BB balancing tires

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by chumly

Are there any drawbacks to using bb's ?

I imagine rust.

The pressure in a tire is several times greater than atmospheric, so that would accelerate oxidation.

Perhaps copper jacketed BBs would hold up better.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by chumly

Are there any drawbacks to using bb's ?

Yes.

Some of these balancing beads or compounds will cause deterioration of the inside of the tire - and the inside layer of rubber is what holds that air in. Needless to say, the warranty on the tire is void if you use this stuff.

Also, that stuff only works at highway speeds - where the centrifugal forces are large enough to overcome the force of gravity. So the stuff doesn't work at slower speeds and that might cause wear issues for those who rarely drive at highway speed.

[roosterk0031]

Beads can also get caught in valve core, I was filling a tire and a bead got in the valve core so it wouldn't close. Had to remove the core to get the offending bead out and put core back. Luckily it was in my drive way so not a big deal, if I was inflating at gas station I would have been changing a tire.

When I change tires there is a little bit of rubber dust mixed in with the beads so it taking a little bit off the liner.

The Counteract beads are plastic, look like the raw material for a injection molding. Dynabeads say theirs are a ceramic.

[IsaacCarlson]

I have been running copper coated bb's in mine. I might try the airsoft bb's, but they are more spendy.

One thing that can cause shake is a bad tie rod. The wheel needs to be held firmly in place to help it balance. If you have a bad tie rod, it will prevent the tire from balancing because the tire will move around rather than the beads.

A bump by itself should not cause a shake. The beads will immediately balance again if they are moved. I drive on some of the bumpiest roads around and have no problems with the beads. Suspension repairs are another story. My truck bed is falling apart and nothing can save it. I have rewelded it many times and have even added 2" angle iron to it, but to no avail. The roads destroy it in about 2 months. My tail lights keep falling out.

[roosterk0031]

I think my suspension fine, just happens if I hit a bump around 10-15 mph. I think it disrupts the spreading of the beads just before the get stuck to the tire from centrifugal force. They stay that way until I slow down again, maybe rounder smoother BB's would be better that way.

I wonder if the rubber powder that is mixed in now as they are getting older is also affecting how easy they redistribute. I'm going to try to get the powder out next time. But since I'll be using different tires won't really know, at this point I'm blaming the Ecopias.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by CapriRacer

Yes.

Some of these balancing beads or compounds will cause deterioration of the inside of the tire - and the inside layer of rubber is what holds that air in.

What about a liquid?

[brucey]

I used BB's with 31" Mud Tires used on my old Suzuki Samurai. It worked great.

I tried them with my passenger car and just stayed with standard style wheel weights. Could never get them to work quite right.

[OG VX]

Interesting stuff. Never heard of this before.

Thanks for sharing.

[roosterk0031]

Only liquid stuff I'm aware of is Ride-on for motorcycles

Tire Sealant | Puncture Repair | Flat Tire Repair | Tire Protection Systems for Motorcycle, Automotive, ATV and Heavy Equipment - Ride-On

After reading about it, but never using it, but slimed a couple tires as an experiment, didn't work.

Guess they are marketing it for cars too.

Looks like my tires would take 11 oz, 16 oz bottle is $20, didn't read far enough to see if TPMS sensor safe. I think I'll stick with beads, 4 oz of beads is $6, and I can reuse them.

[Cobb]

Interesting..... I find sometimes the guy at the tire shop doesnt know how to correctly balance a tire. I think a rep told me once you can balance a brick, but the thickness of a business card can throw it off when mounting it to the machine.

For my car I usually get my tires balanced twice. When installed and about half life or 20k miles. Same for my sidekick with 28 inch tires.

My tacoma had 30s and the tire was wearing unevenly in its diameter so the ride was rough at speeds faster than 60 mph. I made several trips to the dealer over that. They ended up putting it on a machine that reground the tires, think they called it a road master machine.