out the sensor

 

[bonjo]

If they had to remove the tyres and refit it, then you might have been lucky and the wheel does not need balancing weight. I would be very happy if I were you
Tyre weight is not constant along the diameter; some even have a dot marker for the valve position location but fitters don't care about (or know) about this.

 

[CapriRacer]

Tyre weight is not constant along the diameter; some even have a dot marker for the valve position location but fitters don't care about (or know) about this.

Ah ..... Mmmm ..... Those dots aren't about balance. They're about Uniformity - think run out and you'll be close.

Long version: Barry's Tire Tech: Match Mounting

Short version: With a few rare exceptions, wheel manufacturers don't mark the wheels for either runout or balance, so there's no point in paying attention to the dots!

 

[TimeFlies]

I worked at a gas station, with garage, and tire machines.
During my 2 years working there, I changed, repaired, and balanced a lot of tires. Occasionally, not often, they balanced with no weights. A customer came back to the garage weeks after I installed 4 new winter tires on his truck, complaining that I only balanced 3. During the conversation with my boss, he said it drove great, no shake, but only 3 wheels had weighs on them. They came to me, where I was doing brakes, and tie rod ends on a customers vehicle. I said yes i remember it well, as I was surprised, so spun that tire up 3 times on the balancer. The customer still wanted it balanced again, so the shop owner took it off, and spun it on the balancer himself, then told the customer I was correct, and put it back on, and the customer drove off happy.
Sometimes it just works out that they are perfectly balanced. It may be 1 in 400, but yes, it can happen.

 

[lyle]

WAIT! Discount Tire takes off old weights when mounting new tires?

This is the reason I don't use Discount anymore. The two stores within 5 miles of me will mount new tires no problem, but then they balance them without removing the old weights. I complained each time, in fact I switched stores because of this issue at the first store and each time it's a "saves time" and "they'll run just as smooth" explanation.

I am now using an independent tire shop that is 10 miles away from me but they use their Hunter equipment the way Hunter intended, by rotating the tire on the rim to get the lowest road force AND marking each tire for its position on the car after all four are balanced.