Balancing of tires

Over the years we've used both the internal powder and external weights and all systems seem to work equally well. The beads or powder are often used by installers that don't have balancing machines large enough to handle RV tires.

Both styles have advantages and disadvantages, but in the end balancing all the tires makes them last longer and gives much better ride.

I keep hearing folks who swear by beads or powders.

I personally believe in lead weight professionally applied.

Thanks everyone for your input. I decided to go with Dynabeads on all six tires.

OK, let's start at the beginning:

Mount new tires on the coach.

CHECK RUN-OUT. Balancing an egg-shaped tire will NOT give you the ride you want. If over .035" run-out, rotate tire on wheel, etc. Basically get it fixed. If nothing else works, have it trued. Almost a lost art, but there ARE people who still do it.

THEN, and only then, best answer is to balance the tires ON THE RIG. Balancing the tire/wheel to within 1/2 ounce is great, but your brake drum/disk likely weighs close to a hundred pounds. Easy to be a couple of ounces out of balance.

Another option is something like CENTRAMATICS, that automatically balance "all rotating masses".

I use to spin balance everything. After trying the Dnyabeads on my last coach, I'm now a believer in using the balance beads. Spin balancing doesn't account for tire wear unless you spin them every 10K.

I also like Centramatic balancers. You have to plan ahead and order them before you do a tire change. The extra cost on top of the tires can be tough. I just bought them for the front of my new coach ($168.00 pair). I had a local tire shop that I do business with install them. Since I was a regular customer, they just had me tip the workers.

ALWAYS do all of the tires. Even if you can't feel it, you could end up with uneven wear.

Beads are the best option, then spin balancing, and if only thing available then bubble balancer.

Much prefer spin balance and all tires.

Being cheap, I use several oz of these/tire.

I have used spin balance. I have always balance all six.

Definitely balance all six. From personal experience I can tell you you'll have longer tire life and a better ride if you do.

We had the front tires on our 2001 Adventurer replaced and balanced with Equal powder. They lasted about 60,000 miles before they had to be replaced a second time.

A while later we had the 4 rear tires replaced with tires identical to the newer fronts and also "supposedly" balanced with Equal. With a little over 20,000 miles on the new rear tires I could feel a slight imbalance problem from about 45 mph to 55 mph.

By the time the tires had 30,000 miles on them the vibration and balance problem became extremely irritating. We finally stopped at a reputable tire store to have the balance powder removed from the rear tires and balance them with external weights. When they started the process they called me back to the shop for an inspection.

IT SEEMS THE ORIGINAL SELLING AND INSTALLING DEALER DID NOT INSTALL THE BALANCE POWDER AS THEY WERE PAID TO DO.

The tires had gone 30,000 miles without being balanced. They now had large flat spots. No matter what balancing method would be attempted now would have limited results. The tire store did attempt to balance the tires with external weights. The worst one took over 12 ounces of weight while the others took between 8 ounces and 10 ounces.

Even with all the weight added the tires still couldn't be balanced to the point there was no vibration. They had to be replaced within another 5,000 miles. Tires that should have gone 60,000 miles only went 35,000 miles because they had never been balanced