tired of those oversize rubber donuts shaking loose all your interior trim pieces and the like?? Balancing 35/12.50's can be a challenge for any shop. They end up chasing weights around until they get them "as close as they can". Then you throw a few off and get to start all over again.

Not that any of this is new, but I tried an old trick from my OTR days with the big trucks. Pull all th weights off, air down the tires, pull the valve cores, and using a gear lube bottle with the coned cap, add a little 50/50 antifreeze mix via a 1/4 hose pushed over the valve stem. I added too much the first time and had to siphon some out, but settled on 10 fl oz. Everytime the tire rolls, the liquid finds the out of balance spot and collects there. Works like a charm, and it's a lot cheaper the "equal" or any of the other powdered types. The tires ar alot quicker to balance too. The 50/50 mix won't freeze unless it's REAL cold, then mix it colder.

FYI

Chris

 

Why dont you use straight anti freeze,is there any reason.Do your tires balance out as good or better than the wheel weights.Does the antifreeze corrode the wheel or do anything to the rubber.Did you ever check inside a tire that had the stuff in there a long time.Sounds Interesting.

 

Ever try RV antifreeze? No mixing.

 

I heard about this a while ago and thought that sounded pretty cool so when I was at the tire shop I asked, and man did I get a strange look. Thought I was talking spanish for a second, then he says why would you do that? Never heard of such a thing. So I dropped it and never mentioned it again. I also heard the reason your supposed to use antifreeze is because water escapes out the rubber but antifreeze doesnt. Thought about trying it but given the responce I got at the tire shop, I thought I might end up paying 30-40-50 buck to have the tires removed to get the antifreeze out if it didnt work. I hate tire weights. They scratch up the rims clear coat and leave dark marks. Also the tire guys love to miss and hit the rims while putting them on. Seems a shame to do that to something so nice.

 

Other options are balance beads or Centramatic Balancers.

I like the Centramatic, but they cost a pretty penny.

Infidel likes the balance beads, I think they are about a tenth the cost of the Centramatic.

 

The reason Centramatics or beads are preferable over antifreeze is they stay in place at lower speeds and even while stopped. Antifreeze depends on centrifugal force to do it's job.

I get my beads here http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html

 

I just have a set of 33"s on my baby, and she would shimmy all over the road at about 70mph. I thought something in my front end was broke and I was going to have to shell out big bucks.
Just to make sure I got some balancing beads. What a difference, the truck rides better at all speeds and have not had a wobble or shimmy since. I can't say enough about those things.

 

All we have here is the equal stuff, and popular opinion hasn't been all that great among trucking companies. They wanted $100 to do mine and I scoffed, but tried the glycol in its place. We used to do it all the time in my trucking days. As for eating rubber and the like, I can't think of why it would, though have no practical experience and/or knowledge. However, it doesn't do anything but protect the aluminum and rubber in our cooling systems, therefor can't think of a reason why it would hurt our aluminum or steel wheels/tires. Though I have never tried it, I believe it is popular belief that straight glycol will freeze, or at least slush?? This is why I mixed it.

The bead idea is something I will look into as well.

Chris

 

Pure ethylene glycol gets slushy about 0° and very thick by -20°
If you want to go waterless, propylene glycol is the choice.

JJW used counteract beads in Yokohama tires with great success. He tried the new ceramic beads in Toyo tires and ended up going back to lead.

I had my cheap Dayton tires balanced with road force and the biggest lead was 2 oz.

Silicate or borate/nitrate additives in anti-feeze/coolant are to protect from the water, not the glycol.

 

Hey Got Diesel,SO How does your truck drive with it in there,better than the lead weights on the wheel?How did you come up with the right amount to put in each tire?

 

yes the difference is night and day from lead. The most lead I had on any one tire was 9 oz. I started with way to much a-freeze to start with. I won't tell you how way too much it was......ummm 24 oz ...but let's just say the death wobble had nothin on this baby. Scared me to death cuz all 4 tires did it at once!! Anyway took all the back roads to the shop....under 45 was okay. Put her on the rack, aired down, cracked the beads and siphoned out all but 12 oz per tire. Drove like a dream after that.

The problem I had with lead is the 16.5's aluminums. These wheels typically have a hard time hanging on to weights. Additionally, hammering them on takes the clear off the wheels and causes corrosion quickly, and lead is unsightly on the outside. If you just static balance the inside instead of dynamically balancing inner AND outer, the results are less than adequate anyway. Every time I would balance them they would throw weights. With the mud and snow around here in the winter that also changed the balance constantly. The a-freeze constantly maintains a good balance regardless of variables, and constantly changes to compensate. I like it so far.

As to how much, look at what you have in lead now and add a few ounces to compensate for a spreading. If you get way too much you'll know it, but if you're off a few oz the a-freeze will spread okay and find it's happy place. Most of my shimmy came at 50+ mph, so low speed puddling isn't noticeable at all. I DO have radial off roads, and not quite as aggressive as say hawgs or buckshots, and the steel radials may act differently than bias plys, I don't know.

Chris

 

Ok,I am going to try it in my parts runner car,the big Kia.One last thing ,Are you measuring fluid oz,or weight oz. I have a small scales I can use.

 

fluid oz from the graduations on a gear lube bottle...about the kia, I would probably stick with lead on a small wheel that potentially only need 1/2 an oz or so of weight, not sure if the glycol would be of any benefit on something that small.

Chris

 

Well I will try it,I change my own tires with An old bead breaker and tire irons,so it wont cost me anything since the wheel hasnt been balanced yet.I will report back when I get it in there

 

After reading up in that site, am I right to understand that you are putting a bunch of little ***** in your tire? How could they possibly stay in place while stopped? Dont they make noise? What happens when you need to fix a flat or even have new tires put on? Sounds cool but I just dont see how it could work well. Plus I would think they would eventually bang them selves up and be no good.