Balance beads

thoughts? Anyone running them ?

 

They work but usually only used when other methods don't work.

 

I've used them on my motorcycles for many years, but a few years back, I swapped over to Slime. It needs more per tire, but I don't have to worry about making sure that the mold release is completely cleaned out of the carcass.

I was thinking about doing my own tires on the Taco when it comes time. I got a chance to ride with someone that uses airsoft pellets for balancing. The thing was smooth as glass at highway speeds.

Edit: It was said that Dynabeads are just 0.040in dia ceramic blasting media. If so, you can get 10lb of it for about what folks pay for 32oz of the brand name.

 

I'm not a 3rd gen, but I am running 8.3 oz of airsoft BB's in each of my 285/70/17's ride is smoooooooooth!


Never going back to wheel weights.

Running beads in my truck, motorcycle, and gas sipper.

 

Going to put them in the stt pros

 

The airsoft pellets don't breakdown after thousands of miles and revolutions?

 

Tried them on my STT Pros (285/70/17), and it was HORRIBLE. Broke them back down and went with stick weights. No issues since.

 

I haven't tried airsoft pellets yet, but as long as they still move around freely, it doesn't really matter. I've reused Dynabeads many times, maybe 30k or 40k on one set that was on my bike?

 

How did you come up with that number (8.3 oz)?

 

How many miles have you put on the airport pellets?

 

I've had them in there for... 6k miles at least I believe. In my truck at least probably a thousand in my bike and little car.

If you use the airsoft bead method vs the ceramic pellets make sure you use high quality competition grade non biodegradable seamless polished BBs. The cheap ones can and will split and fall apart or break down decreasing their effectiveness. I'd also recommend the heavier weight ones they use a more dense plastic and are stronger. I'm using .30gram ones. ThunderBBs from Amazon but brand doesn't really matter.

 

I looked up a couple of balance bead to airsoft pellet conversion charts and weight charts, they said something like 7.4-8.2 oz of dynamic weight for a 285/70/17 tire of my tires weight, then figured more is mo' betta and erred on the heavy side.

I then used a small drug scale (my buddy mixes his own vape juice and has to have exact nicotine measurements in case you were wondering...) weighed a solo cup, zeroed the scale and filled the cup with BB's till it was +/-. 05 from 8.3oz

Then poured the cups contents into a sandwich bag did the four times and took it to the tire shop and had them mount the tires with the beads inside and told them not to balance the tires.

It was an experiment and it worked out great.

Only other tid bit is I sprayed the inside of each tire with 303 aerospace protectorant fairly heavily just before they mounted them. This was to keep the inside of the tire and the beads from drying out or dryrotting.

Been doing just fine.

 

Check out my other posts in this thread for further explanation but essentially you just need to use the right pellets.

Anyone who has had problems with the pellets falling apart typically used biodegradable or cheap pellets with the seams that have air bubbles in them.

 

This forum has been more than helpful thanks guys. So far it looks like more positive than negative on the beads

 

The thing is, if they don't happen to work for you, you can just break one of the beads, suck them out with a shop vac and get them balanced.

I'm betting that you'll enjoy them.

 

I just got 285 Duratac's and running 8oz of Dynabeads in each wheel. Been @ 1.5K miles so far and I really like them.

 

This may be a stupid question, but would these be a problem for the TPMS sensors? Like, when you're coming to a stop, and BBs start falling on the TPMS sensors, is that going to damage them? Or am I misunderstanding how these work?

 

beads are ok for stuff up to 80mph or maybe less.. performance shit it is not ok for..

 

You are right. For track days and sports tires they are not good as they will embed in the hot carcass.

I did have mine bike up to 130 indicated with no problems. Just as smooth as 35 or 70.