I'm planning on refinishing my 14" bundts in the relatively near future. I would like to remove the lead weights attached to the outer lip in order to improve the appearance when I refinish. Has anyone had balancing weights mounted on the inside of the rim, keeping it clean on the outside face? If so, do they need to be the "stick on" type of weight or can they be applied to the inner lip as they are normally applied to the outer lip of the wheel?

I've requested that on my 124 cars, the wheel tech needs to be skilled to find a position to stick the weights so they don't get knocked off by the brake disc. No weights need to be applied to inner or outer rim if the sticky type are used near the center-line.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Thanks for your input. I will ask them to do this before I refinish the wheels.

The first time I requested this, shop charged me extra for cleaning all the brake dust off the insides of the wheels! I'd never cleaned that part of my rims before. Now whenever I take off a wheel, if the inside of the rim hasn't been cleaned in a while, I give it a good cleaning before re-install.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Sort of but not really. Static balance can be attained this way but not dynamic.

Static balance is the wheel vibrating up and down. Dynamic balance is the wheel vibrating left to right.

In any event, dynamic can be taken care of by stick weights behind the wheel face and clipons on the inner lip.

I have had my bundts balanced from behind for years. Works fine. Never looked to see if they are knock on or stick on. 81 300SD

97 SL320 is correct. You want your wheels to be dynamic balanced. That requires an inner and outer weight. Usually the inner is a lip clipped weight and outer is a sticky mounted inside the barrel as far out as possible. This way is very standard practice. I have balanced TONS of wheels, and we usually had to do it on aftermarket wheels or OE wheels that were lipless on the front face. In the latter, we had no choice.

It is very important that the rim barrel be very clean where the stick weight goes. At my shop, we used a rag with solvent and spot cleaned it. We never charged extra though, that is just preposterous! Once they're stuck on, they won't come back off easily.

Once you refinish the rims, if you include repairing the outside lips in the process, using sticky weights from then on will prevent any lip damage from a crappy balancing tech. Of course, you still gotta keep an eye on those street curbs too! Hahaha!

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'84 190D 2.2 5MT (Red/Palomino) Current car. Love it!
'85 190D 2.2 Auto *Cali* (Blue/Blue) *sold*
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Centrifugal forces will also help to keep the stick on wheel weights in place. You can also order, and supply your own OE type wheel weights if needed for the outer rims. Ask the tire installer what assortment of weights they recommend having on hand.

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Marshall Welch
Seattle, WA
1982 300D-T

Anyone here use airsoft beads inside the tire?

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped

I know a lot of jeep guys use those for their rigs which are lifted. Its a neat concept.

The Hunter Engineering Road Force Balancer has several options for wheel weight placement. Find a shop that has one and let them know what you want to do. It should be a routine job.

I have 14" bundts restored on my 84 SD that were manually mounted and bubble balanced by myself; got one of those Northern tool manual tire mounts. Works great.
Used the stick on weights on the inside of the rims over a flat surface. Of course the rime were cleaned prior.
Bubble is static balanced. If done properly, will do the the job.
Cruised for hours at 85+mph. So far, the weights haven't flown off.
All depends on who and where mounts/balances your tires. I got tired of paying the same shop to rebalance the tires after past tire purchases because of shimmying problems. Hope this helps