BB balancing tires

[Lavabo]

i did my 4 tire with 3.5 oz each.. they are 15 in (195-65-15), got rids of old weight

Its perfect , smooth rides
Ended with pizza pan wheels
i based my calculation on this guy : http://noslocars.blogspot.ca/2013/12...-soft-bbs.html

[roosterk0031]

Put 4 new 205-60-16 on the Altima Saturday morning using 4 oz of counteract balance beads, and filtered valve cores. Cores and beads cheaper on ebay than local. Cores about $2 each, beads $20 per lb. 2 tires already had beads so reused those.

I've had beads get stuck in the valve core a couple times and only way to clear is to remove/replace core. Shouldn't be a problem with the filtered cores.

HF tool just like mine, I need to pickup some new drop in anchors before next tire change.

[DragBean]

Cosco balances wheels for $3 each. Just something to think about if you know someone with a Cosco card.

[IsaacCarlson]

I just figured I should give another update here.

I have been using bb's in most of our tires now and in a few other cars. The rest of my tires will get them very shortly. They work, and they work very well. I have not been using any wheel weights with the bb's.

Everyone who rides in our buick comments on how well it rides. I tell them to listen the next time we stop and they hear the bb's hit the rim. They always get a funny look on their face and ask what the noise is. I tell them it is my wheel balancers telling me they are still working.

I used a lot of used tires last year, and used tires are often times not in great shape balance wise.
We had one tire that was out of round and made the car hop badly. I installed bb's just to see if they would help before I replaced the tire. THEY DID!! The ride smoothed out around 35 mph and rode like glass, but it was still horrible at low speeds, so the tire was replaced anyway, as planned.

I want to say one thing just to be clear. If you have a worn tie rod or ball joint, you will feel it sooner than you would with lead weights. This is because the tire will have a hard time balancing due to the slack. Simply replace the worn component and you will be back in business. Tires with massive amounts of lateral imbalance will need a lead weight, but most tires take the beads just fine.

[sendler]

What do the bb's look like for condition after they have been run for a while? Any rust problems?

[roosterk0031]

Can't speak for BB's but my store botton pellets do end up contaimenated with rubber. BB's would be easily salvage with a $2 wire kitchen sieve, mine not so but I don't know if affects their performance but I toss them if there is a lot of rubber. I still get an occasional unbalance I think from hitting a bump at the critical speed that will linger untill the next stoppage. I can see BB's being rounder and slippering not suffering from that issue. I'm going to switch to BB's.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by roosterk0031

Can't speak for BB's but my store botton pellets do end up contaimenated with rubber.

Lead airgun pellets? Tire balancing beads need to be round and hard so they can act lke a ilquid and quickly flow to correct the imbalance each time you start.

[user removed]

I wonder what the long term effects of BBs, flying around inside a tire, every time you start and stop, will be on the TPMS sensors?

regards
mech

[sendler]

This bead balancing concept is really more recommended for motorcycles since the flat car tire section doesn't herd the beads to the center as well as a bike tire does. I had Dynabeads in one bike and they did help with no draw back but I am trying 1/8" stainless balls from Mcmaster Carr which are much cheaper next.

[roosterk0031]

Originally Posted by sendler

Lead airgun pellets? Tire balancing beads need to be round and hard so they can act lke a ilquid and quickly flow to correct the imbalance each time you start.

I use store bought balance beads, Counteract as they are cheaper than Dynabeads which I used in bikes and cars until I found Counteract.