tire balancing beads

[john112deere]

jeffnick mentioned that he used beads to balance the tires on his van in another thread, and I didn't want to hijack it, so I'm starting this one:

*do the "beads" work as well as spin-balancing with weights at commercial shops does?
*what do the beads cost?
*seems like I've heard of using BB's (noisy) or AirSoft pellets for the same purpose...but I can't remember for sure.


If I do this, it'd be on my utility trailer (where I tore up a sidewall a few weeks ago overloading it). The trailer is not loaded heavily very often at all (never behind my truck), but does see hundreds of miles of interstate driving at a stretch from time to time, and is WAY oversprung for the weight my truck can haul, so balance is somewhat important to me.

Comments? (Discussion of bead-balanced tires in general would be good...I'm curious.)

 

[Skandocious]

I was wondering the same thing Ian. My tires are garbage and it seems they're always developing vibrations soon after I get them balanced... These beads might be the answer for me too.

I know Tony uses them. In fact I think he uses BBs.

 

[surewhynot]

I use BB's. They work great, but aren't effective until about 20-25 miles an hour, when they get flung into place real well by centrifugal force. I've never ran them in normal size tires. I've always had them spin balanced.

A lot of truckers use a product called equal to do the same thing. It's a ballast that goes inside the tire to centrifugally balance it. It's more pricey than bb's and can clump with moisture.

I dunno about airsoft pellets. They don't seem heavy enough to be much help.

 

[john112deere]

Do you notice your tires being off balance at speeds below 25 mph?

 

[surewhynot]

No, not really, but with big mud tires it's a little hard to tell.

 

[jeffnick]

I've also got beads in my boat trailer tires (4 wheels/tandem axle). I know they are working, because the guide posts do not vibrate as much.

Are beads totally effective? My experience says NO. I had new tires put on my E-350. They were balanced, but still vibrated the steering wheel. I had them balanced again...a little better but not fixed. I put beads in the front tires and they helped, but there was still a slight vibration. I had the tires balanced again (this time at Ford), with the beads in them and the problem was totally gone.

I also put the beads in the front tires of my Ford Focus. They seemed to have done the complete job on the Focus, the proof will be when I put beads in the rear tires which are now a big problem at about 60mph.

Bottom line so far - there's no substitute for a spin balance correctly done, but you can expect at least some results with the beads.

 

[Skandocious]

I've also got beads in my boat trailer tires (4 wheels/tandem axle). I know they are working, because the guide posts do not vibrate as much.

Are beads totally effective? My experience says NO. I had new tires put on my E-350. They were balanced, but still vibrated the steering wheel. I had them balanced again...a little better but not fixed. I put beads in the front tires and they helped, but there was still a slight vibration. I had the tires balanced again (this time at Ford), with the beads in them and the problem was totally gone.

I also put the beads in the front tires of my Ford Focus. They seemed to have done the complete job on the Focus, the proof will be when I put beads in the rear tires which are now a big problem at about 60mph.

Which type of beads are you using?

 

[jeffnick]

I'm using ceramic beads from here:
http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

Some of the RV guys swear by Equal, the sugar substitute.
From what I gather, things to avoid are substances that abrade the inside of the tire (some say BB's can rust and cause problems), and stuff that will clump (Equal is reported to NOT clump and can be fed thru an empty valve stem).

There ARE ceramic beads small enough to feed thru the valve stem, but I thought they would be a nuisance, especially since I can easily break the bead and dump them in.