Balance Beads in Action

[Heli_av8tor]

I've had balance beads in the steer tires on my MH as long as I've owned it. And I've never felt any out of balance vibrations.

I found this video of what they look like in action interesting.

 

[Domo]

As I have read and OP confirmed in the opening few minutes while talking about "some of these pieces break off the tire", balance beads can mask tire deterioration. To me, that means I can have a failure waiting to happen and just won't know it.

Thanks for the video, I'm sticking with force balance for all my tires. I had my new tires balanced five years ago and still don't feel any issues. However, if I do, I'll know something is wrong and I can get it addressed rather than simply keep rolling along.

 

[Ray-IN]

ALL balance beads work the same way. Every time you stop they all settle to the bottom. Every time the tire begins turning they are out of balance until the beads redistribute again. If the special valve stems are not installed, beads can block open the valve core and cause air pressure loss. if any moisture enters the tire it can cause bead clumping.(think air compressor without moisture filter on output)
I do the same as Domo with all my tires.

 

[old_toys]

i used the dyna beads on two of our Harley's and on my buddies Road King. never experienced anything but success with those. never had any clumping and on my antique bike i drilled a 3/4in hole in the middle of the tread and dumped out the beads to use over again but accidentally stepped on the side of the container and dumped them all over the garage floor. those beads never left any wear marks on the inside of the tires, but then i don't get over 12k miles out of a rear tire and 20k on the front.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

When I first heard of this I wondered how the beads ended up in the right place. The key point to understand is that an imbalance will rotate around the center of mass, not the center of rotation and the beads will end up opposite the heavy side. Seems that with the repetitive tumbling the plastic ones would turn to dust after a while and indeed you need special valve stems so they don't clog up. Using metal beads would be the next logical choice but I'd be concerned about damaging the inside of the tire after prolonged use. Centramatics work the same way, just not inside the tire and guessing they use metal balls to make up for the reduced volume of their circular tube. The takeaway I got from the video is how the beads seemed to settle and remain static for the most part, and just how much a gopro camera can put up with.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's popular for the naysayers to worry about the beads clogging or getting damp or whatever, but it's one of those things that is more imagination than reality. A "could happen" that is a low low probability that's not worth worrying about. But that's OK - nobody is demanding that you use them. Well, more than a few tire shops no longer do external weight balancing anymore, so ask before getting new tires or a repair.

 

[Babe2201]

It was interesting to see that at speed the beads did stay in one spot. IMO that tire should not be driven on the road the way it is coming apart like that. What I thought was neat was to see just how much the tire was flexing going over the bumps.

We used to use powder a lot on Super Swampers back when they were popular in the area and it seemed that you needed a special valve core so it did not plug up making you unable to adjust air pressure. I also thought there was a yellow O-ring over the stem to let people know powder was in there.