Does this make sense re: Tire balancing?

[Darrell KSR]

Son had a flat tire suddenly today. He filled car up with gas this morning, did not notice anything, drove on Interstate last night, did not notice anything.

He starts down highway 280 today after filling up, gets to 55 mph, notices tire flat (along with someone pulling beside him telling him).

Takes car to where he bought the tire, they take the tire off the car, and the manager says that when it was balanced they use the wrong size weight. Apparently acts like it was obvious they screwed up (his place).

He speculates that the weights somehow pressed against something (valve?) causing it to leak air this morning.

They redid the weights and rebalanced the tire, did a spray test to check for leaks and found none. And then did two submersion tests and found no leaks either.

My question is, does this explanation makes sense? And if they use the wrong size weights for one of the three tires he bought 350 miles ago there, would they not have used the wrong size weights for the other two tires, too?

He's on his way to Atlanta, but I asked him to stop halfway (it's only 150 miles) and recheck the tire there just to make sure.

[dan_bgblue]

I have never heard of a tire weight causing a tire to lose air or go flat regardless of the weight's size or placement on the rim. However, if they used the wrong sized weight, your son would have noticed it a long time ago as the steering wheel would have been vibrating or at worst jumping around in his hand

Tire guy is full of it. I have no idea what caused the tire to go flat but his "excuse" is crap.

[Doc]

The weight they use are determined by how out of balance the tire is so the wts on one tire are not relevant to the wts they put on any of the other tires.

As Dan stated, if the wrong wts were used, the car would have been out of balance and pulled or shimmied, especially at higher speeds.

Sounds to me more like a bad value

[BigBluePappy]

I have never heard of a tire weight causing a tire to lose air or go flat regardless of the weight's size or placement on the rim. However, if they used the wrong sized weight, your son would have noticed it a long time ago as the steering wheel would have been vibrating or at worst jumping around in his hand

Tire guy is full of it. I have no idea what caused the tire to go flat but his "excuse" is crap.

Unless the nimrod somehow punctured the tire with the weight but that (1) would have showed up sooner and (2) would have caused it to fail the submersion test since it would have been on the bead of the tire.
Tell the tire guy that the consensus of the BBN is he is full of crap.
After thinking about it, it has been a long time since I was a pump jockey. They make the wheel weights out of lead. But, the tire guy is still full of crap...

[Darrell KSR]

Thanks for the comments, very helpful. Have a feeling we will be visiting the place again soon.

[Doc]

Realistically is if the shop fixed the PBM at no cost, what difference does the excuse make? Could have blamed it on elves but if they cover it, big deal

[Darrell KSR]

Realistically is if the shop fixed the PBM at no cost, what difference does the excuse make? Could have blamed it on elves but if they cover it, big deal
None. But if they just changed the weights, it likely won't be a fix to the underlying problem, whatever it is. Hence, a likely return trip.

[kingcat]

New tires today have dots on the sidewall to indicate the point on the tire that should match the valve stem.

Don't know how improper alignment of dot to stem would affect the stem itself though. That's just for balancing purposes.

[Doc]

None. But if they just changed the weights, it likely won't be a fix to the underlying problem, whatever it is. Hence, a likely return trip.

but if the value was leaking then they changed that as well. If they removed the tire from the rim, they replaced the valve. Only a couple ways a tire can lose air. If its not a leak or hole in tire then it has to be the valve or the seal (bead). However a bead leak would have shown on the submersion test. I suspect bad valve and they blamed the weights.


He speculates that the weights somehow pressed against something (valve?) causing it to leak air this morning.
If he speculated that, he replaced the value. When they deflate the tire, they remove the value and that basically ruins the valve.

[Darrell KSR]

Who knows what they did, Doc. The tire was flat, and they inflated it and replaced weights. My confidence level in them knowing what they were doing is low.

[Doc]

Who knows what they did, Doc. The tire was flat, and they inflated it and replaced weights. My confidence level in them knowing what they were doing is low.

That's what happens when you tire shop at walmart

[Doc]

You should have had a clue when you got the tire back and it looked like this

http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/there-i-fixed-it-tire-surgery.jpg

[suncat05]

Replacing the valve stem is standard procedure, and I have serious doubts that it had anything at all to do with the balancing weights on the tire.
There may be something wrong with the wheel, too. But after thinking on this, I am inclined to think there was something wrong with the valve stem. Just be sure to tell him to check the tire a couple of times on the way to Atlanta, and to check the tire air pressure as well. But I tend to think the valve stem was bad, which does happen occasionally.

[Darrell KSR]

That's what happens when you tire shop at walmart
Good point.

He's back today. No tire problem. But the hubcap came off. Who knows if it was them or just happenstance that the hubcap was due to come off anyway.

Buyer beware...

[Darrell KSR]

You should have had a clue when you got the tire back and it looked like this

http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/there-i-fixed-it-tire-surgery.jpg
Was that wrong?

[KeithKSR]

There are different types of weights these days. Sounds like they put on one of those low profile weights (they extended deeper into the wheel than other weights) and it rubbed a hole in the valve, replaced the weight and valve to fix the issue. Standard weights we all grew up with wouldn't rub a hole in a valve.

If there is no further issue with the tire I'd tend to like that the manager took blame for the issue and took care of the problem. The guy could have said the leak was located and fixed and not have taken responsibility, and no one is the wiser.

[Jeeepcat]

Perhaps... they used an old school clip on weight and it somehow broke bead...