re-using wheel weights

Good, bad, does it matter with duct tape?

It seems like a waste to just toss them.

 

The spoke kind are reuseable. The sticky kind are not. I spent my mornings at the Loudon Classic changing tires for Street and Comp. Pretty fun to get to know a lot of the other racers. Got a few pounds of scrap. You can buy a mold and make fish weights. But you would need a lot of weights. I guess you could buy a glue gun and clean off the old glue and reuse them.

 

I've scraped the old adhesive off and applied new double sided tape in the past on streetbikes with zero issues in thousands of miles. Depends on how cheap or unwilling to make a run for more you are. A guy I change tires for showed up with about three pounds in stick-on weights for me, so I don't bother anymore.

 

Thoroughly clean the wheel where the weight goes with contact cleaner or Brakleen.

Clean off the back of the weight, apply industrial-strength double-stick adhesive. Apply duct tape over the weight. Make that thing SOLID.

A 10-gram wheel weight that comes off a wheel at 120 MPH will go right through a fender, your seat base and your ass cheek. Just like a little square bullet.

You don't want to be shooting them around the track.

 

I meant sinkers. Not fish weights.

 

I thought you were trying to drown fish.

 

Yeah, and they will come off too. My first track day, tech didn't tell me to tape my weights and I didn't know better. By the end of the day, they all slid toward the edge of the rim and another session or 2 would have pulled them right off. I am glad they didn't come off.

 

Really though? There's been a number of times where I've had tires changed at the track and even the experienced, professional tire changer couldn't get the wheel weights to stick because of the old crud. Half the time they scramble to get the wheel balanced and the duct tape on before the wheel weights fall off. But never once have I lost a wheel weight, seems to me centrifugal force keeps them in place on the wheel at speed.

 

I clean them until they stick, and then put the tape on. I wouldn't trust just the tape holding it on for one of my guys. I need them to be able to come back healthy and buy more tires.

 

im as cheap as the next guy but re using wheel weights? come on. I got a 5 pound box for like 18 bucks, so far this year Ive maybe used 8 ounces.

 

Right now the prices are down on them. Last year they were over $45 for the boxes I buy.

 

I think it depends on the rim. For example, the place where you stick the weights on my rim actually tapers downward away from the center of the tire. After a while, that small taper plus the centrifugal force pulls the weights off the rim.

I am not sure about other rims. If that area is a 90 degree angle from the rotating force then they would stick... however if you change that angle even the slightest bit, then it is only a matter of time.

 

I have a No-mar changer at my house and re-use on my bikes, but put the new stuff on friend's bikes just to re-assure them. Never lost one but I duct tape with super sticky stuff and make sure I get that tape on there well leaving nothing to catch the wind and un-stick.

 

I re-use the wheel weights on my bike, that way I don't waste them. I usually change the tires myself at my buddies shop and don't want to use up all of his weights that he uses for his customers. Since I'm not paying for them, hence would be the reason that I re-use them. I use the Gorilla tape on them to keep them in place. FYI The force of the rim pushes the weight towards the axle by the way, which is what keeps it in place while rimi is rotating.

 

On a flat surface the centrifugal force would help them stick, but on a rim that doesn't have a flat spot the force will make them slide outward to the edge of the rim and eventually fall off. Trust me... Mine even had a cute little black trail of glue behind them from sliding.

 

Q: I was wondering if how I can reuse this ugly pulled off weight, I could reuse it?
A: I was wondering if I could ping dis ass day second page is to point out if you used a pretty ounce weight against your ugly hammered it or cut it every switch blade but loose, would it still not weigh 1oz.?

Q: Well now that you put tit that way, I think I can pinch it toward the nipple is which spoke?
A: I think I spoke too soon.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Well..maybe you need to take a long hard look in the mirror young man as you seem to not be as cheap as some of the others around you.

 

Love how that abstract sings day blues...

The weights come in their own design is a weight built for a center rim > Built closer to the middle than you can get your 18 bucks worth of glue me back on is tear my backing off and duck soup my rim is tacky over the rim, down the bead.

OH, and cheap peer than a roll of duct tape/3M glue me on/carry dis and carry data starts adding up and I am on a new mount is you are on a 5 pound bike that the factory took off the following year and now is faster without all that shit needed is cheap?

How come jkruger is spitting a lugar is watching you get around that thing is get around you before you take someone out with 2.5lbs of rim, fore and aft tear is justify all that lead weight sitting in a box?

I had to add weight just to play fair eee tails, can come true, it can hap pin to you, when you have no pot to pizz inn is called get on a faster bike is so long sucker. Are you on the cheap seats is show up next year with the same pile the tech leaps past your ass bye next year if not buy next year.

HOw olday bike you sitting on? Just asking if someone calls out the cheat.... zI mean, cheap is cheap calling the kettle back.

 

I've been reusing my brake fluid for years. After I drain it out I put it in a pot on the stove and heat it up to a full boil, to get rid of the water. While it's still warm I run it through mister coffee filters until it's mostly clear. Then put it in a mason jar to let it cool off and vacuum seal the jar. Put it on the shelf and it's ready for the next bleed and refill.

With all the money I save on brake fluid I'm able to afford new tomahawks for trackdays.