Dynamic wheel balancing, worthwhile or good marketing?

StuartSF2015

StuartSF2015

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Reposted from a thread by Voodoo in the USA.

This product is offered as a dynamic solution to wheel balancing that excludes stick on weights. Something I’d like to consider for my polished rims and there is a UK distributor, Checkpoint Safety.

Has anyone tried these out? Do they work? Would you recommend them?

 
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For RV and bigger tires, I think they work fine. I have them in my oversized truck tires. I will also say I've never seen any professional motorcycle/auto team use them. I'm sure some do but I have not seen it.

From a shop perspective, we don't use these at all. We have dismounted more tires with this crap in them and first off they make a huge mess when taking a tire off. More bad words in one sentence are said when they start rolling around everywhere. Second, they disintegrate and leave a fine powder in the tire. I don't know about you but it's not high on my list to breathe in glass or ceramic dust. Regarding disintegration, we have seen this happen after a few thousand miles.

The only thing worse than the beads is the tire slime.
 
I've never tried them, and plenty of people swear by them, but they don't make sense to me.
If a wheel is out of balance then the "heavy" section will want to deflect the system to run further from the neutral axle position, which then is where any beads would want to collect, which would only make things worse. Other opinions are available.
 
ntst8 said:
I've never tried them, and plenty of people swear by them, but they don't make sense to me.
If a wheel is out of balance then the "heavy" section will want to deflect the system to run further from the neutral axle position, which then is where any beads would want to collect, which would only make things worse. Other opinions are available.
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This is my thinking exactly. I know other people use them, and more power to ya, but I just don't see how they work. Not only that I have too much riding on my motorcycle tires to trust the balance to theory.
 
Big_Jim59 said:
This is my thinking exactly. I know other people use them, and more power to ya, but I just don't see how they work. Not only that I have too much riding on my motorcycle tires to trust the balance to theory.
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Again if they worked so well they would be prevalent in motorsports.
 
ntst8 said:
I've never tried them, and plenty of people swear by them, but they don't make sense to me.
If a wheel is out of balance then the "heavy" section will want to deflect the system to run further from the neutral axle position, which then is where any beads would want to collect, which would only make things worse. Other opinions are available.
Click to expand...
These are the same people who swear an $80.00 helmet is as good as the $800.00
 
I wouldnt call this dynamic balancing tbh....thats what Ive always known regular balancing as ie balanced across three axis, and not the commonly found on motorcycles "static balancing".
I'm also not a huge fan of these sort of mods....reminds me of things like fuel cats, and other placebo devices.
 
It’s impossible to keep any tire in balance for the life of the tire.
As soon as the tire in mounted to the wheel, balanced and then put into use, it’s balance will change as it is used and wears.

Even with the tires tread collecting stones will change its balance for each revolution. How many times have you picked stones or seen all the stones between your tires tread?

No tire can possibly keep its balance.

In the heavy duty vehicle industry, it is very common to use beads to balance tires. Those vehicles go tens of thousands of miles between tire changes. I realize we’re talking motorcycles here, but the concept is the same. It’s not snake oil.
 
Voodooo said:
It’s impossible to keep any tire in balance for the life of the tire.
As soon as the tire in mounted to the wheel, balanced and then put into use, it’s balance will change as it is used and wears.

Even with the tires tread collecting stones will change its balance for each revolution. How many times have you picked stones or seen all the stones between your tires tread?

No tire can possibly keep its balance.

In the heavy duty vehicle industry, it is very common to use beads to balance tires. Those vehicles go tens of thousands of miles between tire changes. I realize we’re talking motorcycles here, but the concept is the same. It’s not snake oil.
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Totally agree that on large truck tires this is the best option. It works really well on my oversized truck tires and I know a trucking company owner that used this all the time until he switched to Centramatic. Which is basically the same thing just hub mount weights in a fluid.

Funny thing most big truck tires are hardly balanced and it's recommended they be rebalanced every 20k.
 
Stu Bodycote said:
I wouldnt call this dynamic balancing tbh....thats what Ive always known regular balancing as ie balanced across three axis, and not the commonly found on motorcycles "static balancing".
I'm also not a huge fan of these sort of mods....reminds me of things like fuel cats, and other placebo devices.
Click to expand...

Yeah, fuel cats don't work. Build my HHO system because it really does. $200 in small bills for the instructions.
 
I've run counteract bead balanced setups in both my bikes ('74 Commando and 2013 Bonneville) and been very happy with them. I use their pre-filled inner tubes in these tubed tire bikes. Done over 20k KM's on the set on the Bonneville and 9k miles on the commando.
These likely do not make much advantage on race bikes b/c tires get changed quite frequently I imagine.
 
City Garage said:
Totally agree that on large truck tires this is the best option. It works really well on my oversized truck tires and I know a trucking company owner that used this all the time until he switched to Centramatic. Which is basically the same thing just hub mount weights in a fluid.

Funny thing most big truck tires are hardly balanced and it's recommended they be rebalanced every 20k.
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I agree 100%
 
Big_Jim59 said:
This is my thinking exactly. I know other people use them, and more power to ya, but I just don't see how they work. Not only that I have too much riding on my motorcycle tires to trust the balance to theory.
Click to expand...
I don't understand how my cell phone works but somehow it still works and I still trust it.
 
Regarding these beads not being used on race bikes, I suspect that the beads weigh more than the balance weights that would otherwise be used (consider that race wheels and tyres will be much better balanced to begin with than road tyres so will use less weights). So the idea of adding beads, which adds weight to the outer circumference of the wheel, will be something racers would be very keen indeed to avoid.

I also wonder if the beads can react fast enough in a race environment in order to ensure things are in balance all of the time. Violent braking and accelerating may mean that the beads spend a large amount of time getting into balance, which could potentially lead to the bike giving a different feel at different times, which for a high level racer, would be undesirable.

But none of these potential negatives are relevant for road use.
 
Voodooo said:
Never heard of a fuel cat. Is that like a cougar? Lol
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It might be one that hangs around gas stations in hopes of spotting a young motorcycle owner. Or the "fuel catalyst" which are often with canisters like small fuel filters. Inside is a secret blend of catalyst metal chunks that are supposed to chemically separate oxygen from the fuel or some other cockamamie story like that.
Useless, pure voodoo. Only good for separating a mark from his money.
 
Stu: We need a 120mph + racer to do a product evaluation! I have run these in my touring bike seem to work but can be a pain to get in tubeless tire valve stems!
 
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