Tire Balancing with Antifreeze?

Interesting thread, being a farmer I get a little amused at the misconceptions with what is put in tires-yes the saline solution we put in tires for ballast is largely water but you had best not take a drink of it-get some on your gloves and they do an OJ Simpson. Water's biggest problem is that it will freeze and that tends to ruin the tube or tire. Using the wrong terminology leads to miscommunication.

Saline solution can and is often used in tubeless tires, the trick is that the tire should be filled to the 90% full level so that the rim is covered with the solution, if the rim is allowed to let the surface dry, the rim will corrode. The 75% level is roughly what would be in a tire filled to valve level when the valve is in the top position of the rim.

Balancing with a metal (lead) weight sure works good enough IF CONDITIONS REMAIN THE SAME. Put some mud,dust or rocks on that rotating rim/tire combination and you will very likely be back out of balance.

The amount of anti-freeze(Ethylene glycol by the way, closely chemically related to glycerin) used is minimal 4 oz normally so it would be hard put to be in a physical position to damage pressure sensors. Also it has been selected for its lack of reactivity. The corrosion that occurs in an engine when it is contaminated by antifreeze in the oil is because an oil antifreeze mix also contains water-wash the oil off a bearing surface with antifreeze and the water is right there to corrode that surface, and no, that silicate within the antifreeze is not sand, it is more like that silicone lubricant that you use on the slide out seals to keep them from adhering to the metal/paint surface. Best use that antifreeze full strength to protect against freezing and it will retain more moisture-not get tied up by any dust in the tire.


And to the final question- when I was young and no one had enough money to replace a tire until it was REALLY wore out, there was an old farmer fix that consisted of well torn up newsprint mixed with enough antifreeze to make to the consistency of porridge. The pulp in the newsprint would get "blown" into any cracks or punctures in the tire to seal them and the antifreeze component would keep the "plug" moist and pliable-sort of like the soft rubber plugs that they used to plug tubeless tires with.

There is a commercial product made of various gooey products that is sold today for atvs and off road motorcycles-cactus can do a number on a tire but goop will seal it.

And there is a tire dealer in the southwest that sells used airplane tires for farm use on homemade rims, they may be 32 ply but they come with his proprietary mix of wood pulp-comes in 21/2 gallon buckets.

ps-let me tell you about tires with cracked sidewalls and retreads!

Why don't a couple of you guys try it out and report back to the rest of us nonbelivers.

John From Detroit said:

I had the same problem for years. but it turns out I was overlooking something.

To my way of thinking, and I'll bet yours, the heavy spot on the tire will tend to pull the tire out more and thus be the "low spot" for the powder, beads or liquid to flow to.. In fact, when the tire spins it does it's level best to spin around the center of gravity, thus the heavy spot will actually be closer to the axle. and the powder, fluid or beads will flow to the spot farthest from he axle, and thus balance the tire, since this is the low spot

It has to do with the angular moments and such.. I truly do have the training to figure this out.... but someone else had to explain it. 

Still sounds a bit too much like Magic to me, and as I said, I have the training in physics.

I"m still going to stick with the recommendation to use the traditional lead weight method. It has worked for many decades, and will for many more


But try this.. take a standard baton, A conductor's baton is much better for this since it's weighted on one end only, now find the balance point,  (On a conductor's baton it's near the "head") when you spin it, if it's to spin properly you need to spin it around the balance point (Center of gravity) putting the heavy end just an inch or two from your hand and the light end perhaps 10 inches or more out.  Same with tires  and the balance stuff goes to the light end that way

Click to expand...

i registered on the forum simply to say "thanks" for this bit of information. very well done.

UPDATE...

I posted I would let everyone know the name of a product used here in MI by farmers.  Maybe Redman would be interested.  I finally remembered and found it...

http://www.rimguard.biz/

Though the product is meant for farm use, maybe someone can come up with a formula to try out that would benefit us all.  Just a thought.  I would imagine it couldn't be used on rigs with tire pressure monitoring systems.  Just figuring that farm implements don't really need tire monitoring systems. 

If the link is fuel for thought and conversation, have fun with it.  If not, I tried.