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Balance bead question [message #346620]

Mon, 19 August 2019 14:13

Matt Colie

Messages: 8547
Registered: March 2007
Location: S.E. Michigan

Karma: 7

Senior Member

I have to buy two new tires real soon... (With the hope of needing six all at once.)
I have never used balance beads of any kind.

Is it advised to get the tire mounted and balanced and then put in beads?
Or can one forego the entire balance part of the plan?

Matt - coming up for air again soon

Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346621 is a reply to message #346620]

Mon, 19 August 2019 14:44

Ken Burton

Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana

Karma: 10

Senior Member

You can go either way. Most new tire places mount and balance them for one price. Also during balancing a severely out of balance or out of round condition can be spotted. I usually have them balance them and then hand them a 4oz baggie of beads and ask them to break only one side and pour them in.

Matt, Please PM me your phone number. I have a couple of questions.

Ken B.

Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana

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Re: [GMCnet] Balance bead question [message #346625 is a reply to message #346620]

Mon, 19 August 2019 15:10

Ken Henderson

Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA

Karma: 9

Senior Member

Matt,

I use ONLY the beads -- remove any pre-existing weights. And if 4 oz of
beads happened not to balance a tire, I'd probably return it for
replacement.

Ken H.

On Mon, Aug 19, 2019 at 3:14 PM Matt Colie via Gmclist <
gmclist@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:

> I have to buy two new tires real soon... (With the hope of needing six
> all at once.)
> I have never used balance beads of any kind.
>
> Is it advised to get the tire mounted and balanced and then put in beads?
> Or can one forego the entire balance part of the plan?
>
> Matt - coming up for air again soon
>
> --
> Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
> Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan
> OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
> SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346626 is a reply to message #346620]

Mon, 19 August 2019 15:37

JohnL455

Messages: 4447
Registered: October 2006
Location: Woodstock, IL

Karma: 12

Senior Member

Farm and Fleet has buy 3 get one free through 8/24. Or they just give you 25% off on 6. Big Cooper seller.

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346635 is a reply to message #346620]

Tue, 20 August 2019 08:50

lqqkatjon

Messages: 2324
Registered: October 2010
Location: St. Cloud, MN

Karma: 5

Senior Member

not a big fan of dealing with Fleet Farm on tires. Usually the motto in MN, is if you can't buy it at Fleet Farm, you don't need it. I have no patience with the lack of customer service in the tire areana. Maybe your fleet farm is different... I would never have the yahoo's there touch my GMC lug nuts. We deal with discount tire..... just a sore subject this week as i helped my Dad just buy 4 tires from Fleet farm and it was a circus for his mini-van.

Anyway -- for Matt:
https://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/search?q=tires

I put the glass beads in the rear 4 tires. I did not use the proper valve stems(did not know?), but have never had a problem.

I installed the air soft beads in my front tires, and seem to do great.

I have always used my buddy's tire machine, and have never run them on a balance machine. so not sure the process as to having a shop deal with balance beads and how to get them to install them. I did buy the glass beads from our local truck tire shop, so I would believe they would install the beads and proper valve stems.

I am looking at replacing my back 4 tires next year, and I will install the air soft beads in those..

Jon Roche 75 palm beach EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now. St. Cloud, MN http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/

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Re: [GMCnet] Balance bead question [message #346642 is a reply to message #346625]

Tue, 20 August 2019 10:56

David

Messages: 13
Registered: August 2008

Karma: 0

Junior Member

I have balance beads in all 6 tires. I am extremely pleased with
performance on the road. My first experience was with a product called
"Magnum Plus Balancing Compound" and this company has a good web site
www.magnumbalance.com with interesting promotional info. I recommend
their product because the beads are big enough that they don't foul the
valve stem when checking tire pressure (personal experience). I have
Magnum Plus in the front tires only.

When I bought 4 tires for the rear I requested balance beads and they
installed a product called "Counteract". They have a web site
www.counteractbalancing.com

Counteract beads are much smaller but I didn't realize the trouble they
would give me when checking air pressure. It is an intermittent problem
- sometimes there's beads lodged in the valve stem and sometimes there
isn't, and you just can't tell. I now always apply a short burst of air
from an air hose to the valve before checking the pressure and that
always clears the passage.

I like two things about balance beads - they are a dynamic balancing,
always compensating for any tire wear through the life of the tire, and
they can be reused when new tires replace your old ones. No more charge
for balancing, or rebalancing as if a weight falls off. No ugliness on
Alcoas or American Eagles.

I understand they are increasingly popular with the commercial big rigs
and that is a testimonial in itself, and the only criteria is the
quantity of beads per tire is determined according to the specific tire
size. The tire installer has that information and they simply insert
the correct amount in the tire before stretching the bead over the rim.

Dave Simpson

1975 Transmode - Norris Upfitter

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346679 is a reply to message #346620]

Wed, 21 August 2019 06:43

Chris Tyler

Messages: 458
Registered: September 2013
Location: Odessa FL

Karma: 7

Senior Member

Been wanting to try this for some time.

