Bead balancing

[minicorolla]

Anyone try the ceramic bead vs. the lead weights?
Sometimes mine work then sometimes they don't.
Anyone else running them?

[Shroomster]

???

[minicorolla]

ceramic beads put into the tire to balance it.

[Shroomster]

ok just googled it up a little bit and it seems like a complete waste.....no different than having water in your tire...the physics aspect just doesn't add up... a tire is not completely smooth on the inside (certain makes are but most are not) and most have a diagonalized pattern of ribs on the inside some are cross-hatched and some are just lined.... the ceramic balls are going to move into places and inertia will take over but I can't see the balls lining up in a single row...it's just me...

[firebob]

Yes it can work if done right. It’s used in all most every semi tire. It’s being used in motor cycles tube and tubeless. I know some that run them in farm trucks.

The way I under stand it is there is just the right amount for every size tire.

[WolfWings]

Yeah, the beads are generally too large to really get 'caught' in most tires inside surfaces. My TripleTreds are fairly smooth on the inside, for example. The real complexity is having to buy custom valves that have vents the beads can't clog up.

It can definately work though, and the physics are the same as why a washing machine loaded with socks will basically never go out of whack and start trying to dance across the room, but a washing machine full of the same weight in towels will start dancing quite easilly. The socks? They shift and roll across each other to keep re-balancing.

[minicorolla]

I'm about to have mine removed. One day they work well, then the next it'll shake. Never really rides smooth.
Thanks for the replies.

[WolfWings]

Under hard acceleration, bead balancing won't work. But crawl up to speed like a big-rig truck? The ride can't compare. It's also impossible to really 'fuck up' bead balancing once you have it installed, as there's no weights to have knocked loose.

It's meant for vehicles that haul loads at a mostly fixed speed for hours on end, or go off-road a lot. Purely highway driving and/or racing? Lead weights, end of discussion.

[cali yaris]

Are they really still using lead?

[kngrsll]

Are they really still using lead?

they sure look like and feel like lead.

[kngrsll]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/apr/15/senate-oks-ban-on-lead-tire-weights/

[cali yaris]

Thanks that is a really interesting read.

The state Department of Ecology estimates that 5 percent of wheel weights come loose. That would mean that vehicle wheels are dropping 20 tons of lead on roadways and parking lots each year.

Worsening matters, Campbell says, the weights can be pulverized by passing cars, making it even easier for the soft metal to leach into rain runoff and soil.


And here is the OMG moment:


“This bill seems to be a solution in search of a problem,” said Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside. “If you stop and look and think, where does lead come from? It comes from the soil. So it gets ground up, it goes back in the soil. I see no problem here.”

[Kongo-Otto]

Lead weights are banned in Germany since summer 2003. We use cooper or zinc.

[severous01]

i'll stick with the stickies....

if you have chrome wheels you can cover the weights with speed tape and hide them. or, if you go to a firestone with updated equipment you can hide weights behind the tangs of the wheel face...behind what goes from the hub to the lip of the rim...

[minicorolla]

"Under hard acceleration, bead balancing won't work. But crawl up to speed like a big-rig truck? The ride can't compare. It's also impossible to really 'fuck up' bead balancing once you have it installed, as there's no weights to have knocked loose."
I've even exited the freeway to a stop then got back on with the vibration still with me. Slow start, fast start sometimes it half ass works, sometimes it sucks
Never really smooth.

[minicorolla]

Wolf, I'll probably get the lead back.

[firebob]

It all comes down to the amount of surface you have inside the tire to the amount of beads you add in the tire.

Do you know how many oz they added to your tires?
There is a chart that has some info but I don’t think it will cover the tires on a Yaris but I didn’t read it all.

[minicorolla]

I talked to a friend that drives a semi today.. He had some interesting answers for me.
Small tire diameter means faster rotation. I tried starting out really slow today, but not slow enough. Have to get the beads distributed in the tire at slow rotation. Must be below fifteen MPH. I'll let you know. Kinda hard with all the people on my bumper cause they forgot to get up in time to go to work.