Should I Balance My New Tires?

LVJJJ wrote:
Never have in 30 years, don't plan to start. Have detected no problems with bearings, brakes, etc., no blowouts ever.

I never balanced an engine either - unless I was rebuilding it..:)

I had my first TT in 1975, towed it all over the USA - then other TTs and a 5th. Never even a flat tire.

However, when I replace/d tires on any of those - when they "aged out" - they get balanced.

Other than a couple of bucks per tire/wheel, can't think of any reason not to.....and *still* no problems with tires, brakes, bearings, etc.!

Heck I even pay for car/truck/rv insurance - even though I've never needed it since my first DL & car in 1958....:(

.

Larry, every single thing you said I also experienced.

I have looked at a lot of trailer brake drums over the years and unlike cars or trucks; I have yet to see one that has balancing weights on them. That is like balancing a crank in an engine but not the pistons or rods. Why bother if not all of the components are balanced?

I still own the same trailer my dad did. I have no idea how many miles it has on it but it has WAAAY over 100K for sure and two trips to Alaska on it on the Al-Can hwy. As far as I know 3 of the 4 hubs has the OEM bearings it had when this trailer was built in 1986. I "think" my dad told me he lost a bearing in AK one time. I know he lost a spring but not sure he lost a bearing also? I never replaced the bearings in any of the hubs; that's for sure.

I race cars so I know a lot of tire store owners. Some of them are old, some of them are young but EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has told me this when I get my tires: "If you want, I will balance your tires for you, but it will make no difference on your trailer. I will take your money if you want but trailer tires don't need balancing."

I found it telling that every single one of them told me that! To me, that is very telling.

Over the years I probably have saved over a grand by not balancing my tires on my trailers. I have more important things to spend my grand on. Like adult beverages! :B

To anyone that doesn’t see the need to balance trailer tires, do you also not balance your car tires? What do you see as the fundamental difference.
I learned the difference between balancing or not with my little old snowmachine trailer with the fat little 12” rims.
I went through a couple sets of tires and shelled out a bearing in relatively low miles.
Balanced the next set of tires and put 3x the miles and no bearing issues.

westend wrote:
Larry,
I've got torsion axles, too, and on fairly decent roads, there is very little vibration and movement, inside. I also have shocks but don't know if they help. I'll have to try that X-mas tree indicator. Moving ornaments would be precise!

I do balance all my tires. Around here, it's $5/tire and I'd bet I get that back in lifetime-of-tire.

Yea my Xmas tree "shake indicator" came about because DW was concerned about putting "breakable" ornaments on it and having an "ornament WAR ZONE" everywhere after a day of traveling. My camera system is a standard "baby monitor" (mine is made by Summer Infant) which I have found is great because of it's range and the ability to add extra cameras (I currently have two cameras) and even zoom and pan the cameras remotely. It serves many purposes such as a back up camera on the trailer, a home front door/yard monitor at home and I use it on a pole to check my gutters for leaves/debris and cleaning. Only big disadvantage is for a back-up it does not have the reverse view so a little learning is needed when used for that purpose. However, I have the backup one mounted on the rear window inside my 31' trailer and have no issues with reception from the cab inside my Van when traveling. I think that is just because of the design and quality since as a baby monitor no one would buy it if it didn't have a dependable decent range.

While the cameras can be run on batteries I use a DC-DC converter to power them when they are in the trailer. The color monitor has a rechargeable battery, but can also be powered via USB power.

Larry

Larry,
I've got torsion axles, too, and on fairly decent roads, there is very little vibration and movement, inside. I also have shocks but don't know if they help. I'll have to try that X-mas tree indicator. Moving ornaments would be precise!

I do balance all my tires. Around here, it's $5/tire and I'd bet I get that back in lifetime-of-tire.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I've balanced tires and haven't balanced tires for over 40 years on my trailers. I could never tell the difference in any of them.

I save the $100 bucks now.

I've also never balanced any of my trailer tires for the last 39 years and like you have never had any vibration or wear issues. Last trailer I had for 27 years and still had the original wheel bearings with over 100K miles on them.

Since to my knowledge no trailer tire/hub assemblies are hub piloted execpt for the old dexter "star"/Fayette type hubs you will never except for luck get a tire/wheel assembly centered on the hub the same each time when the wheel is actually being centered on the lugs. The only true way is to shim the wheel on the hub so the wheel pilot is centered on the hub and that can be a very time consuming and tedious process.

Based on my experience over the last 4 or 5 years I seriously question all this concern over trailer "shaking and vibrations". I say this because I am able to monitor the inside of my trailer via camera while traveling and I typically have a small 3' or so X-mas tree that lives on the dinette table clamped down for travel with all sorts of ornaments hanging from it. There is remarkably little movement of either the tree itself or the ornaments when traveling. I don't have shocks on my trailer, but do have the torsion type axles and not the spring mounted type.

Larry

I've balanced tires and haven't balanced tires for over 40 years on my trailers. I could never tell the difference in any of them.

I save the $100 bucks now.

2112 wrote:
I plan on installing new tires on my FW this weekend. Should I have them balanced?

Thanks

I would!

Let’s also not forget about whether the tire should be balanced using the “lug-centric” vs “hub-centric “ method..
I was told that that trailer wheels need to be balanced using the “lug-centric “ method.

Sand, beads, NutraSweet, all kinds of stuff being touted to use. No thanks, I'll stick to lead. :)