I had new tires mounted and balanced at the local tire shop and on the way home I heard the wheel weights flying off. I have a '88 260e with the stock 15 hole rims. By the time I got home there was only one weight left.

I called the shop and they told me that special weights with clips will need to be used and it will cost extra. They said they would order them and it has been two weeks and they still don't have them. Am I getting the run-around and are these special weights that hard to get? I have seen the adhesive-type weights used also and am not a big fan of them.

Anyone have any advice?

What nonsense.

You need to find a shop with a Hunter GSP9700 balancer.
They will have the proper weight type.

www.GSP9700.com

Click Locate a Shop. Enter your zip code.

You will have many to choose from.

I have had several sets balanced for my 300E's.
This machine does a great job and you get a printout for each wheel.

Hope it helps,

Steve

It is true that Mercedes uses different wheel weights.

I have had tire shops use generic wheels weights, and have had the same experience: some fly off, leaving me with terribly balanced wheels, while others stay on.

If you don't like the stick-on weights, go to a shop that has the right weights.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

There are about 15 different types of wheel weights depending on the profile of the wheel lip, as Suginami point out if you don't use the correct weight you are most likley going to have a problem.

Type "EN" wheel weights will work pretty well on your car - ask the person balancing the wheels to use these weights.

I've got the exact same issue.

The weights added are rectangular and don't sit against the curvature of the wheel lip.

All eight weights flew off the tires within a couple of hundred miles.

I need to bring them back to the shop. They don't have any of the proper weights and have offered to glue the weights on the inside of the rim. I am somewhat receptive to this idea. If it works and there are no weights on the outside, newly painted wheel, I'd be quite pleased with it.

Anybody have any negative issues with these glued on weights?

I think your better of with the Mercedes Clip On Weights for your style wheels, particularly if your running 15 inch diameter.

adhesive weights are great, but the inner rim must be clean among other things

The tire shop once used glued on weights so they wouldn't scratch up my newly refinished wheels. I am skeptical about whether the wheels can be properly balanced by putting the weights only on the back of the rim. The weights can also be moved slightly by hand which makes me wonder how long they will stay on.

I plan to take a wheel weight inventory next time I get my wheels balanced just so I'll know for sure if I loose one.

The stick-on wheel weights are for the cosmetic appeal of the wheel. They will not give as accurate a dynamic balance, and in time they can shift inside the rim. If you use them, plan on more frequent balance and rotation jobs. Conversely, buy some weights that fit your rim (as many weight styles exist) and take them with when you get your rotations done.

My business is balancing of jet engines, and I'm quite familiar with balancing of automobile tires. I'm curious as to why you have the opinion that the stick-on weights will not give you "as accurate" a dynamic balance?

If the operator is patient, and removes the wheel to add the weights, and then remounts the wheel to check his work, the end result should be identical, provided he is patient. Additionally, I do not grasp how the weight can "shift" inside the rim. Either it remains glued in one place, or it comes off. There is no other option AFAIK.

1. Some types of stick on wheel weights are magnetic as well as adhesive.

2. Glue + ambient heat + heat transfer from braking = Problems with adhesion

3. Wheels are constantly accelerated, and then slowed by braking. This is done with begining and ending velocity = 0. The inertia of the operation makes the added weights attempt to stay in motion or stay at rest, as the case may be.

4. For dynamic balancing, the clamp-type weights are placed "inside" and "outside" the rim. Stick-on weights are typically placed in a single strip along the center of the rim. The balancing machines "determine" where to weights should be placed on the rim for a dynamic balance. If adequate balance could be determined by placing the weights on the center of the rim along that single plane, this would mean that the tire were nearly perfectly manufactued as it would balanced equally on the "inside" and "outside" edges.
"Stick-on" weights can be placed in such a fashion on few types of rims, varying with the design of the rim. However, the balancing machines are not designed for this "random" placement of weights. Thus, inadequate balance.

I agree with all of the above.

If the shop does not have a very good adhesive, then I'm not willing to do it. With a proper adhesive, the weight cannot shift during acceleration and deceleration. It might not hold, and will therefore disengage entirely, but, it will not shift.

Furthermore, I'm in complete agreement with #4. What you have described is a static balance. If they place a single weight in one plane, this is completely unsatisfactory. They must place two weights in two different planes, the further apart the better. Without this, there is no dynamic balance.