Balance beads ?

[Easttnrhino]

I am Having a hard time in my small town to find someone that will say they can balance and garentee they balance 37" tires. I am most likely going with nitto ridge grappler. One guy says yes but he want to use the balance beads they look like they are maybe fiberglass. Trying to stay local. What are some of the pros and cons to balance beads and anybody having good luck with them. Thanks

[Mule]

I've never cared for them in offroad moto applications. Sometimes they break, sometimes they wedge themselves into the valve core when you're deflating a tire.

[Easttnrhino]

I wish had asked him about the tpms, if the beads can hurt the sensors.

[Colibri]

I’ve used beads for years with decent results. Nobody wants to touch beadlock wheels for liability reasons and that’s all I have on 4 vehicles lol. Use quality ceramic beads and you won’t have any trouble with sensors or valve cores etc. My only complaint about them is on road if you hit a particularly rough bit of pavement they destabilize momentarily and you feel an out of balance tire for a few seconds until the beads redistribute.

On the plus side, you only have to mess with them once for the life of the tire. If it were me I’d try to balance traditionally if at all possible. If not use quality beads and you’ll get decent to good results. If I still owned my own balance machine I wouldn’t be using beads.

[DamageWagon]

You can buy Centramatic balances that go between the hub and wheel. Basically lasts about forever for however many sets of tires you run and requires nothing to install. Won’t screw with TPMS sensors. Don’t know about stud length and how thick they are.

[olyelr]

You can buy Centramatic balances that go between the hub and wheel. Basically lasts about forever for however many sets of tires you run and requires nothing to install. Won’t screw with TPMS sensors. Don’t know about stud length and how thick they are.

Interesting. I have never heard of such a contraption.

[DamageWagon]

http://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balanc ... er=300-318

The mounting portion between hub and wheel seems very thin which is nice. They also carry a 5 year unlimited mile warranty. I’ve never run them but I hear very good things about them and I’ll be getting them soon when I get new tires.

[Colibri]

I’ve never used the centramatics either, but heard nothing but good from those that have

[Easttnrhino]

I know those read good but the way I have understood balancing the further out front the center the better. The rings would be the closest to the center.

[OffroadTreks]

http://www.centramatic.com/wheel-balanc ... er=300-318

The mounting portion between hub and wheel seems very thin which is nice. They also carry a 5 year unlimited mile warranty. I’ve never run them but I hear very good things about them and I’ll be getting them soon when I get new tires.

You want to run the A plates on the Power Wagon, so make sure you get all A plates. FYI. Had a discussion with RoadTraveler about it. He is running them with Power Wagon wheels on his 2014.

I have them on the Airstream, probably going to buy them for the Power Wagon here shortly. The balance everything.

[Bill2014]

From an engineering perspective, the centramic balancer is only going to correct out of balance conditions in the rotational direction - much like the old time bubble balance machines. Although, it does have an advantage over the bubble balancers in that it can continue to adjust over time.

If your tire/wheel assembly have a condition where the top outside is heavy and the bottom inside is heavy (for example), then the only way to get a descent balance will be with wheel weights positioned correctly on both the inside and outside of the wheels.

[Chromolykid]

A lot of good advice above. I tried balance beads for a few rotations. They work okay, but just okay. Won’t ever use them again, though. These trucks are oddly sensitive to slight imbalances. Road force balancing has worked best so far.

[TommyG]

I got balance beads when I got my 37s last year. They were fine around town but miserable at highway speed. Vibration and thumping all the time.

[Easttnrhino]

Help me out what do mean by a A plate.

[bstefanic]

Buy non shitty tires and non shitty wheels and should be fine. If you already have them...it took me forever to get my SS M16's balanced correctly. Find a 4x4 shop that has road force balancing...they balance the tires with the weight of the vehicle on them...makes a huge difference

[OffroadTreks]

Help me out what do mean by a A plate.

The balances they sell come with A and B plates. I know from another person who ran our wheels that only the A plates will fit. So if you ordered Centramics you’d want to order all A plates.

[RustyPW]

You can buy Centramatic balances that go between the hub and wheel. Basically lasts about forever for however many sets of tires you run and requires nothing to install. Won’t screw with TPMS sensors. Don’t know about stud length and how thick they are.

They had these out years ago. In the old JC Whitley catalog.

[RustyPW]

From an engineering perspective, the centramic balancer is only going to correct out of balance conditions in the rotational direction - much like the old time bubble balance machines. Although, it does have an advantage over the bubble balancers in that it can continue to adjust over time.

If your tire/wheel assembly have a condition where the top outside is heavy and the bottom inside is heavy (for example), then the only way to get a descent balance will be with wheel weights positioned correctly on both the inside and outside of the wheels.

A bubble balancer balances in the static (single plane). A balance machine balances in the couple (2 or more planes, mostly 2).

I've heard both the good and the bad with the balance beads. Some swear by them, others swear at them. I've seen a picture where the beads have stuck to the tire inner liner. Like they melted into it. And seen a picture where the beads worn the center section of the liner off. Resulting in a tire that won't keep air. Think it about 50-50 on them.

[NickTF]

Buy non shitty tires and non shitty wheels and should be fine. If you already have them...it took me forever to get my SS M16's balanced correctly. Find a 4x4 shop that has road force balancing...they balance the tires with the weight of the vehicle on them...makes a huge difference

I had ss m16s on my prior 97 2500 and those tires were awful balance wise. They were 27-28oz off per side. Tried balance beads, ended up being a waste of time. These 37" toyo mt's would probably be fine with no balancing at all given how well balanced they were out of the box.

[Easttnrhino]

Thanks for the info tommyg experience sound like mine so far. I went ahead with 37 nitto ridge grapplers. Tire guy said he could balance, went to pick truck up and he said his balance machine would hold them but it confused the machine he said because tires are so big (obvious he never handled 42). He put in balance beads and except for interstate travel they are smooth. At the higher speeds seems to vibrate no super bad but definitely can feel it. Have been looking at the centrematic web site sounds good having trouble finding a plates or b plates or the difference.

[Easttnrhino]

A update, finally gave up on the beads my experience sounds like tommyg interstate speeds we're terrible. I thought below 50 was okay. I found a guy to balance them normal way and it feels like I have a new truck. Love the ride and now as smooth or smother than my 35 were.