How is the wt of beads determined for a given tire size?
Diameter or volume?

And from a physics standpoint, at some point would rotational speed exceed the balancing ?

76 Glenbrook

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346680 is a reply to message #346620]

Wed, 21 August 2019 07:27

RF_Burns

Messages: 2277
Registered: June 2008
Location: S. Ontario, Canada

Karma: 3

Senior Member

Chris,
I found a reference to one ounce per 13 pounds of wheel & tire weight. I measured mine which were 57-58lbs which worked out to be 4.5oz. however there are charts on-line which show for LT225/70 R16 as 4oz.

I put in 4oz as mine were already dynamically balanced but still shook above ~90Kmph so they weren't balanced that well. Now its very smooth up to 120Kmph (as fast as I have gone so far)

I read where they use this technology to balance jet engines, and propellers so I don't think we can get out tires rolling that fast!

Bruce Hislop
ON Canada
77PB, 455 Dick P. rebuilt, DynamicEFI EBL EFI & ESC.
1 ton front end
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=29001
My Staff says I never listen to them, or something like that

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Re: Balance bead question [message #346684 is a reply to message #346620]

Wed, 21 August 2019 08:13

JohnL455

Messages: 4447
Registered: October 2006
Location: Woodstock, IL

Karma: 12

Senior Member

Hey Jon Roche, not Fleet Farm, Blain's Farm and Fleet. Two different places. And no one puts an air gun to any of my vehicles especially Discount. I bring in tire/wheel assemblies, and recheck balance on my machine before installation. I typically find 50% of the work is out by .50 or more, just enough to get by but not balanced. My last experience with Discount was giving me 3 year old product as new. If techs would actually balance assemblies correctly, the balance bead thing would not even be a consideration.

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II

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Re: [GMCnet] Balance bead question [message #346716 is a reply to message #346684]

Wed, 21 August 2019 18:40

Kingsley Coach

Messages: 2691
Registered: March 2009
Location: Nova Scotia Canada

Karma: -34

Senior Member

If techs would actually balance
assemblies correctly, the balance bead thing would not even be a
consideration.

Ya ain't kidding on that one, John!

Mike in NS

On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 10:43 AM John R. Lebetski via Gmclist <
gmclist@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:

> Hey Jon Roche, not Fleet Farm, Blain's Farm and Fleet. Two different
> places. And no one puts an air gun to any of my vehicles especially
> Discount. I
> bring in tire/wheel assemblies, and recheck balance on my machine before
> installation. I typically find 50% of the work is out by .50 or more, just
> enough to get by but not balanced. My last experience with Discount was
> giving me 3 year old product as new. If techs would actually balance
> assemblies correctly, the balance bead thing would not even be a
> consideration.
> --
> John Lebetski
> Woodstock, IL
> 77 Eleganza II
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>

--
Michael Beaton
1977 Kingsley 26-11
1977 Eleganza II 26-3
Antigonish, NS

Life is too short to hold a grudge; slash some tires and call it even !
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Re: Balance bead question [message #346743 is a reply to message #346684]

Thu, 22 August 2019 20:20

6cuda6

Messages: 975
Registered: June 2019

Karma: -6

Senior Member

JohnL455 wrote on Wed, 21 August 2019 09:13

Hey Jon Roche, not Fleet Farm, Blain's Farm and Fleet. Two different places. And no one puts an air gun to any of my vehicles especially Discount. I bring in tire/wheel assemblies, and recheck balance on my machine before installation. I typically find 50% of the work is out by .50 or more, just enough to get by but not balanced. My last experience with Discount was giving me 3 year old product as new. If techs would actually balance assemblies correctly, the balance bead thing would not even be a consideration.

Problem im afraid is no one takes the time in a shop to first setup the tire on the rim properly....good tires will have an indicator to show were the heaviest spot on the tire is and that needs to be mounted opposit to the valve stem. Then it should be run on the balancer to verify that i doesnt need a bunch of weight...once it balances, hopefully with less than 2oz the tire/rim assembly should be loosened on the balancer, moved and re-spun...if the job was done right it should balance perfectly or zero up ....if not the machine needs to be calibrated by the manufacturer.....no shop does this usually hence the poorly balanced wheels.

To make matters worse not all balancers are "high speed" balancers....the general use units will balance at around 30mph and is ok for most applications...our problems with tire balancing issues went away when the shop purchased a high speed balancer and we started balancing at 50mph.

In the 30 years i was on the bench there were tires we could never balance properly....Uniroyals (poor build quality, belts were always miss aligned) and Pirelli (crazy heavy tires).....on the other side i had Michellin with zero weight added and Coopers with no more than 1/4 oz.

So although adding something in the tire will help, such as this case and it can/does work effectively....i would love to know why the tire couldnt be balanced properly in the first place on the balancer.

Rich Mondor, Brockville, ON 77 Hughes 2600

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