Tires: Tire Balance, balance weights, joe joe

Question
QUESTION: I recently purchased four LT265/75R16 BFGoodrich "All Terrain TAKO" tires for my truck.  While the tires were being balanced I noticed that one tire needed less than 2 ounces, one 6 ozs, one over 7 ozs and one over 8 ozs.  The technician said that three of the four seemed to be a little excessive.  I know that there is nothing wrong with my rims.  Is there a tolerance, regarding weight, as to when a tire should not be mounted?  The tires seem to be riding fine so far but, I am afraid that I will run into problems down the road in time.

Thank you for your help,
Joe

ANSWER: Joe,

Any tolerance on balance weights is fairly arbitrary.  However, I agree with you and the tech this seems a bit excessive, but this will not cause any problems down the road.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I wasn't referring to the tolerance on the weights as much as the tires.  Should a tire that is manufactured that unevenly be returned and replace with one that shows to be manufactured more evenly. When a tire requires more than 1/2 pound of weight to make it balance, common sense tells me that the tire is bad from the get-go.  But sometimes I'm not so common.  Please give me your opinion if you were in my shoes.

Thank you again for your support,
Joe

Answer
Joe,

When I said the "tolerance on balance weights is fairly arbitrary", I was referring to the tires (and of course the rim, since you can't completely eliminate the rim from this, unless the tire was measured separately - and it wasn't).

The weight issue is one of degree rather than kind - In other words - how much is too much?

If I were you, I'd go back and ask for an exchange, but don't be surprised if there is some resistance.