Off Roading Balancing big tires- Road Force vs. Balance Beads

[GaryCarter]

Well, the title pretty much says it all. Just got Cooper 35-12. 50/17's installed. Just a conventional dynamic balance done. I watched the tech and there was no significant run out and he balanced them all to 0.

BUT- I do have an anoying hop in the front at 50-60 mph. Not present at lower or higher speeds.



I'm debating between going back for the Hunter Road Force machine or doing the beads. I would like to hear comments from people who've tried one and/or the other. Results good or bad.



Thanks,

Gary



PS- truck has 30,000 on it, stock wheels, and zero vibe prior, so I'm pretty sure it's just the tire.

 

[GaryCarter]

It gets better-



Jacked the truck up and found the front tires do have about 1/8" runout. Probably not bad for this size tire.

Also found out they hit my front steering stabilizer with the lift. Partially crushed the outer tube. $159 sez the local dodge dealer; not in stock.



Grrrrrr...



The tire dealer is a good shop & I'm sure they'll make it right. It's just the aggravation.

 

[rluft]

I am using balance beads in my 265/75 16 Bridgestone Revo's. They were balanced at the tire dealer and I added the beads later. The tires run smooth despite the tread picking up and holding all sizes of rocks. I am always picking out stones.

 

[LOtero]

I work with the hunter tire machine your talking about, that thing is awesome

for balancing tires, It seems your problem is a tire hop issue. two things of the top of my head, road force, and rim to axle mismatch. In my opinion I'd get the tires to the shop and check the road force. that size and a big truck around 30lbs starts raising some concern. Ask to get them as low as possible It can be done and the machine tells exactly how to do it so its not that hard. Its just time consuming having to break the tire down and turn on the rim and balance again. I did my 315's on the hunter. balanced them and road forced, damn nice ride, except for one tire that has a flat spot, It has I think around 40lbs and Its a noticable hop at 70 to 80mph Oo.

 

[Mactruck]

I have used counteract Balancing beads for the last 26k miles. I have the 315/75r17's BFG a/t's. I have had no problems. I never even get a shimmy from the wheel at any speed. The trick with larger tires is to use a little more bead. I put in 6 oz. per tire and it's been fine.

 

[MartyK]

I have the Innovative Balancing Beads in my 35" Toyo M/T's and I like them. I think I have 10oz. in each.

 

[GaryCarter]

Well, I went back to the shop where I got the tires; turns out they have the Hunter Roadforce but hadn't offered to use it. Most people don't want to spend the money, apparently.

It cured my problem. Smooth as silk now all the way to 100.



I will insist on this machine for every balance job on my truck in the future.



Gary

 

[BillGotthelf]

Well I assume that they didn't give you a "lifetime" balance with those 35's. I have been using Counteracts balancing beads in my trucks for the past couple of years. I tried the discs but they did not seem to make the ride any better. It is very difficult to keep large tires balanced and the balancing beads work great. I am getting great mileage (as in long lasting) out of the BFG 315 70R17's I am running. My trucks never got more than 35,000 out of a set of anybodies tires until now. 35,000 miles on the BFG's with beads and I still have 1/2 the tread left.

 

[AMink]

I've had to Road Force my last set of 255/75-16's. They were a bear! Took 9 tires (I think) to get 4 good ones. The shop was great, but I hope they look into why these tires are so hopelessly out of balance. They told me the Road Force works really well for less aggressive treads, but when you get the big mudders on it, it doesn't work as well. Tires are my albatross!

 

[NVR FNSH]

My America's Tire Pathfinder ATR 315s were done on a road force machine AND I run Centramatic balance rings - very smooth



Brian

 

[TRCM]

I've been going an even cheaper route, and it works great.



I have bb's in my tires. TSL 39x16, and once yer at speed, they are as smooth as a big mud tire can be.



Next time new tires are going on, the bb's are going in. period.

 

[Regcabguy]

The balancing beads seem to work well for you guys but what happens in the event of a flat or other failure. Does the installer have to "capture" the beads for future use? Discount Tires fixes flats by removing the tire and booting the puncture area. Seems like the beads create a mess. Any experiences? Thanks.

 

[pwknapp]

I need to try something else on these 305/85/16 Buckshots on the old dually. The Innovative beads with 8oz. in each tire didn't smooth it out a bit. Front end was just gone through and aligned, added a Skyjacker dual stabilizer and a DSS steering stabilizer this weekend. I realize the lug tires will vibrate some but something should be able to smooth it out more.

 

[BillGotthelf]

pwknapp-maybe you need more than 8 oz. Did you get the tires balanced and then deflated to add the beads? As for a flat if you demount the tire they just dump the beads, patch it, rebalance it and add a new bag of beads.

 

[HeloMech74]

When I had my old toyota tacoma I would take them to a shop here locally that trues tires. The basically use a machine that removes the high spots on the tires. I had a set of 33's that we could not get to balance not matter what, road force didn't work, nothing. This place I found charged 10 bucks per tire and the end result was a perfectly balanced set of wheels and tires. They actually ran true with very minimal use of weights. When ever I would start to get uneven wear for whatever reason, I would get an alignment and get the tires trued again, and they would be like new. I actually wound up getting more miles out of them by doing this. This is the only way I will balance a set of big tires now. Basically balance and true them at the same time.

 

[troll3193]

I tried ceramic beads from Innovative in my stock BFG Radial Long Trails. Wanted to smooth out the ride and also be able to remove the traditional weights to prevent the rims from corroding. Ended up having to remove the beads to get them traditionally balanced again. $200 lesson learned...



I am temped to try Centramatics, but haven't gone there yet.



Bryan

 

[MickeyMiller]

I am running 8 oz. of Counteract beads in each of my 315/70 X 17 BFG ATs mounted on H2 rims... ended up with 6 new wheels and tires! Tore the bags open and dumped the beads in, didn't want the bag floating around in there. Only 7K miles so far but the beads seem to be working... BTW, my tire guy was more than a little skeptical, he said they wouldn't work. So far... so good!