What are these metal clips where my wheel rims meet the tires and what are they for?

Question

I had a leaky tire, so I took it in to be checked for a puncture. The guy found no puncture but found it was leaking air where this clip met the tire:

That clip had been there since I bought the car, I never really paid it any heed. The tire guy had limited English, he got across that he strongly thought I should remove it and that it was causing the leak, but couldn't explain why it was there in the first place.

To show what they look like before removal, there's what looks like one more still on a non-leaky wheel, but it's a bit smaller:

Some image search suggests these might be called "Metal Clip Tire Rim Wheel Balance Weights" but I can't find a good explanation of what they're for, or how I'd go about figuring out if I need them, which wheels need them where, etc.

I've removed it, and the tire seems to no longer leak, but I don't like removing things without understanding why they might have been there in the first place! What's the benefit of adding these to a wheel?

Answer 1

They are exactly what you stated: wheel weights. They are used to balance the tire so when you are going down the road you don't get an out of balance condition. These are VERY important for several reasons.

• Ride Comfort: If a wheel/tire is not balanced correctly, it will cause a vibration through the vehicle which is really unnerving as you drive.
• Safety: With a wheel being out of balance and causing the vibration, your tire may not maintain constant contact with the road (yes, they can bounce that much). This can become problematic during the need to brake and corner, plus the basic control of the vehicle suffers.
• Vehicle Wear: When a tire is out of balance and is vibrating, there becomes an issue with wear on the suspension components which do their best to dampen the vibration. Since the vibration is unnatural, this causes extra wear on the shock/strut, suspension bushings, steering components, tire and other things.

As pointed out, those little weights are important. While it may have been causing the slow leak, the real fix should be to re-seat the tire on the rim and then re-balance it.