beadlock balancing beads

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has tried using beads to balance their tires with beadlocks. Does it work of should i just stick with lead weights?

I was just wondering the same thing. I have heard of other using 10 ounce bags of shot to balance their none bead locking wheels but never had anyone state how well it works.

Snake oil - road force balancing with tape weights are the way to go.

Are you sure you will really need the weights? So far I've got 4000 miles on mine with zero balancing.

wayoflife said:

Snake oil - road force balancing with tape weights are the way to go.

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Yep. I have tried the beads before, not with beadlocks but with 35's. I could never get it right, despite trying, and having a friend use them also. Ended up balancing his rims with lead weights, and there still there now. I would save your money.

Ddays said:

Are you sure you will really need the weights? So far I've got 4000 miles on mine with zero balancing.

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Man, it seems like you just got those things. You are a road warrior.

swampdog said:

Man, it seems like you just got those things. You are a road warrior.

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Yeah, all because of trip out to Salt Lake City with an intended side trip to Moab that got derailed by a Spring blizzard in Co/Wy.
Got stranded in Cheyenne cause they closed I-80. Drove all that way for nothing...

I just got Dyna beads and will be giving them a try. I have 17" method beadlocks with 37" nitto TG's. So we will see soon how they work.

I tried it on 17" Raceline beadlocks with 37" MT/R Kevlars, and it did absolutely nothing. Like Eddie said, road force balancing with stick on weights is the way to go, and ultimately what got the MT/R Kevlars to be somewhat smooth. I haven't had to balance my current setup, runs at 85mph on the highway with no vibrations, shakes, or shimmies at all.

I run Dyna Beads (can't remember the oz amount) on my Superduty with 46" Claws on 20x12 BMF wheels (non-Beadlock) on both the Sterling and 60 axles and now custom Ouverson 2.5 ton rocks and 54's with no issues at highway speeds.

Both my younger boys have XJ's running 35" MTZ's, one with Beadlocks the other without both with Dyna beads (8.5oz) again no issues.

I currently run both 37" MTZ's and 37" Claws, both sets on 17x9 Beadlocks and running Dyna beads as well (10oz in all 10 tires) and no issues at all. I have had no issues with Dyna beads with either Beadlock or non Beadlock wheels, I don't feel it's "snake water" they do what their supposed to do, they seem to be a glass type bead, but I think you need to start out with good tires and wheels first.

I tried the beads with my 35 Nitto Trail Graps with steal wheels as a recommendation from a friend. I ended up having them taken out and balanced with with stick weights. Beads did not help at all when on the highway. You can try it, but I would stick with the weights.

Let's try to analyze this a bit here. I am no expert, nor do I sell tires or beads. If you have a tire that is off balance it could mean that one section of that tire is a little bit heavier than the rest of it. So centrifugal force would dictate that the heavier section of the tire is going to bulge out slightly more than the rest of the tire, pulling it off balance. Where do the beads go? Centrifugal force is going to bring them to a spot in the tire that is furthest from the center, right in the same place that is making the tire slightly bulge due to that area being heavier than the rest of the tire. I realize that this "bulge" is minuscule, maybe not even visually detectable, but it is just slightly further away from center than the rest of tire is when it is spinning at speed. So, do the beads defy the laws of centrifugal force and go to the lighter side of the tire that is closer to center?

Another argument might be that the beads spread out evenly inside the tire. If the tire has a heavy spot, that pesky centrifugal force is gonna pull that heavy spot out of line with the rest of the spinning tire allowing the beads to "pool up" in that area of the tire.

One last thing to think about: Contact patch. The contact patch is a flat spot on the tire that is moving along with the ground right? So as the beads are flying along stuck to the inside of the tread due to centrifugal force, they are bounced and shuffled around every time the flat spot on the tire comes around.

This is my understanding of how these beads behave inside of a tire. I would love to put a high-speed camera inside a tire with beads in it just to see exactly what is going on inside it. I bet it's just a chaotic mess with beads going everywhere. Let me know what you guys think about the theory of these beads. If you believe that these beads actually work to balance an out-of-balance tire, please, explain your theory. If you have these beads in your tires and you have "no problem at all up to 80mph", did you run the tires at this speed before the beads were installed? Maybe the tires were pretty close to balanced and didn't need any help to begin with. I don't want this to be an argument with anyone, just want to hear another theory on these beads.

I'm gonna try to explain the theory behind the beads, I know it seems logical that with a high spot in the tread area that the beads would all congregate in and around that spot but it's just the opposite. When a heavy spot in the tire rotates up as the tire spins on a vertical axis , the tire bounces and the balancing media goes down. As this happens with a few revolutions, the media collects on the side of the tire opposite the heavy spot and counters the weight as the tire turns. The bead amount that it takes to counter the vibration will stay in that area due to centrifugal force and the other beads will distribute throu out the tire.

Here is a great video of how the beads react to an vertical imbalance, (these are used on big rigs but the theory is the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ull...q-lmiKJBnIUaEL2LGnDejuxwPS7P9BRchdN1zPu3poC8w

Now the beads will not work if your tire has a
dynamic imbalance (left or right imbalance of the tire). The beads only compensate for a Static (up and down) imbalance of a tire.

The different manufactures also claim that you will get better milage out of your tires using these beads, I have no idea if this is true and I'm sure there's fine print in there as far as tire care.

Diablo said:

I'm gonna try to explain the theory behind the beads, I know it seems logical that with a high spot in the tread area that the beads would all congregate in and around that spot but it's just the opposite. When a heavy spot in the tire rotates up as the tire spins on a vertical axis , the tire bounces and the balancing media goes down. As this happens with a few revolutions, the media collects on the side of the tire opposite the heavy spot and counters the weight as the tire turns. The bead amount that it takes to counter the vibration will stay in that area due to centrifugal force and the other beads will distribute throu out the tire.

Here is a great video of how the beads react to an vertical imbalance, (these are used on big rigs but the theory is the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ull...q-lmiKJBnIUaEL2LGnDejuxwPS7P9BRchdN1zPu3poC8w

Now the beads will not work if your tire has a
dynamic imbalance (left or right imbalance of the tire). The beads only compensate for a Static (up and down) imbalance of a tire.

The different manufactures also claim that you will get better milage out of your tires using these beads, I have no idea if this is true and I'm sure there's fine print in there as far as tire care.

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That is a really cool video. I now understand the theory of how the balance balls move away from the motion of the tire as it is being pulled off of its center of axis. That totally makes sense to me. However, there is still a problem, I believe, with loose balance beads inside of a tire that is on the ground. That problem is the flat spot (from the road surface) that is rotating around the tire. Wouldn't the beads which are stuck to the inside of the tire be bounced and shifted around as the flat spot comes around?