Little-known, but dangerous "tricks" from tire fitters

Most drivers are unaware that a tire shop employee can easily and naturally send a car to scrap or, at least, to re-balance with one movement of the hand.

Many car owners have heard about the standard tricks of tire fitters used to "divorce" the client for extra money. A set of such tools, in general, is standard: the requirement for an additional fee for “removing and installing a wheel”, “you have a crooked disk, it is not balanced, let us straighten it for you for an extra charge”, “you have old nipples, let's replace them”, “at you have tire pressure sensors, it’s more difficult to overboard with them, pay extra, ”and so on.

But in this case, this is not about that, but about the methods and methods of the tire fitter's work when changing tires, which usually none of the car owners pay attention to in vain. Such tricks stem from the desire of the owner of the tire shop to save money, as they say, “on matches”. At the same time, the owner of the car will have to pay in full for the penny benefit of the “businessman”.

Often, especially during periods of mass “changing shoes” in spring and autumn, when queues of suffering motorists line up in front of tire fitting stations, instead of new “stuffed” lead balancing weights, workers use old ones that have just been removed from the wheels of other cars. Like, what’s wrong - the weight is the same, and it’s holding up normally! It seems to be ... In fact, the used “lead” with weight and shape, most likely, is far from being as good as the new weight. But most importantly, the metal bracket that holds it to the disk is already deformed and cannot provide 100% strength.

In other words, the balancing weight used for the second time may soon fall off, forcing the car owner to put the wheel in order again. But things are even more interesting with weights that are not stuffed onto the disk, but are glued to it. The fact is that in some places “in Europe” environmentalists are so mad at the lead used in tire fitting that the authorities decided to use zinc instead of this metal. Also, by the way, an extremely “useful” option for health and the environment. But this is not about that, but about the fact that zinc is now expensive, and smart Chinese have got the hang of supplying balancing weights from ... simple steel to the market.

At first glance, this solution is much cheaper than both lead and zinc. But, as it turned out, cheapness here is very angrily going sideways. Firstly, adhesive steel weights rust, “decorating” the sparkling surface of cast wheels with indelible brown streaks. But this is half the trouble. When lead or zinc “self-adhesives” accidentally fall off from the inside of the disc, they, having caught on the elements of the brake caliper, simply crumple and fall off onto the road. Steel balancing weights are an order of magnitude stronger and can seriously damage these elements. As a result, saving tire fitters can lead not only to costly breakdowns, but also to accidents. Therefore, in the process of visiting a tire shop, any car owner should check what exactly the local “professionals” sculpt on the wheels of his car.