I have mounted about five sets of tires in my garage in the past 8 or 9 years now and I have never balanced any of them. Now, all of these tires have been 33x12.50s or larger. I have driven at all speeds and never have they had even the slightest vibration and all the tires wear pretty nicely. Am I just getting lucky here or has others done the same? I know that today's technology and advancements in tire construction are better than 25 years ago. My truck threw a weight in high school (1998) and the truck vibrated pretty good above 40mph. I took a set of 33x13.50s to get balanced a long time ago and three of the wheels had a mountain of weights inside them.

 

If it spins, it needs balancing. Whether it's a truck tire, trailer tire, drivehsaft, or crankshaft. I recently dropped off four trailer wheels at a tire shop for new tires. When I went back to get them, I noticed there were no weights. The $2 monkey that mounted them asked me why I wanted trailer tires balanced. I told him the same as above, and he scoffed. I stood next to him while he balanced them.

 

 

I've had times I tolerated some vibration, but it was there.

On my trucks now, after a balance machine balance job, even if smooth, I'll throw about 8 ounces of Air Soft Red Jacket .22cal hard BBs in them. I'll put 5 or 6 ounces in my car tires. I know the tire place will rebalance free when rotating them if I take it to them, but no dice. I don't use them instead of machine except in the case of my utility trailer, I use them as a reactive fine balancing supplement tool.

 

I balance ALL of my trailer tires. Besides mitigating the vibration transferred through a gooseneck hitch to the tow rig, it helps the tires, spring bushings, equalizers, and bolts live a healthy life.....well, as healthy as a trailer life can be.

 

Use balance beads, or airsoft BB's, if you don't want to have a tire balanced, r get a set of balance rings that mount behind the tire.

Don't use liquids that aren't approved for tire balancing, IDK if there even are any, I've never seen any. Alot of chemicals, especially water/water based , will cause corrosion on the wheel and will cause the the rubber to break down over time. Since it's inside the tire you won't know how bad it is until it blows. It can also be extremely dangerous to tire techs if whatever you use could become flammable if it gets vaporized.

 

Exactly. When a tire guy asks if I want trailer tires balanced, I just want to slap them. And another thing....I rotate my trailer tires. Why? Because the right side tires see more harshness from the road edges.

 

i balance everything. some tires require very little weight, or none. others need a lot.
usually the larger the tire the more weight it requires.. depending on country of manufacture.

i have had 35-37 inch american made tires only require 1/2 ounce each side. and others require 12 ounces.
foreign tires, and cheap bargain are the worse.
another thing most people do not realize. most american tire manfacturers will put a painted dot on the tire sidewall near the bead. this is the lightest spot on the tire and should be positioned where the valve stem is on the rim for the least added weight when balancing..

 

Yup, x2 on the dots on the side wall. There are yellow and red dots too. Yellow is the lightest spot on the tire, while red is the highest point on the tire (does not always have the red). If there is a yellow dot only, line it up with the valve stem. If there is a red one as well, it usually does better if it is aligned with the stem, rather than the yellow. This by itself will usually get you pretty close, but if it still takes a comically excessive amount of weight to balance the tire, try breaking the bead loose and rotate the tire 180 degrees on the rim. It usually means the heaviest point on the rim is not in the usual place by the valve stem. It's pretty rare and you should also check your rim at this point for straightness and any damage, Sometimes, the tire really is just that bad, but it usually helps more often than it makes it worse in my experience. Of course, the previously mentioned monkeys will resist either solution, because it is easier to just slap on more weights rather than doing more work. But it's food for thought if you like fighting with monkeys. After all, it is you that has to wrestle with the truck if the weights fall off. I would rather have a small shimmy than something that is unsafe to drive to the tire shop to get it fixed. Another more devious way if they offer lifetime balancing like the shop I use, just break the bead loose yourself, make any needed adjustments, reinflate and take the weights off. Take it back in and just tell them that the truck is shaking a little and you want the balance re-checked. No lying, just not giving them ALL of the information.

But to answer OP's question, yes- you are just getting lucky. Or you already know about the dots, but you still got lucky to get large tires that are that close to balanced in the first place.

 

X2 on balancing Everything
Back in the early 70's we all would buy our 4x4 truck and jeep tires from a guy that had a tire truing machine that was like a lathe.
As the tire would turn the cup cutter would knock off the high spots and when complete it was truly a round tire.
Then when balancing, took very little to no weights. This was even back when tires were probably more crude than today's technology.
Only unbalancing was after wheeling in the mud for a day. After washing, it was back to normal...
Just thinking back.
Alex

 

I had an old “on the car” Bear spin balancer I used to balance my customers boat trailer tires. Sometimes the galvanized rims were really hard because when the rims were hot dipped the galvanizing would settle on 1 side and need more weight. One time a tire was so out of balance it shook the fender off the trailer.
I had the same experience with the installers not wanting to balance new trailer tires.

 

As was said above you have got lucky so far, or you are willing to accept some vibration. I too agree that all tires need balanced, including trailer tires.
Before I bought my tire machine and balancer, I used both beads and air soft *****. They were better than nothing, but a poor substitute for actual balancing.
Its amazing how many folks working in tire shops, dont know about the dots and what they mean. Instead of dismounting and turning a half turn, and see if things improved, they just pile on a whole bunch of weights.
I finally got tired of messing with them, and not having a good place to get flats fixed after 5PM and bought my own equipment.
That was 5 years ago, and I have fixed a lot of flats, mounted and balanced several sets. Some of my family and friends have got a some good out of it as well.
I would guess that we have probably did enough work to pay for the cost.

 

my used Coats 40-40SA and Snap On WB240 balancer paid for themselves in the first year i had them.