TL;DR at the bottom for those not interested in story time.

I have a 2010 Honda Fit Sport. Sometime in late April I had my snow tires removed and had brand new wheels put on the car. I also had some brake work done. I went to a shop I don't normally use.

This morning on my way to work I pulled into my office parking lot and all of a sudden heard the most ungodly metal grinding noise. I thought hell had opened up a portal through the front of my car. I slinked to a parking spot, parked, and got out to examine the car which was driving wonky and iving me some resistance. I expected a tire to be flat or something would be stuck under the car or hanging off. Nothing. Car looked absolutely fine. I drive to the back lot at my office to hear the noise and try to troubleshoot. I am a video game playing millennial that knows jack all about cars. Car talk is about the extent of any car knowledge I have.

I was already a few minutes late to work so I said "F it!" and decided to just go in and deal with the problem later. Well, that putting off of the problem lasted all of five minutes and then I started googling. I found numerous posts talking about either 1) a bad wheel bearing or 2) something stuck in the brakes/caliper area or between the shield behind the rotor. After watching some youtube videos it sounded like the wheel bearing was not my problem. My noise was more of a metal cat being tortured than a low metallic noise.

The rock-stuck folks suggested to drive in reverse in the hopes of unsticking whatever was stuck. They also mentioned that it usually didn't make the same noise while driving in reverse, only forward. I did that and the noise got marginally better but not entirely corrected. I drove around my office complex a few times pumping the brakes, driving faster, giving a hard brake, driving in reverse. Marginal improvement at the end of this. I park and again examine the front wheels. I notice a small half inch rectangular piece of metal which may or may not be part of the caliper assembly on one side but not the other, kind of wedged in the top of the caliper/brake pad area. I poked at it with a ruler and it fell out of where it was lodged. Wtf. It vanished into the depths of the wheel. Great. Well, I go for another lap around the office and the problem has 99% gone away but there is this very occasional tapping noise still. I park and check the spot I was just in and find the piece of metal on the ground. I check the wheel again and notice similar weights stuck on the inside of the tire and some are flapping around.

My tire balancing weights came loose and one lodged in my brake assembly and the others were flopping around. GOOD GRIEF!

I wanted to share this story because it's absurd but also because I am amazed I solved this on my own. I'm really proud of myself. I thought I'd have to have my car towed by AAA to a repair place, lest I destroy my wheels or something.

TL;DR: wheel balancing weight got lodged in brakes and the others were about to come off so I removed them.

My question: I'm going to have my brake examined to make sure everything is ok. Seems fine but better safe than sorry. I'll also need new balancing weights. Obviously it is important to have your wheels be balanced but how long is it safe to drive like that? Can this wait a week or is that going to do unseen damage to the tire? I have some other minor things I want looked at and want to stop in at my normal mechanic but I can't do that for about a week. Is this mission critical or will I be fine?

 

I've driven most of the way from Vermont to Florida with a loose/insecure balance weight and the corresponding unbalanced wheel. It's not ideal for tire life, and it's less comfortable at highway speed, but a mildly unbalanced wheel is not a safety issue in and of itself in the way that, say, something stuck in your brakes is.

I should perhaps note that a tire that's been run out of balance for awhile tends to get slightly egg-shaped and won't ride as smoothly afterwards even if balanced; again, that's more of a comfort issue than anything. The same thing happens (at least to me) when living on a dirt road during mud season from mud getting caked inside the wheels.

In short, you should be okay for a week, though of course it's not an ideal situation. I guess it depends somewhat how many miles you drive in a week, too; if it's a few dozen, no problem at all.