spin balancing vs bg balancing

Here's a video that demonstrates the beads in a tire before and after:

http://vimeo.com/107339427

If you want the best ride, find an old school shop that can true and balance the tires on the vehicle. That takes care of irregularities in the tire, wheel, hub, brake, the whole lot.

Hard to find anyone capable any more.

For the 1st set of tires on our MH, purchased at a small country shop, we used Dynabeads, which we bought over the internet and gave to the tech handling the tires. They worked perfectly well. The next set we bought at a 'real' truck tire shop and had them spin balanced. So far, we've experienced no difference in performance.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Dynabeads is that they survived just fine over several years of use -- when the old tires were removed, the beads looked like they did when they were new!

Interesting tidbit: spilling the beads on the shop floor is a 'no-no'! They are as slippery as skates on ice. The shop guys related fellas having bad falls when stepping on them!

Just make sure that you are not confusing RV specific beads with other beads or with Equal powder. The powder will cause vibration if they clump, which is very common. Beads should not need to be vacuumed out since they will just roll out if the tire is tipped. In fact the beads can be reused in another tire if you want to be cost conscious. I read on here about people confusing the different products all of the time. Even in this post some talk about the beads needing a different valve core. If you use the correct RV SPECIFIC product, which most truck type tire dealers do NOT stock, you do not need to change the valve core and you do not have to worry about vibration unless the tire is out of round to begin with.
You also have to make sure that you use the correct size bag to throw in to the tire when it is mounted.
I ordered my own DynaBeads and just gave them to the installer when the tires were mounted. Click on the link below and scroll down to the RV and Motorhomes section.
DynaBeads

DSDP Don wrote:
"rgatinet1".....has it right. I was a spin balance fanatic.....the only way to go, but times have changed and I find that the beads work great. They will continue to balance the tire for it's entire life, where realistically you would need to rebalance and a few years with weights.

The best of both worlds would be to spin balance and correct any major weight issues and then add a bag of beads for fine balancing.

I do both the spin balance then beads. The beads may not handle a dynamic balance as well as the beads. The spin takes care of the dynamic and the beads will take care of brake drums on trailers and rotors on cars and trucks.

I have never had the unbalance on start up as some have described on my 2500 HD pickup.

I had beads in my new front tires. After a couple hundred miles of shaking every time I started out and never riding all that smooth once up to speed, I took it in and had the beads vacuumed out and the tires spun balanced. Much better now. The commercial shop I took it to said they remove the beads a lot.

Rick, congrats on the new tires! I just had mine spin balanced! Been doing it in my RV's since 1976 and it works for me. Good Luck and have a safe winter season in Lake Havasu!

Beads. They come in bags and they are tossed in the tire at installation.One bag per tire and each bag comes with a new valve core. Very simple.

DynaBeads since 2005.

rickvikki wrote:
Has anyone used "equal" brand as aopposed to dynabeads

We used Equal in the 19.5" tires on our 2001 motorhome. They require a special valve core (not the whole valve stem) with a filter in it that prevents the powder from escaping and getting caught in the valve. The proper valve cores have a red band around them and an obvious cone shaped filter. The installer should also put on dust covers with a red band to identify that the tire is balance with equal powder.

One caution. If you decide to go with a balance powder or beads make sure to watch the technician do the installation. We paid for equal to be installed in a set of 4 rear tires on our 2001 motorhome. After several thousand miles of driving the tires were out of balance and developed flat spots.

I took them to another dealer to have the Equal removed and rebalanced with external weights. When the technician started he called me back to the shop. The original dealer hadn't put any Equal in the tires even though they charged me for it. The worst tire took over 12 oz. of weight to balance it and the others took over 8 oz. Even then we could feel the flat spots and resulting vibration at highway speeds. Tires that should have gone over 50,000 miles had to be replaced at about 30,000 miles because they were not properly balanced.