Tire balancing

notjustair

Well-known Member
There are lots of posts about tires on here today. It reminded me to post a follow-up because I had questioned everyone back in August about this.

I put new tires on the car (Hyundai Sonata due for a new engine in the recall!) and went with balance beads in it. That car has never ridden so smooth. I'd recommend them to anyone on anything. They may need to go in the Chinese tires on the little stock trailer. I think those tires need every advantage they can get to last.
 
If you are talking about the packet of beads you put in tires for balancing them I was told that works great. I've never used them but may some day. They are really suppose to help in large diameter tires.
 
I am waiting for someone to explain to me the physics on how little beads loosely inside your tires help balancing. I'm not saying I'm a skeptic, just need proof.

I run big tires on all my trucks, and yet to have a balance issue. So weights will do for me. I gets lots of noise due to tread patterns (mud terrain, mud rovers, etc) but not imbalance issues.

Rick
 
They tried to talk me into using them in the steer tires on my school bus with two piece rims. I wish I had.

When I picked up the car I got right on the highway and it had a shake to it at 70 miles an hour. I took it right back and he went and looked at the container they use to measure them out. Apparently it wasn't calibrated right. He added more heads to them all and it has been so smooth since. He said under 30 miles and hour they just wander around but above that they gravitate to the spot where they are needed. Essentially you balance your tires every time you drive it.

He said if I ever go somewhere else to get new tires to make sure they transfer those beads over as they stay with the car - I own the balancing system. I don't know how long they last. Rubbing each other I would think eventually you will be left with dust and no beads, but time will tell.
 
Me too ! If you ask me centrifugal force would just bring the beads to the furthest point off center Not the place of imbalance . Of coarse the guys that run them will say they work and that you are an idiot if you don't understand it. For now I'll save my money and use wheel weights.
 
" they gravitate to the spot where needed' That spot must be the exact same spot that they are flung by centrifugal force . These things must have little computers and areodynamics .So somehow the spot where they are needed becomes or is the same spot they happen to be flung by centrifugal force. Interesting. Maybe someone will post a link for more info on these magic beads as I will call them.
 
dr sportster I spent 22+ years in the tire business We to the place we put them all steer tires on anything over 20" We put them in car and light truck tires but most of the driving is done on county roads, every time you have a flat and open up the tire you tend to loose some so we did not recommend them for car tires.
 
ive heard from fellow truckers who run them in steer tires that they work for them, but im curious, after watching the posted u tube video, whats to keep some redneck like me from just dumping a carton of bb's in a tire and doing the same thing? is it the amount of beads or their weight, or is it more complicated?
 
As one who has an above average mechanical aptitude, (I was the only recruit out of 3,000 who scored a perfect score in mechanical aptitude in the Army Classification Battery of tests) I find this hard to understand. It would seem to me that the beads would gravitate to the part of the tire that is farthest out of round, aggravating the imbalance. Is it possible that tire imbalance is due only to over-thickness and over weight of the tire to the inside? Then I could understand how they possibly work. It would be news to me that that is the cause of tire imbalance, but, I suppose, I can still learn things.
 
an out of balance tire tries to move toward the heaviest point as it turns. The beads, not being attached to the inside of the tire, are free to move around on their own. They naturally move toward the side of the tire that moves toward the axis of rotation, balancing the tire as it turns.

Fluid will do the same thing.

I put beads in 2 of the 31x10.50 BFGs I put on my amigo and the other 2 have weights. I have a lot more vibration with the weights up front after a rotation than I did before with beads up front.
 
I put 10ply 9:50-16.5 radials on my 3/4 ton in 1977,after the first twenty miles I pealed the weights off and it drove better(they had been bubble balanced.) I stopped in the city and had them spun on the new computer balance machine,it could not turn the tires fast enough and the machine would kick off. I opened the JC Whitney catalog and ordered a set of the balance rings(filled with beads) that went between the rim and the rotor. I never had a shake again. The Freightliner gets beads every time I put tires on it.
 
I would match mount the tire using the white or colored dot on the tire to the valve stem. Large truck rims have a punch mark sometimes showing you the heaviest place on the rim. Most of the time they almost always don't need any weights. Most good tires have the dots painted on them. Also if it takes a lot of weights you should deflate tire and rotate on the rim 180 and see if it balances better. Most times it will. I have found some cheaper tires just don't balance at all and have sent them back to the dealer or used on a trailer somewhere. Most tire store don't school their help on the right way to mount and balance tires. Ask the person if he knows how to match mount your tire, If he doesn't know ask him to try it, May save you problems and teach him a new way of doing it. I'm retired from a large truck leasing company, Had over 500 units we maintained just at our location, Lot of tires. Company sent us to tire school every couple years. Tires are your second expense under fuel cost.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top