I've discovered that very few tire techs understand the full capabilities of their balancing equipment. Since I started having all my tires RoadForce balanced when new, I've found that about half the shops know how to use the machine well, and can get the initial install done with very little weight needed, but that it helps to specify that I'm looking for minimal weights, and that I'm willing to pay extra for them to take the time to match mount the tire w few times to get it right - that usually results in the shop putting their better techs on the job. I've also noticed many shops just run the 1/4oz weights as normal practice, so I've started asking them if they have 1/2 and 1 oz weights in stock before I drop the tires off. While I know that "balanced is balanced", I'm never happy to see 12 1/4 oz weights all in a row when 3x1oz weights would do, and be easier to tape over.
I am somewhat unique since I am the tire tech and also the guy that not only made the purchasing decision for the balancer (2021 Hunter RF Elite), I also wrote the check and went to Hunter and did the training course. I personally mounted and balanced over 1500 tires in 2021, so good or bad, I have a tick of experience.
I don't entirely disagree with your post, but its also not entirely correct either.
Most importantly - Road Force and weight needed to balance are not related. At all. If your metric for a good balance is entirely based on weight, the RF machine is not more sensitive than any other Hunter machine (can't speak for other brands, I am a Hunter Fan Boi) You can easily have a tire with excessive road force that only asks for 1oz of weight. Alternately, you can have low road force numbers and it still ask for 2 or 3 ounces. Match mounting will only give you direction for lowering road force, it has nothing to do with trying to correct or lower balance weight.
So basically, per your statement, if I spin up your tire and it has a (very low) 5lbs of road force but calls for say 2oz on the outside and 2 on the inside, you want me to dismount it and randomly rotate on the rim to get the weight lower at the very possible expense of a higher road force number? And exactly how much weight is too much? A very light 19x11 wheel and Hoosier A7 or a Pirelli slick (light tires) still weighs 45-55# as an assembly. Is 2 or 3 oz of weight *really* a big deal on that? And remember, weight location makes a HUGE difference in the amount needed. A 1/4 oz out in the old fashioned clip on weight location on the outside can easily be 2 oz when you use a stick on that is on a plane 3 inches more towards the center.
And some wheel combos on some brake combos can be very restrictive on where you can put weights so they don't hit the caliper. Many times the weight location will have to be "compromised" to accommodate the caliper which leads to more weight being needed to achieve zero balance.
This brings me to your 1/2 or 1 oz weight comment. I do that if someone asks, but otherwise I almost always default to 1/4oz unless it is asking for 2 ounces *and* I am sure they will clear the caliper. Caliper clearance is tight on a *lot* of cars and the tires I do and there are even oddball appliance cars that won't clear a 1/2 oz weight. This means you Honda Oddessy vans.
Finally, the Hunter machines use a feature (that can't be turned off unless you do single plane static balance) called Smart Weight. It emphasizes hop forces as opposed to lateral and will try to correct hop more than lateral *and* use the least amount of weight to do it. My point here (and with all of this)is that, once again, the amount of weights you see on a wheel is kind of a red herring of things to worry about. Or at least very far down the list.
All that said, I am pretty OCD about balancing and weights. I do not *EVER* put weights in a second location on the same plane no matter what the machine says. You can almost always add or remove a little from the existing weight strip to get it to hit zero. It is my pet peeve to see weights strung all over the inside of the wheel.
My personal limit is about 2-2.5 oz for a single plane. If it asks for more than that, or 1 on both planes I will usually do a dismount and spin it 180 degrees and see it if is better. I might throw a bead massage in there too. If it comes back the same, I will check road force even if they haven't paid for it just to see and if the RF comes back good, I put what the machine asks for on it and send it.
A few exceptions to that - Road Force on a race tire or race used tire is pretty pointless. The OPR and or any uneven wear will lead you down an unsolvable rabbit hole. The other exception is if the assembly calls for a lot of weight right where I scraped a bunch off, it's in the wheel and I send it. Regardless of the amount of weight low or high, a LOT of wheels/assemblies take weight in the exact location it was before.
Sorry for the long post. I know there are a lot of shitty tire shops out there doing shitty work that causes us enthusiasts issues but on the flip side there is also a LOT of misunderstanding of what is happening with the balance job and what things actually matter versus things that don't. If I hand you back a tire that has 3 oz of weights on it, I am pretty confident it won't vibrate (unless I tell you otherwise) and I could/already spend a lot of time making the assembly *more* vibration prone trying to chase a mythical number of weights you think is correct.
DaveW