Dynabeads vs balancing on beadlocks

p38

p38

Caught the Bug
I am running 37" Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ tires on Allied Beadlocks. Day to day driving is frontage road to town, then city streets. If I decide to get on the freeway - East Bay or to San Francisco - I can cruise at hwy speeds - 65-75mph is not a problem. I venture off road - trails, logging roads, hillside vineyards, etc. occasionally; with serious air-down, rock crawling once or twice a year.

At present, nothing has been done to balance the tires. They were mounted to the wheels, put on the jeep, and off I went. There is no wobble, shake, shimmy - nothing to indicate a balance concern. I do understand the concept of "If it ain't broke - don't fix it", but how realistic is it for me to assume they will all stay in balance as they wear?

With regard to that question, what are the benefits/concerns of using either fixed weights or Dynabeads?

Does airing down inhibit or interfere with the Dynabeads? Is that a concern since my understanding of Dynabeads operation is they redistribute while driving? Is sidewall stiffness or lack thereof a concern?

I know I can get answers from Dynabead, but they are in the business of selling Dynabeads and I would like to hear from some of you with actual experience.

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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Personally, I think dynabeads are nothing more than snake oil. If you really feel your tires are in need of balancing, I personally would recommend you have them road force balanced and with tape on weights. Of course, that's just my opinion.
 
highoctane

highoctane

Caught the Bug
I tried them with no luck on a set of 37/12.50/17 Goodyear MTR Kevlars with no luck. Granted there really was no balancing such a horrible tire, so maybe not the best example. It worked great on my old Honda RC51 sport bike, but those are very small tires. On something like a car tire or bigger, it really doesn't work IMO.
 
J

Jeepnoub

New member
Road force balancing as suggested is going to be the best thing. The thing dyna beads can't account for are a off balance wheel. My experience with them has been mixed reviews.

If your not having any issues then why change anything. But if you want to spend money, go road force balance them.
 
mackey

mackey

Member
I had dyno beads on my previous jeep with Raceline beadlocks and BFG KM2s. You need to be driving about 25+ MPH to get them to work. Prior, your jeep may feel unbalanced at times, since they are not working. When stopping and starting, you may hear and feel them at times. At highway speed they work and you won't know they are there. You'll never have to worry about knocking off a weight when off-roading. Overall opinion, I'm glad I switched to my ATX beadlocks and Toyos which do not need balanced. I probably would not use them again. Hope this helps.
 
p38

p38

Caught the Bug
Thanks for the input. When the need arises I will go the road force balancing route. Now, what exactly is road force balancing?

Thanks
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
What highoctane said. Also, be sure to ask for tape weights. Not only will they your wheels a cleaner look, they won't get knocked off the way traditional edge mounted weights do.
 
Sudz

Sudz

New member
Early on I ran dynabeads with mixed results. I road forced my latest set of MTZs.

You won't be able to take full advantage of a road force balance machine with beadlocks unless you are prepared to do a lot of work.

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p38

p38

Caught the Bug
Can you elaborate on what you mean by a lot of work? Me, or the shop doing the balancing?

Thanks
 
NAUJK

NAUJK

New member
All I know is my Local Discounts (we have 2 in town) wont touch my beadlocks to balance them.... so instead of dyna beads I used airsoft BBs. It helped to a point, I can now hit 70 mph on the highway without issue but any faster than that and I get some shake. I may try and see if Big O will do it as the local Big O shops here dont give a crap about anything. But for the time being my setup works as it is. Would definitely prefer a balanced tire on the road force balancer
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
NAUJK said:
All I know is my Local Discounts (we have 2 in town) wont touch my beadlocks to balance them.... so instead of dyna beads I used airsoft BBs. It helped to a point, I can now hit 70 mph on the highway without issue but any faster than that and I get some shake. I may try and see if Big O will do it as the local Big O shops here dont give a crap about anything. But for the time being my setup works as it is. Would definitely prefer a balanced tire on the road force balancer
Click to expand...

Funny you would say as much. The America's Tire (what Discount Tire is in SoCal) I went to when I was living in SoCal would balance my 40" tires on bead locks. Now that I live in NV, my local Discount Tire won't touch them. I just go across the street to Les Schwab now.
 
Sudz

Sudz

New member
p38 said:
Can you elaborate on what you mean by a lot of work? Me, or the shop doing the balancing?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The proper technique to road force balance a tire is to match mount the tire to the rim. You take a road force reading on the tire and then unmount & remount the tire per the machine's recommendation.
That would be a lot of work with a beadlock mounted tire. This video explains what I'm talking about.

 
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