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Good afternoon.

I bought a new car but I saw that there are metal clips on all tires. I would like to know if this car can be considered as brand new even though the wheels have these mental clips.

Thank you and regards Julius

Julius
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They are balance weights which are clipped onto the wheel rim to compensate for the fact that wheels and tires are never "perfectly balanced" even when brand new.

Without them, you would tend to feel vibration in the car body and through the steering wheel at high speeds (e.g. over 50 or 60 mph).

You buy new tires, the wheel balance is checked and new weights fitted as required. You will find them on almost every car, if you look - but note that the weights may be fitted to the outside and/or the inside of the wheel rim if necessary, so not every car wheel will have a weight that is easily visible on the outside.

alephzero
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    You say, "perfectly round" ... shouldn't that be "perfectly balanced"? While they may not be perfectly round, the weights adjust for balance, not trueness of the wheel/tire combo. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Mar 03 '19 at 12:49
  • Fixed. I originally said "round" because for somebody who needs to ask the question, "not perfectly round" seemed more intuitive even if it wasn't strictly true. Of course no tire is perfectly round when it is being used - the part in contact with the road is flat. But that isn't what balance weights correct for either... – alephzero Mar 03 '19 at 15:15