Balance beads

[Redfisher1974]

Anyone running these in their ram?
Looking fir any reviews good or bad.
I like the concept.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Are you tires running out of balance or bouncing around? Or are you just asking because it's intriguing?

I haven't tried them.

 

[Jeepwalker]

For guys who's tires do need some balancing, a good process is to pay a few bucks more and have them balanced on a Hunter Road Force balancer when new, to eliminate all the problems that other balancers miss and tech normally short-cut over. And stand there and make SURE they are doing the right process. Things like out-of-roundness, damaged chord, manufacturing anomoly, bent wheel, etc. Our local GM dealer charges me $75 to R/F balance a set of tires (I bring to them in the back of my truck). Which is a good deal for a first-class balance job.


Once a tire has 'worn-in' to it's pattern, it's kind of set. Almost for life. And most tire techs are very crafty at skipping good balancing etiquitte. An out of balance or flawed tire that becomes out of round for example, you're not going to be able to correct it or substantially remove fine driveline vibration even with balancing. Unless it had just thrown a weight. And since a high percentage of expensive driveline problems are the result of tire vibration/bounce, it pays to have a first-class balance job performed when tires are new. IDK that I'd want to hinge my truck's driveline well-being on a plastic bag of beads.

Hopefully yours are running nice

 

[Redfisher1974]

Ah just bored and intrigued ha ha.
Fixed everything on truck so im just lookin. Lol

 

[Jeepwalker]

Ok. I've seen them too. They used to have 'rings' or discs that went on behind wheels too, remember those? When I was a lot younger I tried some 'miracle' products and later wondered what I was thinking .... . We all probably do at one point in time or another. Remember the 4-prong spark plugs that were supposed to change the world?

 

[Redfisher1974]

Ok. I've seen them too. They used to have 'rings' or discs that went on behind wheels too, remember those? When I was a lot younger I tried some 'miracle' products and later wondered what I was thinking .... . We all probably do at one point in time or another. Remember the 4-prong spark plugs that were supposed to change the world?

Sure do! Remember that tornado thingie that you put in TB?

 

[Jeepwalker]

Yep. In the late 70's there was water injection too..

 

[Jeepwalker]

Last time I was at Walmart they tried to balance my tires using about 3/4 cup of water in them...lol. What were they thinking cleaning the OWL's BEFORE installation?? That's why I say you just can't turn your back on a tire tech. Not even for a second.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Balance beads were a thing for motorcycle tires for a while. Tried them, they were OK but never required more than an ounce or so. For larger tires like car or truck or even tractor trailer, the amount required was upwards of 4 to 20 ounces. Made sense at an ounce, didn't make sense in larger weights.

They were a pain to clean up when you had to change out a tire. My experience

 

[GTyankee]

E3 spark plugs anyone ?
no one has them unless they believe the ads.

Where i buy my tires, the have the Hunter Road Force Balance machine.
When ever they balance the tires, they use that machine.
I bought my Michelins there & every 6,000 miles, they rotate & Balance for free .

 

[Redfisher1974]

My riding mower has a e3 plug in it for over 10 years! Still runs like new.

 

[LouM]

I guess that I am the only one around that has them. The last time I had tires mounted up the place didn't want to use a balancer on the 265/70R18's so they pushed the idea of the balance beads. So I went along with it. For the most part the beads seem to work, some days they seem to be off just a bit for a few (or once in a while several) miles then it does smooth out and ride good. At times I'll feel a small vibration in the truck the next day none.
It is nice not haveing balance weights glued on the rims.

 

[KKBB]

I guess that I am the only one around that has them. The last time I had tires mounted up the place didn't want to use a balancer on the 265/70R18's so they pushed the idea of the balance beads. So I went along with it. For the most part the beads seem to work, some days they seem to be off just a bit for a few (or once in a while several) miles then it does smooth out and ride good. At times I'll feel a small vibration in the truck the next day none.
It is nice not haveing balance weights glued on the rims.

I know custom offsets used to use the beads if you wanted them. I thought about it when I purchased my wheels and tires from them, but decided on regular balancing. I think they said at slow speeds the beads don't really work, only at faster speeds is where they work.

 

[John Jensen]

Ok. I've seen them too. They used to have 'rings' or discs that went on behind wheels too, remember those?

They still have them, Centramatics, On-Board Wheel Balancers, Balance Masters. I have used Centramatics for years on my 1-ton trucks. Currently have them on my 2020 Ram 3500 HO.

 

[rvance]

Yep. In the late 70's there was water injection too..

And it worked. It gave me 3 mpg more on my 68 Cutlass 350/Power glide

 

[Joseph Godvin]

I use them all the time, Motorcycle tires, trailer tires, truck tires, been using them for over 35 years.

 

[BlackGold6.4]

I use glass beads, but because I off-road. When coming off trails mud or snow it can be a real shake up trying to get up to highway speeds but the right amount of glass beads it's smooth. The bigger the lugs on your tires the more glass bead bags. I have two sets of tires with one set at 8 oz and the other at 12 oz.

 

[Fulltilt]

I use balance beads on my MH 245/70/19.5. I just purchased 6 new Michelins Agillis HD Z's. I was going to install the Centramatics at a cost of nearly $800.00 [shipping was $189.00]. The one's that were shipped were incorrect & wouldn't fit my wheels, so without choice the beads were put in...no problems though, tires/wheels run smooth. Somebody mentioned about the beads being in bags, the bags have to be opened & the beads installed loose, I had a vibration in the previous set & an unbroken bag was found in the tire.

 

[DReinke]

I've run balance beads for a few years and they work for my truck. I purchased a set of tires that the dealer had difficulty balancing. After multiple trips to the shop, I ordered the beads displayed in the picture. They solved the balance problem immediately. I have also used them on a set of classic wire wheels that were never able to be balanced using the normal machines. The balance beads work, in my opinion.

 

[kurek]

8 years, no problems apart from the occasional rude forum comment