Balance beads

I have used dyna beads in my Harley tires for several years. I tried them initially because I hated sticking weights on my chrome wheels. They worked great for me and my Harley is much smoother (always going to have some engine vibration, of course).

The beads work better for narrow tires, however. If your have a lateral imbalance (need weights different on each side of wheel) the beads don't correct for that. So, I have my tires balanced the conventional way first and then add the beads while leaving the weights in place. This has worked well for me and provided a very nice balance in my opinion. I'm over 50k on my original KO2's and may get 60k from the look of the tire tread. Always rotated ever 5k.

All, don't forget to take off all of the old stick on weights from inside the rim, could be a "problem" said the Captain

They've been using beads on RV's and over the road trucks for years. They constantly balance and they adjust for tire wear and imperfections like mud stuck in a tire. The better product are Centramatics, a ring with, with beads in the outer edge. The beads and Centramatics balance not only the tires and wheels, they also balance the brake assembly and hubs as one assembly.

On large trucks and RV's, the tires should be spun balance and then add the beads. On a large tire that might take 6-7 ounces, you don't want the beads trying to correct all of that. They're there to compliment the balance and smooth out the last few ounces the spin balancing couldn't correct.

Oldfart said:

I tried these beads once when I was younger, but they didn't help my balance at all!

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You're not using them properly, you need to grasp the end and yank them out quickly. That will either 1) make you sound like a weedwacker starting up or b) make you spin around like a top.

;^)

Any good centramatic balancers for Ford Raptors?

nipplesNchowder said:

Any good centramatic balancers for Ford Raptors?

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I never saw them before. I just Googled them, they look like they would be heavy and add unsprung weight. They don't give any weight specs on their site.

After quite a few sets of bfg AT load range E’s on my diesel I’ve come to the the conclusion that about 75% of their tires are actually round.

Ran them once in a set of 35's......complete b.s. and beat me to death. Went back to stick on weight and inner wheel hammer on weight, running that now with the 37's