Wheel Balancing Beads

[vette]

I've read many articles and post about the use of the small beads, put inside a tire, to balance the wheel. Most believe these beads do what they are intended to do but I am wandering about a downside. The only negative I have read is that it takes a little time for them to settle into their respective locations for them to achieve the desired balance. Which then must reoccur each time you stop. But is there any long term damage possible? Or any other negative results? Thanks.

 

[roscoe]

If I were an insurance actuary I'd always be asking questions about real data on things like this. The best on-line explanation of how these beads work I've seen is at https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/6015/how-do-tire-balancing-beads-work. Having said that, if these were all good and good for all, you'd think nobody would be buying balancing machines and they would be in everything. I think the belief that they may work well in certain applications, but not in all similar applications is probably true. I think the point made at the link about how they depend on the hub center of rotation being required to be movable, unlike a tire balancer, is well taken. I can imagine situations where the axle doesn't move in the vertical plane enough to allow redistribution of the beads and they take some time to be properly distributed (but that's just in my imagination). I looked into these a while back and decided that if they were so good for average driving that everyone would have them. I think there would be guys with mobile service filling up tires like the windshield folks do windshields while U wait. Forgive me if there are people doing that, I've never seen 'em. It seems like you can almost find an even split between folks who say yea and folks who say nay.

 

[vette]

Roscoe, I tend to feel the same way about them. After reading alot about them, I think there are specific applications where they work fine for a given purpose. Some of those applications are big rig trucks, buses, and Motor Homes which are on long distance trips most of their travels. In cars with alot of stop an go traveling and vareing speeds I don't think they are going to give you any smoother ride. Because of that I think car service and sales operations will stay away from them.

 

[tahoe healey]

You might try a bubble balancer. They are cheap at Harbor Freight especially with their 20% discount. They are easy to use. If that doesn't do it get your drums balanced by Hendrix wire wheel. It mad a fantastic difference.