A few weeks ago I bought a set of "new take offs" from a 2010 Street Glide for my 09 SG. The first thing I noticed once they arrived was the fact that the front wheel had a whopping 20 x 5 gram wheel weights all located near the valve stem. 10 were on one side of the center seam and 10 on the other side. The wheel and tire were quite obvious that they were as advertised, "new take offs". The wheel weights were that used by HD so I really was quite concerned.

Next thing I did was start researching the forums looking for any info that might shed some light. The answers I found, made me even more concerned. I headed over to a local indy for his opinion. He suggested that aside from the weights looking like "crap", it probably would be ok to just run the wheel the way it was. He did however believe that the issue was tire related and not likely rim related.

A week later and a friend suggested I visit another indy for a second opinion. During my initial visit, we discussed the issue and what might be the underlying cause. We both agreed that the tire seemed to be "180 degrees out" of sink even though the tire DOT was in the correct place (valve stem). I had to leave to the tire for the day so that the mechanic could check it out throughly. The next day I called and here's what he told me.

I was quite relieved to hear the news to say the least! I have noticed (since) that a lot of the 2010 wheels for sale on Ebay have a lot of weight on them for some reason. I just though I would pass this along in the hope it will help someone else down the road.

 

Its the same When I have car tires Mounted. I tell the guy mounting the tire if the wheel weight is to heavy. Bust it and move the tire 180. Or im not doing buisness. They give me a look they don't like me but they do it. If they want my buisness. When I diden't know any better they would put a 6inch long wheel weight on my car rims. A buddy toid me about the 180. Years ago.

 

Good advice. Alot of places use their less experienced techs to mount tires and as such they don't know how to properly balance tires. +1 Carlo for demanding the job being done right. If more people did, it would keep the slackers out of buisness and give those of us who do it right the reputation we deserve.

 

Good info, I did not know that and thanks

 

when i was a service tech i would have to turn tires on the rim 2-3-5 times to get it in an acceptible place...and mabye once evry 2 months i would have to send a tire back to the manufacture because it was so out of balance. the lackeys would usaly do it, but i would have to when evryone was busy and i was not.. i bet they just kept adding weights too...it pays to watch the work being done.. or atleast get to know one of the techs and request he do all the work on your bike..

 

Get a machine like this and get it right every time!

 

Good for you for showing concern. Adding that amount of weight to a rim can,t be right and i,d have thought the installer would have been concerned. As gill said some places use "techs" with little experience.....makes you think though.