When you have new tires mounted, weights are placed on the wheels to “balance” the tires.
Most tires, even good ones, come from the factory with slightly imperfect weight distribution. I don’t know why, but the manufacturing process, for whatever reason, doesn’t distribute the weight of the rubber compounds absolutely perfectly.
So, when a mechanic mounts new tires, he’ll balance them more precisely for you. That’s most often done with a machine that spins the tires at high speed. The machine then identifies where and how much weight is needed to make each tire-wheel combination balance perfectly.
If the tire is out of balance, you’ll feel a shimmying or shaking, which will be more pronounced as your speed increases until, at highway speed, you feel like you’re on one of those shaking motel beds you put a quarter in.
So why don’t you have weights? Well, maybe you won the Goodyear State Lottery and got four perfect tires, Linda. But more likely, you’re just not seeing the weights.
On vehicles with alloy wheels, the weights are often glued on. And the weights that are glued on are smaller and more subtle than the older style weights that were hammered on to the outside edges of the rims.
The glued-on weights are usually mounted out of view — set back toward the brake discs behind the spokes of the wheels. They’re on the “rounded-flat” surface of the wheel, where the spokes end, closest to the tire.
So, you just may not know where to look. But if you’re not feeling any shaking at high speeds, it’s safe to say your tires are balanced, Linda.
Out of curiosity, you could stop by the tire installer’s shop and say, “hey, can you show me where the wheel weights are on my car. I don’t see them, and I’m just curious.”
And if he says you didn’t need any, go buy yourself a lottery ticket.
Dear Car Talk: I have a 2020 Honda Pilot. I will occasionally use the remote starter to warm up the car in my garage, with the garage door wide open. I’ll let it run for 10 minutes maximum.
The question is, is there a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or any health concern when doing this? Thanks. — Craig
Craig: Not for me.
If the garage is detached from the house, the risk to your health is fairly low, Craig.
Oh, wait a minute. Our lawyer, J. Cheever Loophole, just called in on the red phone. He says under no circumstances can I approve of this. So, the answer is don’t do it, Craig.
But here’s a more nuanced answer, just so you understand where I’m coming from. Cars today produce far less carbon monoxide (CO) than cars of yesteryear. Between computerized engine management, fuel injection and catalytic converters, today’s cars produce something like 95% less CO than cars did 50 years ago.
But there still is carbon monoxide in vehicle exhaust. And since CO is lethal, it’s best to be really careful around it.
Theoretically, if the garage is detached from your house and the garage door is wide open, the risk to your health — when you arrive to drive the car away — is low. With the car’s tailpipe close to the wide-open door, you’re unlikely to build up a concentration of CO high enough to do yourself in.
But if the garage is part of your house, you’re taking a much greater risk. It’s possible that your house’s heating and ventilation system could allow fumes into the living areas. Or that the door between the house and garage isn’t perfectly sealed.
And that’s if your car is operating perfectly. What if it’s not? If your catalytic converter is worn out, if the fuel mixture is off, or if you develop a hole in your exhaust system upstream from the converter, you could be producing a lot more CO than you think and not realize it.
So even though the risk is not as high as it was years ago, the downside is so serious, that I’d pull the car outside to warm it up.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.
About the Author