Dynamic tire balancing

[NSBCraig]

Just put some new 34" procomp AT's on the truck and went with one of these new products for tire balancing.

Have any of you guys used them?
They say you can use them in your trailer tires too.

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.php
http://www.tirebalancingbeads.com
http://www.magnumbalance.com/

 

[90stingray]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

A friend of mine has used them on his road king and says they run out very smooth. Don't know i would use them on my trailer, as i don't balance them now. How do they feel in your truck? Cost... same or more than traditional weights?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

I use them in the 35" tires on my jeep and they work very well - especially since they will counteract out of balance normally caused by getting mud stuck to the rim. They are a bit expensive - not sure I'd bother with them in a trailer tire since I don't balance them anyways.

innovative balancing is the product I use

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

There are a couple other mfg's of that same type of product, most of the others recommend you do NOT use them for passenger vehicle size tires. (obviously including boat trailers) As tire size decreases, their effect also decreases, and its entirely likely they can't get into balance.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

I don't know for sure what your reading Smoke, They recommend you use them in passenger, truck, pickup, motorcycle and all trailer tires.

They cost the same. The one company (innovative) makes two sizes- one you can put into your valve stems. You just pull the core and pour them in.

They only have problems with low profile tires which are the worst to actually try to get balanced anyway. (they recommend you use both conventional weights and the beads for them) But then everybody knows they don't ride good.

Yeah old jeep it's real cool how they balance the mud stuck to your tire and the rebalance them as you sling it off. The ride is much better then the tires rode after the dealer installed them with conventional weights and they are going to continue to balance them through out the life of the tires.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

They cost the same. The one company (innovative) makes two sizes- one you can put into your valve stems. You just pull the core and pour them in.

And after you do it that way once, you'll break the bead and dump them into the tire

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

You've done it I'm guessing!

I had the magnum balance one's put in at a local tire shop when they did the alignment, it's a bag that breaks apart as soon as you drive.

I was thinking about getting some of those smaller ones and putting them in the boat trailer tires. I can't come up with a reason not to want them balanced too.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

You've done it I'm guessing!

I had the magnum balance one's put in at a local tire shop when they did the alignment, it's a bag that breaks apart as soon as you drive.

I was thinking about getting some of those smaller ones and putting them in the boat trailer tires. I can't come up with a reason not to want them balanced too.

Yes I did it that way once, and if you have nothing better to do than sit and shake the little bottle for an hour it is an excellent method No real reason not to put them into the trailer tires - won't hurt anything and for little tires the cost is pretty low. Just be sure to warn the tire shop if you have someone dismount them - damn things are really slippery when all over the floor.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

OK, I'll Play the Devil's advocate.

This sounds like Snake Oil to me.
One Supplier says the beads are supposed to evenly coat and stick to inside even when stopped.
Another says it is important that they do NOT stick. ???

The physics is another matter.
Inertial will force the beads to the farthest outside spot, The heavy side, and add even more weight.
If these worked, that would mean that all tires would be self balancing.
The heavy side would smack the road harded, wear down, become lighter, and the tire would become balanced.

What I did NOT see was anyone putting a tire on a spin balancer, showing the imbalance, and then adding the beads and showing how the tire was now in balance.

What I DID see was a lot of wishfull thinking.
If I am wrong, someone please explain the physics that makes this work, and why just adding half cup of water would not work the same.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

Unclewillie I can not explain the physics of how it works, I'm far to dumb for that but I can tell you I was a commercial fleet mechanic for several years and have been a truck driver for almost 15 years and this is old technology on trucks. When I was in the fleet shop we did pretty extensive testing on our trucks and the stuff does work vary well. Having said that I have never used it on a passenger vehicle but I don't see why it wouldn't work just the same. It is especially good on hard to balance tires such as large truck tires or muddier tires. Another thing common in trucking along the same line is a metal disc that bolts between the wheel and the hub that has a tube filled with beads along the outside edge. It does the same thing but since it doesn't go inside the tire you never have to worry about replacing it if you dismount the tire.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

What I DID see was a lot of wishfull thinking.
If I am wrong, someone please explain the physics that makes this work, and why just adding half cup of water would not work the same.

Water works too (freezes),
so does antifreeze (just plain messy)
airsoft pellets (break apart after a long time)
and in big tires golf balls (but jeeze are they noisy)

Semis have been using equal for as long as I can remember

And then you have centramatics - basically a fluid balancer that bolts between the rim and hub.

 

[geneseo1911]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

Fascinating. I've been into cars & trucks for a long time and never seen this. I still don't understand how it could possibly work.

The beads must not move around that much, as I would think ceramic would destroy (or at least polish) the inside of the rims.

I bought two new tires for my boat trailer and had them balanced....one of them took two 8" long weights, one on each side. The other didn't take much weight. Apparently Carlisle doesn't try that hard on bias trailer tires. Sounds like this stuff could be a solution.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

I don't know for sure what your reading Smoke, They recommend you use them in passenger, truck, pickup, motorcycle and all trailer tires.

