Thoughts on balancing beads
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Junior User
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 96
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Thoughts on balancing beads
Had a new set of 35's put on my 79 today. I did not want them to use a bunch of wheel weights on the outside of the rims, so at this time they are not balanced. Whats your guys experience of using beads to balance the tires?? Good or bad???
Elder User
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 528
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From: Arkansas
I use them in all of my radials & been in semi trucks running beads. The only problems Ive seen are when the tires themselves (semi truck tires) are bad. Also, dont use "Equal" brand if it is still produced. Its more of a powder & any moisture is bad for it. Conteract is the glass bead stuff Ive been around.
Moderator & parts slinger
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 50,286
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From: S/W Missouri, Polk county
I have read some stuff on Pirate 4x4 about using Airsoft pellets. 7 oz comes to my bad memory.
And the discussion about excessive moisture building up in your tire, and freezing the pellets into a clump. At least till the tire warms back up.
Nitrogen is moisture free. Sometimes if you break the bead and reposition the tire on the rim it might balance out better, or need less weight?
Some manufacturers beads come in a plastic package that lets you put in a "X" amount in and then the bag opens come 1st drive.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...42059868,d.amc
And the discussion about excessive moisture building up in your tire, and freezing the pellets into a clump. At least till the tire warms back up.
Nitrogen is moisture free. Sometimes if you break the bead and reposition the tire on the rim it might balance out better, or need less weight?
Some manufacturers beads come in a plastic package that lets you put in a "X" amount in and then the bag opens come 1st drive.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...42059868,d.amc
Cargo Master
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,674
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From: Ideeho
I've never run them in anything but semi truck tires. In fact that is the only way I have ever balanced tires on my ol Freightliner. I like them on the big truck. Never had a problem. They will tend to clump in cold weather but even right out as the tire warms up.
Elder User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 542
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I've used weights and a bubble balancer to get em as close as possible, then ran Equal, airsoft, shot, you-name-it and had good results. The beads are definitely better, equal would clump and you needed that special valvestem, etc. Airsoft is probably the best, but I doubt BB's are ever going to hurt the inside of the tire, and they're definitely cheaper/oz. The bubble balancer was to try to get that initial acceleration shudder, and sorta worked - you could probably get away with tape weights on the centerline if you wanted, bubbles are pretty low-tech as far as lateral balance, so centerline is good enough. Balance beads won't do much for lateral balance, either, but it's better than nothing (and will account for a clump of mud in the back of the rim, which is more likely than a high-speed shimmy/shudder from a lateral balance problem).
So - my personal opinion is that you can't beat a 2-axis computer balance on a small diameter, high speed tire on the wife's Honda or on a Corvette that'll see 120+ MPH, but on a big ol' mud tire or even a stock tire on a pickup that only does 75 on a good day, beads are arguably just as good and maybe even better, being dynamic so it accounts for oddly-worn brakes, bent rims, mud in the wheel, etc.
So - my personal opinion is that you can't beat a 2-axis computer balance on a small diameter, high speed tire on the wife's Honda or on a Corvette that'll see 120+ MPH, but on a big ol' mud tire or even a stock tire on a pickup that only does 75 on a good day, beads are arguably just as good and maybe even better, being dynamic so it accounts for oddly-worn brakes, bent rims, mud in the wheel, etc.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 920
Likes: 20
From: Malheur Co. OR
Don't use them on anything new enough to have a tire pressure sensor. The beads will get stuck and/or clump up causing vibration.
I have successfully used them on customer vehicles that were otherwise impossible to balance. There are a few brands of tire I will not even put on a trailer because of them.
I have successfully used them on customer vehicles that were otherwise impossible to balance. There are a few brands of tire I will not even put on a trailer because of them.
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Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: The Shenandoah Valley
What I found during a lot of personal testing last few years using a buddie's mounting machine .... both inserting and later, removing, Airsoft 22 cal Red Jacket BBs .... they work great on taller profile tires where the bottom of the inside of the tire doesn't flatten out across the tire wall to wall. They work great in my playing in MC tires and 70 series car tires and I have some in the 31/10.50-15 tires on my '77 to fine tune the static balance.
They did not work well in the 225/60-16 tires on my T-bird or the 235/55-17 tires on our GT. I never tried them in the 275/55-20 tires on the '07 after the failure in the GT's tires. There were times they balanced OK in the lower profiles but sometimes just a bump or big change in speed screwed it up. I think it was because those tires have the wide flat floor under the tread.
They did not work well in the 225/60-16 tires on my T-bird or the 235/55-17 tires on our GT. I never tried them in the 275/55-20 tires on the '07 after the failure in the GT's tires. There were times they balanced OK in the lower profiles but sometimes just a bump or big change in speed screwed it up. I think it was because those tires have the wide flat floor under the tread.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 712
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From: Mesa, AZ
Dynabeads are a brand made for this. I'd avoid airsoft pellets, as they break down over time and turn to powder.
Have you considered using tape weights inside the rims?
There are also Centramatic wheel balancers that you may look into. They're price at about $50 a wheel, but they last forever.
Have you considered using tape weights inside the rims?
There are also Centramatic wheel balancers that you may look into. They're price at about $50 a wheel, but they last forever.
Elder User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 542
Likes: 1
I never thought about airsofts breaking down - that's a very good point. All I've ever used airsofts in are trailer tires, can't say that I've broken one down to look - they're so light and it takes so many, I switched to steel BB's, and I think the tires that had airsofts all blew out long ago..... And at that point, I wasn't going to go back and pick them up. 
