mvusse Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Last week I got a set of new tires installed, and didn't see any weights on the outside of the rim. Okay, I thought, since they are (OEM) custom rims, maybe they just put them on the inside like they did on the Suburban. Then last night I went to check the air pressure, and one of the valves stuck open. Put the little cap back on to temporarily plug the leak and drove to the tire place today. Turns out they don't use weights, but instead dump a bunch of little beads inside the tire to dynamically keep it balanced even as the tire wears down. Some of the beads had gotten stuck in the valve core, holding it open. Tire guy said before checking the pressure I should blow some air into the tire to clear any beads away from the valve. My question is: what is everyones opinion of using the beads as opposed to weights? Pros? Cons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.p ... ance+beads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 I find it VERY suprising that they'd do that. How much did they charge you? If you balance them that way it takes no time on the balancer, and hence they should not charge you much (if anything) for the balancing, other than the cost of the beads (whatever they used). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted July 3, 2008 Author Share Posted July 3, 2008 If you bring in your own tires they charge $12 per tire, compared to the going rate in the area of $15 to $20. When you buy tires from them they'll mount them for free, but I'm sure "free" means the cost is figured into the tire price. Still, 4 brand new P235/75R15 Extra Load Range tires for $89 a piece and a used one off one of my old Ford rims mounted on the spare Jeep rim for free, including new valve stems, new valve cores and a total of 5 baggies if ceramic beads (one per wheel) I think was a pretty good deal. So far I've been happy with the balance, but I'm curious what peoples experience has been, not only with balance, but also fuel mileage and tread life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Over-the-road big trucks have used that method of balancing for years. I havn't tried it, but others who have tried it report that it works very well ... especially on larger, wider tires that are almost impossible to get correctly balanced using conventional (or stick-on) weights. Plus -- because the pellets are rolling and bouncing around in there, even if the tire shifts on the rim, cups, or flat spots, it will always be in balance. I've never heard of a tire shop doing that without asking/telling the customer, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 So far I've been happy with the balance, but I'm curious what peoples experience has been, not only with balance, but also fuel mileage and tread life. I did my old 35s with lead BBs. It was nice and smooth... They were used/beat tires, but they seemed to be wearing fine. Until I siped them, then promptly I tore a lot of tread off them. In big chunks. Fuel milage, who knows, doubt it changed anything. It was 8oz of lead rattling around vs 8oz of stick-on weights, basically... I'd do it again. But I didn't do it on my turdysevens - I never bothered to balance them at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNL1MTD Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 i used dyna beads in my MTZs for about 3 months, In my opinion they didnt do anything at all. I was running 10 oz in each tire. I first got them lead balanced, sorta didnt like the balance. Added 8 oz dyna beads with the lead wieghts, I thought it got better. Added 2 more oz dyna beads to each tire, no change. Took off lead weight, balance was great until 45 mph. After 45 it was so fing bad I just drove to the tire shop. Got the beads out, lead weights on and was never happier. Wasted 120 bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 I used them on Pong when Pong was a street driver. I had 35 BFG's on it. I loved it, I had zero vibes, but all of my axle parts where"new". I have heard of some ppl having issues with the beads if they have worn front end parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLHTAZ Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 When I wowrked for 4 Wheel Parts back in 2001 - 2002, we used them for a short time, but stopped using them as we had about an 80% come back rate on them and we ended up removing them and using conventional weights. This is the first time I have ever seen so many people say good things about them as it is typically something that folks don't like. I would like to see a chart or something that shows how to determine the amount/weight of beads to put in a tire. :smart: EDIT: Found a chart... CLICK HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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