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I've run balancing beads in a 35" tyre since 2013. Done about 70,000 hard kms on the KM2's. A few things of note:
1) if you are using them in a 4wd that airs up and down regular get the larger 4x4 specific beads. The fine beads get stuck in the valve and can (happened to me a few times) allow a valve to leak air;
2) the rotating mass of the larger tyre takes about 200m at each speed interval to find balance. if you sit on 80kph and speed up to 100 kph you will feel a typical wheel imbalance until they normalise;
3) err on the side of putting in a few more than the recommended bag size. ie buy 5 bags and share evenly among the 4 tyres or buy the bag for the tyre size up from what you run. i found mine were not finding balance with the recommended amount but that might be my set up.
I've never paid attention to the wear pattern but having read this post and with reflection, i have pretty even wear across the tyre. The front have about 20,000 more life in them but the rears are cut up and chipped to buggery (had a hard life both doing technical 4wding and lots of kms on outback dirt roads). I'm happy with 70,000 kms. I haven't inspected the inside of the tyre so can't contribute to that issue.
added bonus, kids get entertainment rolling a tyre around to hear the beads pinging around inside.
Would i go beads next time? If i could get a 35" tyre to balance with weights i'd lean that way. The normalisation period can get tiresome when doing big distances that involves variable speeds.
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Running 36 inch simex centipedes on my 101 Landy rover with normal weights at times and balance bags I found the balance bags work ,but it takes two bags per tyre.
The centipedes are a mostly off road tyre and tend to be hard to balance with normal weights.
The advantages are airing down and losing a balance weight on rock work is no longer a problem and no more stuffing around at the tyre shop getting the balance right.
Throw in the balance bags, assemble the tyre and your right to fit it to the vehicle.
I find on a cold morning the centipedes tend to flat spot if the Landy has been sitting for a while and the internal balance can take a few ks to sort its self out and the tyres to warm up.
If travelling on the highway at a steady 100 kph hour after hour the tyres balance is better than the old fashion lead weights ever were.
For my weekend away camping trips with big muddies on a stiffley sprung vehicle with out power steering etc they suit my needs.
If I was using the vehicle for short shopping trips and was running easy to balance road tyre it may be a different story.
I think balance bags are just another tool in the tyre fitters arsenal to be used to both the tyre fitters and vehicle owners satisfaction to suit different needs.
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they're pretty good.
not so good if they get wet... (well the older ones anyway)
you cant run them with tubes and if you dont clear them all out in a pinch the person fitting the tube will wind up with a hole.
theres a not so simple formula for working out how much you need to throw in based on tyre size, rim and tyre weight and they will play merry hell if you have a rim thats radially off center.
and tell the person if you fit them in some cases you'll wind up with a shake if you hold just the right slow speed, then go away after you speed up but wont come back untill youve stopped with the wheel in just the right spot.
great for solving road hammer issues too.
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Tried them but did not work in 37s ended up with kilos of lead on rims instead!
