Has anyone used these? i have a few friends who said these are the greatest things since sliced bread. How it works is that for passenger tires and light trucks, a 3oz bag of tiny beads is thrown into a unmounted tire. Once the tire is mounted and begains to spin on the car/truck, the bag bust open releasing the thousands of tiny beads. The beads find thier way to the low spots in the tire and balance the weight. This takes place totally of the wheel weights. The people i have talked to swear by them. Plus, they are VERY cheap. I build tires at a factory for a living and this is new to me.

 

I've been using Equal balancing powder for several years now with no complaints. My brother was a shop manager for a construction company and all they ran in their equipment was Equal.

Equal

 

Want the best balanced tires possible? Go to discount and have them put on a/the roadforce machine. Then break the bead just long enough to pour in the beads. Air it back up, and they'll be smooth as glass.

 

Go here for the best
http://www.innovativebalancing.com/
No need to dismount your tires.

 

I run the beads from innovative. They have extended the life of my tires a bunch and the truck rides a bunch better.

 

I have these but I would recommend putting them in before mounting them. If you were putting them in a small tire it would be ok but we have to put so many in our tires it takes to long.

 

I run BFG 35/12.5x17 and i have them in my tires and they sure seem to help. rotating them often still helps to.

 

I put them in my 39"x11" R16 mitchilin XL's. I had the "sandbags" what ever size they use for a dumptruck is what I bought. Even with very heavy chunking out of the lugs on the one tire its still remained balanced.

 

I used the 5oz. bags when I mounted my new tires back in November. They work great ! or the tires are perfectly balanced from the factory.

 

I went with the balancing disk , there are 2 companies , mine are Centermatics , very happy , they go on the hub under the wheel the easiest to use & reuse .
Might be longer lasting also , I read where some have had the beads congeal into a lump and cause issues .
I got them through Mr. Truck , I'll try to find the link.

http://207.234.241.125/

 

I have used Equal and the ceramic beads from Innovative! Both worked very well. I prefer the ceramic beads...less likely to clog valve stem when checking tire pressures!

I quit using both in favor of the Centramatic Disks, which work equally well... because the beads were getting expensive and the disks stay with the truck...not the tire! JMO

Might or might not have done so at full price, but the special a while back (mistake in the pricing) was hard to pass up!

RJ

 

These beads you speak of sound great. I'm getting new tires soon too. Can they be re-used when you change tires? How much should I add for stock tires?

 

I know I'm off topic a little but you might consider the Centramatics. I think they run just under $200 for a 2500, a little higher for a 3500 and are reusable. I got a set for my dually and truly love them. I wish I hadn't waited so long to buy mine!

 

Beads have worked great for me. I use the 5oz bag in my 3500 (235/85 R16) tires and 3oz in my 95 Impala SS (255/50 ZR17) tires.

 

You can if you change out your own tires. Time consuming and I think most tire shops will be put out to wait for you to retreive your beads! I tried it once and gave up...thus the Cenramatic disks!

Amount required are listed on their web pages...
http://www.innovativebalancing.com/BigTirechart.htm

RJ