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IIx 03 EP xII
02-05-2004, 04:21 PM
my rota slips just came in... and they have these silver weights on the inside of the rim... and they are noticable from the outside... and they stand out alot against the black rims. is there anything i can do that will hide these or make them less noticable? do all wheels have these?

BlasTech
02-05-2004, 04:25 PM
Yes, most wheels will have them. They are slugs that weight a few grams to make the wheel have the same weight all the way around. Without them, the wheel can wobble or hop and will be noisier, and possibly damaging to tires.

Dont worry about them unless you are going to show the car for competition, and dont spray WD-40 on them, or they will come un-glued and fall off!

IIx 03 EP xII
02-05-2004, 04:29 PM
well when i first opened the box i noticed them. and one of them isnt all the way on there... and kinda falling off?? but it was like that when i opened it, so i didnt touch it. so there isnt anyway to balance the wheel without those weights? cuz i just dont like them... could i paint them black or something?

KingGreg86
02-05-2004, 04:48 PM
Pics plz:)

Eee Pee
02-05-2004, 04:53 PM
Some people will put Duct Tape over the weights.

Do that, then hit it up with some black paint.

IIx 03 EP xII
02-05-2004, 05:08 PM
could i just paint the weights themselves? instead of putting duct tape over them? i could cut out a stencil so i wont get any paint on the rims themselves... could that work too? if not... then the tape will have to do.

oh and i have pics... but imagestation is freezing everytime i try to upload pictures. so... i cant post them as of now... ill try again tomorrow at school or something.

BlasTech
02-05-2004, 05:56 PM
The alternative is the kind of lead slugs that are on the outside of the wheel along the rim. You can paint em, just dont get any solvent under them or they will come unglued.

ANDYWlovesHONDA
02-05-2004, 06:24 PM
What you should do. Is just bring the rims to me tomorrow at school and ill drop them on my car for a few days to see if they roll strait.:p

chet
02-05-2004, 06:40 PM
Hey BlasTech?!?! Aren't those balancing weights you're referring to? Personally, it sounds like tires were on the wheels, they were "balanced" and then the tires came off and now he has the wheels. Were they used wheels? I hope I didn't miss something.

Sounds odd to me if they're new wheels.

BlasTech
02-05-2004, 07:25 PM
You're right, there shouldnt be any balancing slugs on brand new wheels that dont have tires. But a wheel with tires installed and no slugs means the installer didnt balance the wheel.

The slugs are mostly for the tire variances, but they are also used to correct wheels that arent "true"...like a bend that's so slight you cant see it, but if you put the wheel on a spindle and spin it next to a fixed caliper, there is a minute "wobble" in its path...so slight it might be in the hub, so the wheel still sits flat, but doesnt spin straight...I dont think many wheels stay perfect for long.

Remember when you had a ten speed and you went off a curb and then you had to tighten the spokes to get the wheel to spin straight? Same deal.

IIx 03 EP xII
02-05-2004, 08:14 PM
the wheels are brand spankin new... with new tires... i got them from machiii.net... so they are balanced and everything... i was just wondering what i could do to make them less noticable... im just gonna paint them... or put some tape over them and paint that.

BlasTech
02-05-2004, 08:22 PM
painting will be fine, no need to worry aobut the tape. You are probably the ONLY person who will ever notice!


BTW WE NEED SOME PICS BUDDY!

IIx 03 EP xII
02-05-2004, 08:46 PM
im workin on pics right now... imagestation has been messin up today... i already have the pics taken and in the computer... i just gotta wait for imagestation to work so i can post them up.

IIx 03 EP xII
02-07-2004, 10:09 AM
bump... what kind of paint should i use to paint the weights? anything specific that wont hurt the finish of the wheel or the weight themselves... cuz i dont want them falling off! im gonna paint them and will definitely try not to get it on the wheels... but i still need a lil information on the paint and what not.

BlasTech
02-07-2004, 10:50 AM
You could go with some duplicolor engine paint or rustoleum hi-temp paint in matte black, or whatever the inside is.

If you dont want to deal with masking and overspray, you could try to spray some onto a brush and then brush it on.

FCobra94
02-07-2004, 06:52 PM
The easiest thing to do would be to leave them on until the next time they need rebalancing (around 5K or so). Then, before you take the wheels in and get them balanced, go to your local auto parts store and buy your own sticky weights, paint them, and give those weights to the shop that will be doing your balancing.

If you absolutely CANNOT live w/ them the way they are ;) trace around the weights w/ a pencil or magic marker (that will be easy to remove the markings of when your done) on the rim itself, go get some new weights, paint them, then apply them to where the original weights were. Then you won't have to worry about masking, painting, overspray, etc which will definitly look a lot worse than a few silver balancing weights...

I'm surprised no one mentioned that idea already :p

IIx 03 EP xII
02-08-2004, 11:43 AM
well i bought some duplicolor hi-temp flat black paint... and im gonna see how it looks... im just gonna paint it on with a brush or something... that way i dont have to worry about overspray or anything and masking too much. and next time i get my wheels balanced, then ill paint the weights myself before they go on the wheels. thanks for all the ideas guys.