Keep reading... On of the very links you posted above has a warning about passenger cars (as well as the fact they don't list passenger car tire sizes in the charts, and more or less says they don't do anything. You still need to balance the wheel using weights.


http://www.innovativebalancing.com/news.htm

Q: Why don't you have tire charts for cars, SUV's or minivans?
A: We don't market to cars, SUV's or minivans due to the overall style of those tires, which usually have a low aspect ratio. We classify tires with a low aspect ratio "low-profile". Low profile tires often need lateral balance correction that can only be rectified with the use of standard wheel weights applied to both the inside and outside rim.
So that means that while Dyna Beads should not be used as the sole balancing method for these tire types, you can use Dyna Beads as a "Maintenance Amount". Using a combination of weights and Dyna Beads results in higher tire mileage and a reduction, or elimination, of future rebalancing requiements.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

OK, I'll Play the Devil's advocate.
The physics is another matter.
Inertial will force the beads to the farthest outside spot, The heavy side, and add even more weight.
If these worked, that would mean that all tires would be self balancing.
The heavy side would smack the road harded, wear down, become lighter, and the tire would become balanced.

I'm with you on that one... yes, there are lots of reports of them working, but the physics simply don't work out. The beads will naturally seek the point that is furthest away from the hub. There is no stopping that, at 70 mph each of those beads weighs about 30x what it does normally. Problem is, the spot furthest out from the hub is already the heavy spot that is causing the imbalance. The beads, at least in theory, should make it worse!

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

unless you do a lot of long distance trailering, I can't see the value in balancing trailer tires. Maybe once, when they are new. Trailer tires age out before they wear out. A slightly out of balance tire isn't going to affect yor driving comfort or your boat.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

I'm with you on that one... yes, there are lots of reports of them working, but the physics simply don't work out. The beads will naturally seek the point that is furthest away from the hub. There is no stopping that, at 70 mph each of those beads weighs about 30x what it does normally. Problem is, the spot furthest out from the hub is already the heavy spot that is causing the imbalance. The beads, at least in theory, should make it worse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq263AYgyYg

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

Here's a good vid from Equal. Only reason jeep guys steer clear of the stuff is that it can clump when wet so if you partially break a bead in some slop you can cause a mess that requires you to dismount the tire and clean it out
http://imiproducts.com/insidelookenglish.html

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

Keep reading... On of the very links you posted above has a warning about passenger cars (as well as the fact they don't list passenger car tire sizes in the charts, and more or less says they don't do anything. You still need to balance the wheel using weights.


http://www.innovativebalancing.com/news.htm

Q: Why don't you have tire charts for cars, SUV's or minivans?
A: We don't market to cars, SUV's or minivans due to the overall style of those tires, which usually have a low aspect ratio. We classify tires with a low aspect ratio "low-profile". Low profile tires often need lateral balance correction that can only be rectified with the use of standard wheel weights applied to both the inside and outside rim.
So that means that while Dyna Beads should not be used as the sole balancing method for these tire types, you can use Dyna Beads as a "Maintenance Amount". Using a combination of weights and Dyna Beads results in higher tire mileage and a reduction, or elimination, of future rebalancing requiements.

Ahh, so your right if your car has smaller than a 15" rim (unless it's an antique style rim then 14") they all classify them as low pro and you combine them. Doesn't mean you don't benefit or "do anything" or that they don't recommend them, cause they do. Not sure what warning your talking about, you lost me there.

Trailer tires down to a 12" rim are listed, motorcycles and scooters down to 10"

As for the physics... well if they didn't work my truck wouldn't ride so well now would it? So I'm thinking they work.

Willie- they say you can't put them in and spin test them. I know it was my first thought too and I'm dealing with a friend at the tire shop so I could if it mattered. If the tire isnt sitting on the ground loaded they don't work. Trailers without suspensions don't either. You can use a bubble balance to figure out how much to put in a big super swamper though.

Jeep- they have special valve caps to warn anybody working on the tire. Yeah that could be a day wrecker.

Cookin- my thoughts are only on if throwing a couple ounces of these in a new set of tires helps them wear better, why not? Sure you'd have to use your trailer to get any real reward out of it, but the same is true for bearing buddy's. Also what's the fun and having a boat if you can't take it on vacation with you.

Just trying to share something cool that I found.

Craig

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

You can doubt the physics all you want but I'd does work I know from experience. Having said that I doubt it's really worth it on a boat trailer unless you are putting serious miles on it.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Dynamic tire balancing

Water works too (freezes),
so does antifreeze (just plain messy)
airsoft pellets (break apart after a long time)
and in big tires golf balls (but jeeze are they noisy)

Semis have been using equal for as long as I can remember

And then you have centramatics - basically a fluid balancer that bolts between the rim and hub.

Tried to get centramatics but till now they don't make them for my model pickup. They are the cats meow