The $D$-wave admixture in quarkonium wave functions is acquired from the photonlike structure of $Vto Qbar Q$ transition in the light-front frame widely used in the literature. Such a $D$-wave ballast is not justified by any nonrelativistic model for $Q-bar Q$ interaction potential and leads to falsified predictions for the cross sections in heavy quarkonium production in ultra-peripheral nuclear collisions. We analyze this negative role of $D$-wave contribution by comparing with our previous studies based on a simple non-photon-like $S$-wave-only $Vto Qbar Q$ transition in the $Qbar Q$ rest frame.