Swallowing my pride - balancing beads.

[Rockcrawlindude]

Well, I’ve recommended balancing beads many times over the years. I’ve told people that if the beads didn’t work, they needed more of them.

I have used balancing beads many times before, steel wheels, aluminum wheels, beadlocks, 37”s, 38”s, 39”s and 40”s. I’ve use them in TSLs which are not great tires on the road, and I’ve used them in cut up tires I took off a rock crawler and put on a street rig.

Well, I am here to tell you I was wrong. Sometimes adding more weight still wont balance and maybe beads don’t always work.

I recently got new tires and the tire shop balanced my tires with tape weights on the wheels. Some of the tires took lots of weight, but they were balanced out and rode smoothly. I’ll attach some pics.




Well, rather than take them back to the tire shop and have them do something about it, I decided to just bead balance them. I use counteract balance beads with good luck so I added 8oz per their recommendation after I cleaned the wheel weights and leftover tape off of the wheels.

I took a ride and had pretty bad vibrations so I added more weight because I had 3 extra 4oz bags leftover from the last vehicle I balanced at home, so I added it evenly to the tires which brought me to 11oz per tire, more than the recommended amount. In the past, adding a little has evened out any little leftover vibes.

I still have a really bad vibration at 55mph, edging on wobble territory. I drove around a bit and scratched my head a bit and then gave up.

So, I’m posting this from discount tire where I came back and told them the truth that I jacked up the work they did, that the wheels were balanced but I just didn’t like the stacked weights. They are fixing me up for free. Honesty goes a long way, I suppose. They could’ve charged me for this labor. Poor fellas gotta shop vac a bunch of beads out of my tires and they’re going to spin the tires on the wheels and see if they can cut down the weight in one spot.

I’m not sure why this set of tires doesn’t want to bead balance, maybe it’s a side to side balance that their machine can detect or maybe it’s just because it’s so much weight in one spot. Balancing beads can be a good option and they can work in many scenarios but they may not be best for every scenario.

 

[Grey]

When I was racing Vettes, I had a tire guy with special equipment. He had a machine that spun the tire and shaved it if out of round. You would be amazed how out of round some are . Then he would mount the beast and spin them on a floor rolling system. Expensive but he would get a perfect balance hell or high water. I havent seen anyone that does it that way in a long time.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Discount tire balanced them out again. They still took around 6-7oz each (24-26 qty 1/4 oz stick weights) but they did not stack any of them and they look a bit neater now.

 

[IndyRamMega]

It happens....I've tried them in the last and never had luck....now I just find a local Indy to balance my bead locks....props for honesty....

 

[Blythkd1]

I wonder what the inside of the new tires looks like. I've always assumed that beads need some of that texture that's typically on the inside of tires so they can stay in place. Maybe not, idk. I've had perfect performance in some applications and somewhat poor performance in others.

Sounds like DT is definitely trying to earn and keep your business. That's cool.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

It happens....I've tried them in the last and never had luck....now I just find a local Indy to balance my bead locks....props for honesty....

This is my first time having issues and I probably will still try them in the future because I still ride other vehicles that are bead and even airsoft balanced

But, I’m sure I’ve told people who said they didn’t work for them that they didn’t have enough beads in their tires and I apologize to those folks.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

I wonder what the inside of the new tires looks like. I've always assumed that beads need some of that texture that's typically on the inside of tires so they can stay in place. Maybe not, idk. I've had perfect performance in some applications and somewhat poor performance in others.

Sounds like DT is definitely trying to earn and keep your business. That's cool.

DT does me right. Never had any damage or anything bad to say about DT. The stacked weights would’ve been my first complaint in 20 years

As far as inside the tire I don’t know. I ignored the directions and injected the beads through the tpms with good install results but I didn’t break the beads down and look inside (I usually use throw-in bags)

 

[UglyViking]

What wheel and tire and you trying to balance? To be fair, I'd probably have done the same as soon as I saw stacked weights. Thats a pretty significant amount of weights per tire, and the stacking is no go for me personally.

I'd wonder if you have tried to see if the wheel or tire is seriously out of round? You could spin the wheel alone and see where it ends up. That number of weights just seems high all being on the same side.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

What wheel and tire and you trying to balance? To be fair, I'd probably have done the same as soon as I saw stacked weights. Thats a pretty significant amount of weights per tire, and the stacking is no go for me personally.

I'd wonder if you have tried to see if the wheel or tire is seriously out of round? You could spin the wheel alone and see where it ends up. That number of weights just seems high all being on the same side.

It’s a 35” duratrac (285/75-18) on a battleborn wheel.

They spun the tires 180 on the wheels and they took approx the same amount of weight so I think it’s the tires and not the wheels.

The old tape weight from the nitto ridge graps can be seen on the right with the stacked weights on the left. This is after the initial install of the Goodyears. Before i cleaned my wheels, obviously. But the nitto took 4oz at least based on the tape residue the stacked weights equal 6oz

The only tires I’ve had take more weight than this was a set of bfgs one took 12oz to balance on a 15” wheel long ago

 

[UglyViking]

The weights on the right seem like about right, but the other one, wow. I'm surprised, duratracs have great reviews on them, so to see that much for weights on that size is a little surprising.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

The weights on the right seem like about right, but the other one, wow. I'm surprised, duratracs have great reviews on them, so to see that much for weights on that size is a little surprising.

I’m super happy with the ride on the duratracs so far but I agree it’s disappointing that they take so much weight to balance out which makes me feel like they’re not round which makes me question the QC.

 

[Ramsomair]

Can you just add the bags of beads to a tire that already has the stick on weights?

