Is that why so many over the road truckers use and recommend them???? Idiots abound everywhere. There is also the issue that maybe the Centramatics were put on improperly or were ordered incorrectly. Fitment is a big issue. On my dually it makes a difference as to whether you put the Centramatics on the correct wheels. I.E. don't put the fronts on the rears!

 

I've had my centramatics on my truck for quite a while now, on BALANCED wheels/tires, and they have been great.
Had a slight vibration that we just couldn't get completely smoothed out and the centramatics did the job, the final bit of smoothness.
And the tires are wearing as close to perfect as you could ask for.

 

Did you happen to try breaking the tire loose and rotating it on the rim and then re-inflate and check balance again? Often times when you need that much weight it is a combination of the wheel and tire both needing weight and you happen to align the heavy side of both the wheel and the rim consequently doubling or tripling the off weight issue. YMMV Rod

 

Was having the same exact issues and symptoms and finally made myself remove the weights, against all logic, and the centramatics work perfectly on my 2019 F-350 dually. Remove the weights folks.

 

So I don't want to be that guy, but let's review.

1. You have 20" wheels. Most people use these with the 19.5s or commercial tires.
2. I'm assuming they are not commercial tires
3. You didn't have a balance problem.
4. You tried to solve a problem you didn't have.
5. You didn't take the advice of the company that made the device.
6. You didn't research how they actually work because I didn't see you pragmatically work out in your head why it "comes and goes."
7. After all of this, you gave a negative review on a popular forum and wondered why they didn't work.

I'm just trying to understand what you were trying to accomplish.

 

I put centramatics on a Cab and Chassis F-450, and had a vibration. New tries, firestone, and had balancing media in the tires. Thats a big NO. Took the balancing media out, still a vibration. At this point there was nothing but the centramatics on the tires/wheels (steel wheels), definitely had an out of balance vibration. Broke down spun tire on wheel, still vibration. Ended up having to put on normal wheel weights, albeit not exact but to get them close to balance and then the centramatics worked as advertised. Don’t take me the wrong way, I’m a believer and user of Centramatics. This happened 3 years ago, and while I used to have to rebalance to get a somewhat balanced ride out of tires in the past (two different name brands) I have not had to rebalance this set at all. I would use them again, but to say no wheel weights are necessary I think depends on the situation.

 

You must be new to the internet. ;-)

 

I've used Centramatic Wheel Balancers for many years, with satisfying results. They paid for themselves with the savings on the cost of tires.

The physics of how they work is irrefutable.

When subjected to centrifugal forces exceeding the force of gravity, the spherical metal shot beads suspended in oil with brake fluid like properties will evenly self distribute around the central axis of rotation within the constrained environment of the toroidal tube (ring) containing the media. This self distribution cannot help but happen at speeds exceeding 25 mph. The facts of these physics might not be acknowledged by some, but they cannot be denied by reality.

The greater the mass of the balancing media, the more counteractive balancing force is available to ballast imbalances in the tire and wheel assembly.

The further away the balancing media is from the rotational center axis, the more leveraging effect the balancing media can have in ballasting imbalances.

The further away an inherent imbalance in the tire and wheel is from the axis of rotation, the more effect that imbalance will have on the rotating assembly.

If bags of balancing beads inside of the tire itself end up clumping together due to excess moisture and heat, that could cause a noticeable imbalance.

If balancing beads inside of the tire itself remained dry and individuated so that they could discreetly self distribute, then the larger diameter toroidal ring, being the tire itself, and thus being further away from the rotational axis, would be physically more effective in leverage against any imbalances inherent in the tire and wheel than a metal balancing ring whose largest diameter is the wheel, rather than the tire.

But balancing beads inside of a tire can clump. They can belt the inner lining of the tire. They can clog valve stems. They can harm certain types of TPMS sensors, such as those banded to the drop center of the wheel (older designs).

Not everyone experiences every problem with balancing beads inside of a tire. But enough people have experienced some problems to give me pause about using beads inside of a tire, despite the physics suggesting that the larger diameter toroidal containment ring (the tire itself) will allow self distributed beads to apply more leverage about the rotating axis to ballast any imbalnces inherent in the tires and wheels, such as rocks stuck in the tread blocks.

So the best compromise that I found was Centramatics... where I could take advantage of the irrefutable physics of centrifugal force distributing severable and moveable masses evenly within a circumferential containment envelope, without that envelope being the inside of my tires, which now cost $600 each.

I dismount and mount my own tires using a couple of tire irons and a large piece of carpet, so it is up to me how evenly I seat the tire bead on the rim. And I don't have spin balancer, so I don't use wheel weights. I align my truck at home as well, using a long stick. And, I don't bother rotating tires either.

Yet, I have no vibration, and no uneven tire wear. No cupping, no feathering, and practically undetectable tread wear in 40,000 miles on the current non-rotated tires supporting 11,500 lbs of truck.

I also don't have any worries about fitment problems with balancing rings, or being fined and charged for environmental contamination / containment costs to clean up any spillage of hazardous materials like toxic mercury (aka "quicksilver") from the public highway in the event of a collision that crunches a wheel. And, I don't have any personal liability to highway workers exposed to said mercury during accident cleanup.

But I do have Centramatics.

I also doubled up on the rear duals, putting two discs back to back, since two rear tires and wheels in pairs have twice the rotating mass to balance than one steer tire and wheel.

 

Not on a truck, but I’ve run Centramatics on 2 motorcycles and totaled around 110K miles. Smoother ride and longer tread life.

The reason for removing the weights is that the Centramatics need to see some vibration in order to correct it. If the wheel is perfectly balanced, the Centramatics get “confused”. That’s the best word I can use to describe it. Without the vibration, the internal pellets won’t move to the correct position.

Centramatics has been going strong for 40 years. You’d think that if it was snake oil, it would have gone away by now.

You can also get the same results, using plastic beads, inside the tires. Beads are cheaper, but take more effort to install and remove, when changing tires.

Centramatics will self adjust the balance as the tires see normal wear.

John