I've been reading a little about tires; brands, LR, and balancing.I know this is a question that has been batted back and forth, but do the RV and tire manufacturers not read these forums or listen to customers?It seems most RV tires are not balanced.My TT came with Carlisle tires. They were not balanced, and I was too ignorant to check or realize they needed to be. After three years, I finally realized the tires were about to blow. All 4 had really bad "cupping". I went to a tire/repair shop local to me and the guy just could not believe they weren't balanced. I purchased new tires from him, he balanced them and they've been fine since. The new tires are wearing great, I keep them properly inflated and covered when not in use. I feel like the manufacturer cost me a new set of tires. They're out of business and were when I noticed the problem so my rant is probably pointless.Bottom line, if you're new to this, check your tires and don't let anyone tell you that TT tires don't need balancing.Oh and now I read about "lug centric" vs "cone centric" balancing...

My tires on my old trailer weren't balanced either when new. Americas Tire/Discount Tire won't install them without balancing. Consensus is they should be balanced.

The build these things as cheap as possible, saving and nickel here and a nickel there adds up over time. I do agree they should be balanced so we use Equal Tire Balancer in every thing we own from the pick up truck up to the semis....

ronniedean1234 wrote:They build these things as cheap as possible, saving and nickel here and a nickel there, adds up over time. I do agree they should be balanced so we use Equal Tire Balancer in every thing we own from the pick up truck up to the semis.... also that's why we are contuinually fixing things falling apart..

Sorry but cupping is not caused by non-balance.

If your tires cupped, you may want to look at having your axels aligned. Cost me a $150 to get an alignment last spring. I was surprised at how much the alignment was out.

Balancing RV tires | Good Sam Community

Crazy_Cooter
Explorer
May 12, 2013
Usually the larger drums on pickups are balanced. When you get a new drum from NAPA, they aren't, so I balance them. Not worth having the customer possibly come back with an issue.

I balanced both my drum assemblies and tires while i was packing the bearings and machining the out of round drums the first weekend after taking delivery.

If it rotates at any decent speed, its worth balancing regardless if you can feel it in the truck. A quality installer will do it without being told.
ktmrfs
Explorer II
May 03, 2013
cpaulsen wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

The hubs and drum on vehicles are not balanced either....but you still balance the tires.

actually most/all drum brake housings on passenger vehicles are balanced. Look carefully at drum brake and you'll likely see either holes partially drilled through, or more commonly a rectangular steel tab on the drum. That's how they are balanced.

Haven't seen that on trailer drums, so I assume they are not balanced.

However, the effect of a given amount of unbalance also depends on the diameter of the object. so the same amount of imbalance on a drum will have much less effect than the same amount of imbalance on a tire since the tire diameter is much larger. Don't recall exactly but I suspect it is a squared relationship.

So if you balance a TT tire (which I do), you won't end up with a completely balanced assembly unless they balance on the hub. But IMHO you'll in virtually all cases end up with a better balance than nothing at all.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
May 03, 2013
Lynnmor wrote:
Turtle n Peeps wrote:
cpaulsen wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

The hubs and drum on vehicles are not balanced either....but you still balance the tires.

:h Every drum I have ever worked on was balanced? Plus vehicles have shocks and 95%+ of trailers don't.

Check your drums for balance, and report back. I checked mine and reported what I found.

Oh, and I installed shocks.

Lets try this again.

cpaulsen was talking about "VEHICLES"; and EVERY VEHICLE I have ever worked on had balanced drums etc.

I have NEVER seen a trailer with balanced drums etc as you have stated. I agree.
Lynnmor
Explorer
May 03, 2013
Turtle n Peeps wrote:
cpaulsen wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

The hubs and drum on vehicles are not balanced either....but you still balance the tires.

:h Every drum I have ever worked on was balanced? Plus vehicles have shocks and 95%+ of trailers don't.

Check your drums for balance, and report back. I checked mine and reported what I found.

Oh, and I installed shocks.
jamnw
Explorer
May 03, 2013
Turtle n Peeps wrote:

:h Every drum I have ever worked on was balanced? Plus vehicles have shocks and 95%+ of trailers don't.

I too thought drums were balanced?
I've seen square metal pieces glued/epoxy/stuck to them.

I figured those were the balancing weights.

I've seen weights on wheels too.

Maybe trailers are not. I'll check mine when I check my brakes. That is if I can get a weekend without rain around here! Calling for 3 to 5 inches in my area this weekend. We just had over 2 inches last weekend!!!

At least I was able to isolate the leak in my shower sunroof and reseal it. We will see if I did a good job!
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
May 03, 2013
cpaulsen wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

The hubs and drum on vehicles are not balanced either....but you still balance the tires.

:h Every drum I have ever worked on was balanced? Plus vehicles have shocks and 95%+ of trailers don't.
cpaulsen
Explorer
May 03, 2013
Lynnmor wrote:
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

The hubs and drum on vehicles are not balanced either....but you still balance the tires.
mosseater
Explorer II
May 02, 2013
I had severe early wear on my OEM ST tires and after getting the alignment corrected, I put ceramic balancing beads in all the tires. Can't say if it helped the OEM tires or not, but the new Maxxis have the same bead in and I have not seen any perceptable wear in the first season of use. Not empirical data, but as of now they seem to work. I swear from the first I could tell a difference in how the rig rode and handled, but being a highly subjective thing, I wouldn't swear to it. Probably subconsciously trying to justify the cost and time. Cost about $60 to do all tires.
emonkemeier
Explorer
Apr 30, 2013
There is a website MrTruck.com which discusses trucks and towing. He recommends using Centramatic wheel balancers. I put a set on my trailer just to be safe.
Ed
Lynnmor
Explorer
Apr 30, 2013
I have written this before, but no one cares.

The hubs/drums on trailers are not balanced.

Of the 18 I have personally checked, not one was in balance, the worst was 5.5 oz. out.

You can balance the tires all you want but the assembly, most likely, will be out of balance.

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