Anyone use balance beads?

jmccracken1214

jmccracken1214

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Just had a new set of 285/75/16 bfg ko2 delivered and installed on new wheels. The tire place said 2 of them took a lot of weight to balance and I might have to take it somewhere else to have beads put in to balance better.

wondering if I should call discount tire and send the 2 back for replacement?

haven’t drove on them, waiting for a lift kit to come in before putting new wheels/tires on
 
AH64 said:
Just had a new set of 285/75/16 bfg ko2 delivered and installed on new wheels. The tire place said 2 of them took a lot of weight to balance and I might have to take it somewhere else to have beads put in to balance better.

wondering if I should call discount tire and send the 2 back for replacement?

haven’t drove on them, waiting for a lift kit to come in before putting new wheels/tires on
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Never heard of balance beads, but a lift kit for what?

Got me curious.
 
For radial tires like that, I don’t think you should have this issue. If they really are that out of balance, I would think the tires are defective.

for bias ply super swampers or something like that, I could see them being bad enough that they couldn’t be balanced well. But not a BFG radial
 
vp9c said:
I have used them in the past but it was typically in tires that are 37 inches or taller

to me it seems weird that you can’t balance what is essentially and 33 inch tire
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I agree
 
I use them in the last 3 vehicles I have had. Love them will not go back to wheel weights again. I use the stainless steel ones. 6 or a 9 Oz bag
 
I used them on a set of 35’s and didn’t have any luck, but I don’t think I put enough in. I met a guy that had 40’s on his rig that he drove almost daily and he said he used air soft bb’s. In my worthless opinion, 285’s should balance well enough without having to use beads.
 
I tried them in a motorcycle and they didn't work. Have them rotate the tires 180 degrees on the rim and balance it. I've also seen them balance the bare rim and then mount and balance the tire.
 
Firestone put them on but I got them from discount tire direct, which has the best customer service.
They told me to drive on them after the lift, if I’m not happy with them, they will get me in their shop, break the seal, rotate the tire around on the wheel, in case there’s a heavy spot, rebalance for free.
If that doesn’t fix it, they’ll replace the tires.
 
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They are normally for very large, heavy mud/off road tires, not 35 inch or smaller radials. I had some BFG Mud Terrains that took a lot of weights to balance, but they rode fine. If you feel a new vibration at certain speeds only, your tires are definitely out of balance.
 
AH64 said:
Just had a new set of 285/75/16 bfg ko2 delivered and installed on new wheels. The tire place said 2 of them took a lot of weight to balance and I might have to take it somewhere else to have beads put in to balance better.

wondering if I should call discount tire and send the 2 back for replacement?

haven’t drove on them, waiting for a lift kit to come in before putting new wheels/tires on
Click to expand...


So were they able to balance the tires or just get them close? If they were able to balance, what's the issue?

.
 
I got out of the automotive industry a couple of years ago and have since used balance beads to prevent having to get tires balanced at a shop. Used them in a set of 205s, a set of 265s and a set of 40s. I have had no issues and love them.
 
They work ok at high speeds and crappy at low speeds. I credit them with turning me into a tire snob. Toyo’s for anything 35” and bigger (with nitto’s begrudgingly being a second option in these recent shortages) I’ve got a new set of Toyo 35’s waiting to go on my most recent truck 2 of which didn’t require any weight and the other two have 1/4oz a piece. Had a good laugh with the tire shop when I saw those tiny weights on them.
 
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For the tire they should balance out fine....have them use the window hide....keeps weights out of view...did that with 35s on stock 17" wheels for my wife's Jeep....worked great....for motorcycle I'll never pay for weights again they look like shit and fall off!
 
AH64 said:
Firestone put them on but I got them from discount tire direct, which has the best customer service.
They told me to drive on them after the lift, if I’m not happy with them, they will get me in their shop, break the seal, rotate the tire around on the wheel, in case there’s a heavy spot, rebalance for free.
If that doesn’t fix it, they’ll replace the tires.
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This is what they've had to do to two of my tires at the shop I used one time. A new guy loaded it up with the stick ons and I saw it and asked WTH. They took it back in and brought me back to personally watch them rebalance and verify the two were good on the machine. They broke the bead spun it some and reset the tire. Both times it required very little on the 2nd try. I was impressed.

Now on my buddy's m998 hmmv 37" tires which are goodyear .gov tires that are notoriously out of balance most use either a pound or so of airsoft bbs or they buy "Centramatic wheel balancers" which are round plates with a tube welded around the circumference with loose weight inside. It installs on the studs between the hub and the tire sandwiches it on.
 
I ran BBs (real bbs) in a set of 35s and a set of 285s for a while, put almost 65k miles on the 285s. They worked pretty good, there were times when a road transition or railroad track would really throw them out of wack and it’d take a bit to settle back out. They also made an audible sound similar to a Rainstick. I’ve since gone back to traditional wheel weights. I think I used 1oz per 10lb of tire weight IIRC (it’s been years ago).

If I were to do it again on my 350, I’d go the route @Diablos linked.
 
I use them in the rear tires on my semi. Seem to work ok. The front tires have wheel weights.
 
tod0987 said:
They broke the bead spun it some and reset the tire. Both times it required very little on the 2nd try. I was impressed.
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That’s what I was guessing needed to be done here.

But I’ve also had a set of 36x13.50 Iroks (radials) balanced on some 15x8 steel wheels with rock rings welded on. I think I remember one having at least 17oz of stick-on weights. 😳
 
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