Tire Balancing beads - BB's?

I use #7 steel birdshot to balance my tires... if I need to fix or change a tire just use a magnet inside a baggie and pick them up pull the baggie over them and take the magnet away... much cheaper than the beads (I used the beads once) and reuseable. I will change my size to #5 or 6 shot 'just because' I want to try it next time.. To put them in a tire with pressure monitors you have to break the bead on one side... I've used this method of balancing my tires truck and
trailer, for over 20 years..

braindead0 wrote:
What I'd like to know is how anyone knows they are working at all? I still have the OEM tires and rims on my 2013.. never balanced, no beads.. and as far as I can tell they are perfectly balanced.....I certainly feel no vibration at speeds up to 85 or so however I also know that my perception in this instance is not a good indication of fact. Do you have someone ride in the TT at 70mph and check for vibration?

Any decent tire shop should be able to balance lug centric wheels with an appropriate adapter.. then you know for sure it's balanced.

My point is that the 'seat of the pants' balancer is in no way an accurate measure of wheel balance...

p.s. I know a lot of motorcyclist that use dynabeads, imbalance in that situation can be easily noticed. I suspect they work fine, just wondering how people "know" they are working on a TT tire..

I ride a motorcycle with beads in the tires.. and they really do work.. what would be so different in a trailer or any other tire ?

I have been running the larger truck style Dnyabeads on my camper for the last 5 years. I have also moved them from the original Denman's tires I started using them with to an upgraded LT commercial truck tire. The reason I went bigger beads was from cost (cheaper in bulk) and the added protection they do not fly out the air stem hole.

I have my own tire machine, yes a real old one but it works still, and scooping up the beads is not really hard to do during a tire change. I just took a small round left over plastic container from a drink mix I think and scooped them up. All of about 2 minutes to do. Key is, realize they are in there and take care when un-mounting the tire from the rim and you can keep all of them to use again.

I posted with pic's in this post. There is also a video in there showing how they work Balancing TT tires

I am a believer in them, they work well for me and help balance the entire hub assembly which in the RV industry normally does not happen. They do not machine the brake drum lining area to spin true to the bearings. The tolerance is 0.015 TIR, some you might luck out on within 0.005" others are 0.025" TIR. It cost a little more to take care and turn the drum to run true. I have tried to have tire shops dynamically balance trailer wheels. None of them had a an adapter hub to pilot the stud holes and could only do it off the stamped center core. I get the answer, we normally do not balance trailer wheels.... No one asks for this. So I gave up trying wheel weights and went Dynabeeds that I can add myself.

Hope this helps

John

PS I really do not know about using BB's. I myself would not go there when the Dynabeed option is available.

What I'd like to know is how anyone knows they are working at all? I still have the OEM tires and rims on my 2013.. never balanced, no beads.. and as far as I can tell they are perfectly balanced.....I certainly feel no vibration at speeds up to 85 or so however I also know that my perception in this instance is not a good indication of fact. Do you have someone ride in the TT at 70mph and check for vibration?

Any decent tire shop should be able to balance lug centric wheels with an appropriate adapter.. then you know for sure it's balanced.

My point is that the 'seat of the pants' balancer is in no way an accurate measure of wheel balance...

p.s. I know a lot of motorcyclist that use dynabeads, imbalance in that situation can be easily noticed. I suspect they work fine, just wondering how people "know" they are working on a TT tire..

Jframpey wrote:
i went with airsoft BB's after reading on another forum that lead BB's would damage the tpms internal sensor. i can't tell if all is balanced - never could before! i may try on my truck when its time to replace tires.

yes, that's why they are not a good choice.. I would suggest you use the correct beads by counteract or dynabeads.. they work perfectly well and do not damage tpms devices.

i went with airsoft BB's after reading on another forum that lead BB's would damage the tpms internal sensor. i can't tell if all is balanced - never could before! i may try on my truck when its time to replace tires.

Jframpey wrote:
Yeah! Air softBB's why didn't I think of that?

OK, that's the way I'll go. I have 15" tires - I'll use 3 oz. I have an electronic balance so I'm set.

WooHoo - Thaks

I would not recommend airsoft bb's.. they are bio-degradable and will absorb moisture, eventually breaking up..

Lynnmor wrote:
The weights that I mentioned were at the rim. I understand that the beads would be a few inches beyond the rim but they can't all occupy the same space. Because the beads will be spread out, my guess is that they would need to be approximately the same weight as lead weights on the rim.

I am not convinced that using beads is a good idea. The quantity to be used is just a guess. Every time the vehicle falls below a certain speed the beads fall away causing the assembly to be out of balance till things get sorted out again.

your guess is just that, a guess.. the simple info i gave is not a guess just simple physics.. you are correct in saying the beads will spread out.. yes, in practice they do to a certain extent.. and they don't actually need to "occupy" the same space.. and yes, the beads will fall when stationary.. that again is not a guess but simple physics.. beads have been in use for a very long time.. the only disadvantage over weights i can see is cleaning up during a tire change, it is much simpler to remove a weight than 10,000 beads..

if you can take the time to establish the required static balance weight then it is a simple matter to calculate the approximate bead equivalent.. if you give me your tire and rim size i will do the math for you.

Centrifugal force holds the beads in position, out at the inside of the tire's tread, as long as the tire is rolling down the road. Yes, they all fall down to the bottom of the tire anytime the vehicle stops.

The weights that I mentioned were at the rim. I understand that the beads would be a few inches beyond the rim but they can't all occupy the same space. Because the beads will be spread out, my guess is that they would need to be approximately the same weight as lead weights on the rim.

I am not convinced that using beads is a good idea. The quantity to be used is just a guess. Every time the vehicle falls below a certain speed the beads fall away causing the assembly to be out of balance till things get sorted out again.