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Can you just add the bags of beads to a tire that already has the stick on weights?

They say not to but I suppose you could. I’ve never mixed balancing media.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Well, I’ve recommended balancing beads many times over the years. I’ve told people that if the beads didn’t work, they needed more of them.

I have used balancing beads many times before, steel wheels, aluminum wheels, beadlocks, 37”s, 38”s, 39”s and 40”s. I’ve use them in TSLs which are not great tires on the road, and I’ve used them in cut up tires I took off a rock crawler and put on a street rig.

Well, I am here to tell you I was wrong. Sometimes adding more weight still wont balance and maybe beads don’t always work.

I recently got new tires and the tire shop balanced my tires with tape weights on the wheels. Some of the tires took lots of weight, but they were balanced out and rode smoothly. I’ll attach some pics.




Well, rather than take them back to the tire shop and have them do something about it, I decided to just bead balance them. I use counteract balance beads with good luck so I added 8oz per their recommendation after I cleaned the wheel weights and leftover tape off of the wheels.

I took a ride and had pretty bad vibrations so I added more weight because I had 3 extra 4oz bags leftover from the last vehicle I balanced at home, so I added it evenly to the tires which brought me to 11oz per tire, more than the recommended amount. In the past, adding a little has evened out any little leftover vibes.

I still have a really bad vibration at 55mph, edging on wobble territory. I drove around a bit and scratched my head a bit and then gave up.

So, I’m posting this from discount tire where I came back and told them the truth that I jacked up the work they did, that the wheels were balanced but I just didn’t like the stacked weights. They are fixing me up for free. Honesty goes a long way, I suppose. They could’ve charged me for this labor. Poor fellas gotta shop vac a bunch of beads out of my tires and they’re going to spin the tires on the wheels and see if they can cut down the weight in one spot.

I’m not sure why this set of tires doesn’t want to bead balance, maybe it’s a side to side balance that their machine can detect or maybe it’s just because it’s so much weight in one spot. Balancing beads can be a good option and they can work in many scenarios but they may not be best for every scenario.

They were so impressed that you do all your own stunts, they had to help.

 

[Enve46]

Wow that’s interesting results. Ran balance beads on my LJR with great success. Thats a lot of weight but at this point, if they ride smooth and you’re happy with everything, have to chalk it up as something to deal with and move forward. Had a several sets of Recon Grapplers that use very little weight, even knocked some off due to caliper clearance with 17” methods and couldn’t even tell.

Have duratracs on my PW, decent tires so far. Unsure I’ll be able to test them on anything but the street before I swap 37s on. They have great reviews, I’ve never been a huge fan of their appearance.

 

[Blythkd1]

Can you just add the bags of beads to a tire that already has the stick on weights?

They say not to but I suppose you could. I’ve never mixed balancing media.

Beads will not work with Centramatics. I don't know why beads wouldn't work with static weights though.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Thats odd to need so much weight on the duratracs are they road force balancing them perhaps in your case a static balance would be better i have had to do that before on some tires that were really bad to balance ? Are they the 3peak rated ones?

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Thats odd to need so much weight on the duratracs are they road force balancing them? Are they the 3peak rated ones?

I don’t know what kind of machines they use but they work.
Not 3 peak rated I live in the south

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

They were so impressed that you do all your own stunts, they had to help.

Impressed or felt bad for me? I’m sure they figured that I’ve done way dumber stuff than that. I look dumb and not in a charming way.

 

[Gondul]

Well, I’ve recommended balancing beads many times over the years. I’ve told people that if the beads didn’t work, they needed more of them.

I have used balancing beads many times before, steel wheels, aluminum wheels, beadlocks, 37”s, 38”s, 39”s and 40”s. I’ve use them in TSLs which are not great tires on the road, and I’ve used them in cut up tires I took off a rock crawler and put on a street rig.

Well, I am here to tell you I was wrong. Sometimes adding more weight still wont balance and maybe beads don’t always work.

I recently got new tires and the tire shop balanced my tires with tape weights on the wheels. Some of the tires took lots of weight, but they were balanced out and rode smoothly. I’ll attach some pics.

Well, rather than take them back to the tire shop and have them do something about it, I decided to just bead balance them. I use counteract balance beads with good luck so I added 8oz per their recommendation after I cleaned the wheel weights and leftover tape off of the wheels.

I took a ride and had pretty bad vibrations so I added more weight because I had 3 extra 4oz bags leftover from the last vehicle I balanced at home, so I added it evenly to the tires which brought me to 11oz per tire, more than the recommended amount. In the past, adding a little has evened out any little leftover vibes.

I still have a really bad vibration at 55mph, edging on wobble territory. I drove around a bit and scratched my head a bit and then gave up.

So, I’m posting this from discount tire where I came back and told them the truth that I jacked up the work they did, that the wheels were balanced but I just didn’t like the stacked weights. They are fixing me up for free. Honesty goes a long way, I suppose. They could’ve charged me for this labor. Poor fellas gotta shop vac a bunch of beads out of my tires and they’re going to spin the tires on the wheels and see if they can cut down the weight in one spot.

I’m not sure why this set of tires doesn’t want to bead balance, maybe it’s a side to side balance that their machine can detect or maybe it’s just because it’s so much weight in one spot. Balancing beads can be a good option and they can work in many scenarios but they may not be best for every scenario.

I have Anthem wheels with the Cooper AT3 XLTs (285/65R20) and put 6.5 oz of beads (which is what was recommended) in each tire and I still get a wobble starting at about 50-55... some days worse than others.
I've never had aftermarket wheels nor have I ever used beads...
I'm about ready to go back to DT and just have them put on weights because that wobble is annoying AF...