Tire Vibration....parts falling off

[Fredvon4]

This of course begs the question.... are some of the poor handling and harsh ride complaints, out of ballance wheels?

[Old smart]

Originally Posted by GHammerly

I use aluminum tape to secure stick-on wheel weights on my cars and models. Duct tape will weather badly as I found out a few years ago, it will do the job for a little while though.

Well, you are certainly right. But most smart owners (or dealers) will not have ready access to "100-mile-an-hour" tape. Duct tape is better than nothing, and is much easier for the common (wo)man to re-do than race tape.

[jonnysan]

Originally Posted by Fredvon4

This of course beegs the question.... are some of the poor handling and harsh ride complaints, out of ballance wheels?

Just today I finally got my 175's installed on the new, stock front wheels(that were rear wheels before). My nephew has an auto shop in Cobleskill, NY and agreed to do the change out for me if I would bring the car to his shop to show he and his mechanics what a smart car looks like...ofcourse a no brainer for me. Today we did the job. Removed the front 155's, dismounted them to get the sensors out of them and then remounted the sensors in the newly acquired rear wheels to put on the front so all of them are now the same tire and wheel. One of the front wheels had a TON of stick on weights on the inside....a string of about 6 inches long...... I can easily imagine some or all of that weight coming off and creating a REAL BADshake or vibration!
Put a new set of 175' Conti's on the new stock wheels and mounted on the fronts.

Note: Suggest taking wheels off and cleaning off the rust already starting to form on the centering hub on the rotor. (didn't remove the rears but I will)

Then coat the centering hub with some never-sieze to keep rust away and make wheel removal for rotating tires easy.
The 155's have now become garage spares just in case the need for a spare comes about.
Anyway, as I drove home up I-88, I definitely noticed better control in the steering and handling with the 175's on the front. 30psi air in them, too, so the ride was pretty smooth.....smoother, in fact, than the stock 155's.....not so "steery" if that word could qualify for an adjective to express it's handling character.
My nephew asked me why MB didn't just put 175's all around....My only answer was maybe better handling on slippery roads?? Better gas mileage due to less rolling resistance?? Anyone got any good ideas why they may have done that? The front tires now are just peeking outside the edge of the fender ever so slightly and may throw road spray against the side of the car. If that occurs, I guess I will get some front molded rubber flaps to put on it to keep the abrasion down along that rear wheel arch...
Inquiring minds want to know.....

John

[Smartfor2guy]

Originally Posted by SmartAzz

The title with "parts falling off" had me a bit concerned thinking the Smart was falling apart :P

GOTCHA!........................................... ....

[bill_mr74]

If the US army can use ducktape to fix everything, no reason its not good enough for a SMART... lol

[randyzimmer]

Originally Posted by jonnysan

... One of the front wheels had a TON of stick on weights on the inside....a string of about 6 inches long...
John

Lead is no longer used in most new cars so the amount of weight looks looks bigger than you're used to.

See:

http://www.leadfreewheels.org/zinc.shtml

[race911]

Actually, helicopter tape is the best stuff. I've never had much of an issue with tape weights coming off of a street car. Have my own tire machine and balancer; as with most everything cleanliness and preparation are paramount. Not that it's rocket science to put a tape weight on a wheel.......