well, over the weekend, i got up the nerve to try something i've been meaning to try for some time. i had a tire on my minivan that had been going bad, so i swapped on a new set. when it came to balancing them, i tried something new. i dumped 3 oz. of "airsoft" bb's inside each tire[205-70x14]. it rides smooth as glass at 80mph. the theory is that it is continuiously "spin ballancing" as you go down the road. i can't say how long this will last, but so far, so good ! anyone else ever try this ? my info says to use 3-3 1/2 oz. of airsoft bb's for the "average" tire. i wonder what size that would be ? i mite experiment with this method further. the hardest part was measuring out the bb's on my postal scale. i put 'em in a sandwich bag, then carefully dumped 'em in the tire after the bottom bead was installed, then carefully mounting the top bead & airing them up.

did you have to put on external weights, or was this a substitue?

robert, i've beem mounting my own tires for years and using a bubble balancer. i bet the "tire guy" woulda shown me the road if i asked him to dump those inside the tires ! mike, the only thing i use on the beads is a small application of cream hand cleaner as lubricant. my air supply is pretty dry also, and i had thought about a clumping effect happening. i have heard about dynabeads, but at approximately $15 per tire, i thought i would try my alternate method. they are not available locally anyway. what are the dynabeads made from ? do they appriciably deteriorate ?

I'm going to have to try it, with and without/back to back. Dayclona where do you get dynabeads?

My daily driver is a diesel powered 2500 Dodge Ram pickup.
I run 315/70-17(35x12.50) H2 Hummer tires and rims.

In the past I've had difficulty balancing these tires on the rims, lots of weights, moving the tire around the rim etc.
My brother in law, who owns a auto repair and tire shop suggested a similar "in tire" dynamic type balancing media.
I removed all weights, broke down the bead and dropped a bag of the media inside each tire, the bag breaks open when the tire first rotates and releases the media.
This type of internal balancing media has been used on big rig truck for many years.

Well 2 years and about 25k miles later and my truck still drives perfect and is smooth and vibration free at 85 plus mph.
I actually have 2 complete sets of wheels and tires for the truck, one for summer driving and one for winter, both sets have the internal balancing media and work flawlessly.

I'm getting ready to add Dyna Beads to my new motorcycle tires.

I'm sold on the technology.

killerbee, any idea what the "media" is made from and how many oz.'s the bag contains ?

From what I've read, the amount of media used is determined by the size of the tire, etc and can be added directly through the valve stem of a pre-mounted tire (after tempoarily deflating the tire and removing the valve of course)

Dynabeads are made from a very hard ceramic, and are fired to basically crucible hardness, they are designed not to clump/deteriorate or fracture,...Robert I have a local source here in Mass,...but you can order then direct from www.innovativebalancing.com



I'm using the larger offroad beads in a set of Super Swampers that are heavy ply, and impossible to balance using conventional methods,....I'm pretty much sold on them,....goodbye wheels weights


2 type are avaliable, the larger beads that are drop in before inflation, and the smaller beads that can be filled thru the valve stem,.....you order based on tire size, avg car tires are 4-6 oz per tyre,...about $10-$15 per tire,......the concept behind Dynabeads is that they are constantly balancing the tire thru centrifical force of the beads,......a static balance (weights) can't change as the tire wears and the carcass weight alters,......I going to try some dynabeads on my repro Goodyear polyglass vintage tyres, as they really blow to balance by wheel weights


Mike

The stuff I used 2 years ago in my truck was more of a powder than beads...it was called equal. This was the bag of material that I just dropped inside my truck's tires....bag and all.
http://imiproducts.com/equal.html?gclid=CMvQ96_Hy6gCFUXe4AodcWaLoQThe
The amount/weight used depends on the tire size.

Here is another brand that looks good.
http://www.tirebalancingbeads.com/

NONE of these items will cure a bent or damaged wheel or tire.

The Airsoft BB's should work, but I don't know how they would react to moisture inside the tire, the Dyna Beads are ceramic, perfectly smooth and are impervious to moisture.
The Airsoft BB's might also damage the inside of the tire if they have a rough surface.

It does work well, we used airsoft BBs on a friends jeep after he peeled all of his drivers side wheel wieghts off on some rocks. We found a calculator somewhere that came out to 1000 airsoft pellets per tire(33x12.50). So we bought a large jug of pellets and a small jug of 1000 for measurement purposes. Worked great. I did this to my spare tire on my jeep as well.

When I got new tires I had to tell the guys to be careful because there was 1000 airsoft pellets in the one tire. They gave me a wierd look lol.

one of the things i was concerned about was the bb's effect inside the tire, possibly causing damage. the airsoft bb's seem to be very smooth, so i really can't see them tearing up the inside of the tire. a ceramic, on the other hand, tends to be a hard compound[we use ceramics for machining steels including hard stainless]. i would think this would have more an effect on "wearing" the inside of the tire. but as they are a polished item, this should not even be a concern. i guess time will tell if those airsoft bb's will cause problems. it will be sorta fun to get 'em out when the time comes ! bad340fish, you don't still have the calculator you used do you ?