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Thread: Tyre Balancing Beads?

  1. #1
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    Tyre Balancing Beads?

    I'm just looking for some general knowledge.
    We/I/the Roadhouse are going into tyre sales & fitting. I am about 3/4 of the way through this project.
    We have built the shed, the tyre fitting machine is here, the huge compressor is here & the tyre balancing machine is here.

    So, with the tyre balancing, we have the machine & will balance large tyres with this & weights.
    But I was wondering if for smaller or road type tyres those balancing bead things that go inside the tyre would work?
    I thought maybe if we could use them it may save us time, money & drama.

    I have done internet searches regarding these things & there would appear to be as many & varied opinions as there are people on the internet.

    I have some reservations in that they would not work until the wheel was rotating at some speed, how do they balance the wheel across the tread? And I don't see how they would not wear the inside of the tyre or rim.

    So, I'm looking at if anybody has any real world experience? Would you use them? Would they be, in the commercial sense, risky? Are my reservations above valid?

    Thanks in advance
    Jonesfam

  2. #2
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    I've wondered about this and read a lot about the beads on the US forums from people using big tyres where conventional balancing is difficult.

    To me it sounds like snake oil as I could never make the physics work in my head... but the people on the forums swear by it..

  3. #3
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    The F&P toploader washing machines I've gutted for the motors appear to be balanced with water in a compartment. There are no heavy concrete weights in these things.

    I've got a set of wheels off a 2 door I sold that are 15 x 8 rims with 35 x 12.5 Cooper STT's on.

    They drove fine with no balance weights, so I can only assume they have beads inside.

    DL

  4. #4
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    I have had tyre places try on a few occasions to use beads instead of weights and only twice did they succeed only for me to return on both those occasions with in a day or two for them to rebalance them with weights .
    The moral of the story is beads are for lazy tyre fitters

  5. #5
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    I got a new set of tyres for the van in Karratha and they put those beads in them.
    Its pretty had to tell if a caravan wheel is unbalanced But the tyres have now done about 10,000k's and all 4 tyres still look perfect.
    At least with the beads on the inside of the tyre there is NO chance of loosing a balancing weight on the rough stuff.
    You only get one shot at life, Aim well

    2004 D2 "S" V8 auto, with a few Mods gone
    2007 79 Series Landcruiser V8 Ute, With a few Mods.
    4.6m Quintrex boat
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  6. #6
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    From memory Goingbush has been using them for some time without issue.

  7. #7
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    I had to use them in the Defender with the Mach V rims I ran until I sold the car as you couldn't attach standard weights.
    We had to increase the dosage initially, then they seemed to work ok

  8. #8
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    Balancing beads

    Have run them in my 120 for over a year now with no complaints.
    Running 32 11.5 15 tyres. Sometimes if you hit a pot hole at 100 you get a slight vibration for a second until they sort themselves out but that's it.
    When rolling a tyre you can hear the beads inside but with a isuzu engine running you can't hear it pulling up to a stop. A quiter car I think you would.
    Seems to wear tyres well, not sure if that's to do wit it or not.
    Think I am running 160 grams in each tyre.
    I only gave them a go to try it out for myself and didn't want to play around with stick on weights on my alloy rims. (Found they come off if thick mud ect.)
    Matt

  9. #9
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    When I was working up north we used to put them in all tyres bar the drive tyres of trucks. Including the medium/light trucks and the farm utes.

    Initially they were trialled on the truck trailer tyres as during the hotter months you would not get more than a Katherine to Adelaide and return run out of them. After using the beads, tyres would easily push out to 80-100k on the black top.

    They are also reusable, which we would do for trailer tyres.

    I think the theory is that they will fill the low or off balance spots in the tyre when it is rotating at enough speed. What we did find though was with the vehicles that weren't always at a high speed, say the farm utes, where most of the tyre wear was caused by the conditions they were operating in, the inside of the tyre would show wear from the beads rolling around. I think the worst one was completely bold inside, ie; none of those ribs were visible.

    I believe they would be a good alternative to weight balancing, but I am also a bit afraid to try them on my own car. Maybe Il get the gumption to give it a go with the RRC ute..
    '15 Discovery 4 HSE- The family bus and the kids like it!
    '89 RRC- My favorite of the bunch!
    Ex '03 Commodore 'S' ute- 450hp of uncracked 5.7lt and 6 speed manual uteness - Still crying that its gone
    Ex '06 GLXR Triton- *Gone and forgotten*

  10. #10
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    I use airsoft pellets on my truck for the past fifteen years or so. It works okay. If there is a bad imbalance it won’t help but most times it is fine. I use it because the tires migrate on the rims off road and fixed balance weights don’t work because of it.

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