Wheel Balance and Lug Nut Torque

[WDHewson]

Gentlemen:

My 2003 Accord Coupe’s tires were getting thin on tread for Canadian winters, and one developed a slow sidewall leak that was irreparable. So I got four new all season 205/60R16 tires installed at our national chain called Canadian Tire.

First I noticed that none of the four wheels had any balance weights on the outboard of the wheel lip. But there were some weights on the inboard wheel lip. So in 45 years of car ownership I’ve never had a tire installed and balanced without at least one outboard weight. And suddenly four new tires with no outboard weights!! See example in attached picture.

Have tires gotten very well balanced from the factory these days, or did I get an incomplete job? There’s nothing grossly out of balance when driving at 100 kph, but our roads are lumpy this time of year, so I can’t really tell.

Also, I was pleased to see the auto technician using a torque wrench on the lug nuts. My Owner’s Manual clearly specifies 80 ft-lb. I asked, and he twisted to 100 ft-lb. Is this too much?! Will I have stretched studs or cracked wheel hubs? Should I immediately loosen and re-torque to 80 ft-lb?

Thanks for your anticipated help and advice.

Topic

[Sam]

A lot of places now balance all to the inside, due to all of the newer wheels not having a lip for a weight. That may be what they’ve done, if you’re not feeling any problems I think you’re fine. As far as the toque it can cause rotors to warp, but I see 100ftlb is about the norm for 4 door sedans, you can re-toque tghem if ya wish, but I’d rather have them a bit tight than a bit… ya know

[college man]

if the machine says no weight on the outer.then no weight
gets applied. If the wheel torque is 80 ft pounds.Then Yes
loosen the lugs and torque to spec 80ft pounds.

[WDHewson]

Thanks for your replies guys.

I’m still worried about all the balance weight being inboard. You can achieve static balance that way, but not dynamic balance.

I think these wide tires especially need the dynamic balance. Take the chain off a bicycle some day and the pedals and cranks may have perfect static balance, but spin them fast and there is a great wobble because of the lateral imbalance. Same for tires.

But I’m getting out of my depth here. Certainly Eric’s video shows inboard and outboard weights being needed and installed.

Hoping for some more replies. Thanks.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Don’t worry about only having inboard weights as pointed out it is possible to balance a wheel that way. If you start to notice a vibration around 55-60mph then you likely have a tire balance issue. It’s not going to be debilitating so don’t worry if that does happen. If not, don’t worry about it. I’d rather see the wheels torqued to 80lbft but the fact that they used a torque wrench is commendable. Next time have them torqued to 80lbft.

[Author]

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