Tire Balance

[83trekker]

So i am about to go buy some new tires for my 5th wheel, and tire shop is saying dont bother pay to have them balanced , its not necessary.

What does everybody do here? They are for 29ft 5th wheel 225-75-15

[JIMNLIN]

Tires jumping up and down on a trailer is the result of severe flat spots from locking brakes......tread delam issues/etc and no amount of weights would ever balance the tire.

Sound like a experienced tire dealer that has been around the trailering world to me.

[laknox]

RCMAN46 wrote:
If a tire is properly dynamic balanced there may be weights on both the inside and outside.

Often the weights on the inside will not be in the same location as the outside. That is how the dynamic balance is achieved.

I know Discount balances that way; both inside and outside weights and not necessarily in the same location, as you say.

Lyle

[laknox]

83trekker wrote:
So i am about to go buy some new tires for my 5th wheel, and tire shop is saying dont bother pay to have them balanced , its not necessary.

What does everybody do here? They are for 29ft 5th wheel 225-75-15

Find another dealer, if they're giving you such cr@ppy advice. Anything that rotates at that kind of speed needs to be balanced. I've seen more than a few trailers going down the road with wheels bouncing off the ground. The worst was a TT that had the left rear tire bouncing, I kid you not, at least 4" off the ground. I have no clue as to why the driver couldn't feel that. On top of that, he was towing at about 70-75 mph.

Lyle

[Lynnmor]

Huntindog wrote:
I am not going to do the math, but the Drum needing 5.5 oz would be less it the weights were at the outer circumference of the tire... Same goes for the tire to a lesser extent... But the math really isn't that critical with the beads. Any extra beads will distribute themselves evenly around the tire.

The 5.5 oz. mentioned was needed at the normal location on the wheel. I presented this to show the fallacy of dumping a substance in a tire in the hopes of getting perfect balance. Since nobody checks the drum balance and has no clue where the heavy spot on the tire or drum is located, they have no idea of the amount required.

I static balance the assemblies or use my strobe on the vehicle to get them right.

[Huntindog]

Lynnmor wrote:

memtb wrote:
If we’re concerned about the drum being out of balance....why not use “balance beads”? That should take care of that issue....unless it’s “very” badly out of balance! memtb

Not a believer in those, they need to reorient themselves every time the speed drops to a certain point. I asked the believers this question a long time ago: How many ounces of beads would you add to a tire that is 4 ounces out of balance with a brake drum that is 5.5 ounces out? Never got an answer. This is a real situation that I experienced. I knew the heavy spots on both and mounted with them opposed, so only 1.5 ounces of weight were required. For the bead fans, please calculate the amount needed (hint: it would be between 2 and 14 ounces).

I am not going to do the math, but the Drum needing 5.5 oz would be less it the weights were at the outer circumference of the tire... Same goes for the tire to a lesser extent... But the math really isn't that critical with the beads. Any extra beads will distribute themselves evenly aorund the tire.

The only downside I have witnessed with beads on one vehicle was a F450 that would shudder at low speeds when the beads were not distributed around the tire...(front tires) It happened briefly when speeding up, and slowing down.
The owner took the beads out and used normal balancing to fix it

[Cummins12V98]

An out of balanced tire would effect the wheel bearings.

[Steakman]

Hmmm.. I balance my 16" tires. Seems to me to be simple common sense..NO.?

But it also seems to me that tires will rot before they wear out on most RV's...

Cheers...

[RCMAN46]

If a tire is properly dynamic balanced there may be weights on both the inside and outside.

Often the weights on the inside will not be in the same location as the outside. That is how the dynamic balance is achieved.

[fj12ryder]

"Some" motorcyclists use them, not "many". Definitely in the minority. They seem to do no harm at low speed, but I've heard of issues at higher speeds. I balance my wheels the old fashioned way. I figure since there's no way to check the balance of a tire with the beads, you're just taking their word that they work.

Caveat emptor.

[memtb]

Lynnmor, They are pretty popular in the trucking industry, and also many motorcyclist use them. I’m experimenting with them on a couple of trailers and on our Ram tow vehicle (19.5” tires/steel rims). So far so good,very smooth ride also.....though they don’t “soften the shock”, when those 14 ply tires hit a pothole! 😄 memtb

[RAS43]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

RAS43 wrote:
Weights could be on the inside. That is where Big O put them on my chrome boat trailer wheels for a clean look.

You want me to take a pic of the inside?

NOPE!

[pcm1959]

I'm not educated enough to advise but I did balance my new trailer tires. I have disc brakes so don't if that's different in terms of what's been discussed. One difference I can tell since installing my new balanced tires is I had a lower body panel screw that would always back out during travel. Just towed 350 miles and it didn't move.

[Cummins12V98]

RAS43 wrote:
Weights could be on the inside. That is where Big O put them on my chrome boat trailer wheels for a clean look.

You want me to take a pic of the inside?

[RAS43]

Weights could be on the inside. That is where Big O put them on my chrome boat trailer wheels for a clean look.