Tire Balancing?

[Petro]

I called the service center today to make an appointment to have a front wheel balanced. I was told that the best way is to use Equal or balancing beads. Anybody have any experience with this and any suggestions? I have never seen it or used it.

Thanks;
Don

[Petro]

I called the service center today to make an appointment to have a front wheel balanced. I was told that the best way is to use Equal or balancing beads. Anybody have any experience with this and any suggestions? I have never seen it or used it.

Thanks;
Don

[Richard and Babs and a Bob Tail Cat]

Dynamic balancers such as equal has been arround for a long time and has many happy users. Have them check the tire for roundness also.

[Doug Polzin]

Don, I purchased 6 new G670s from Schierl Tire in Plover and after 2 attempts to spin balance them, I asked them to put in the beads. I have used them in the past and they work very good. I still had a vibration. They found 2 of the new tires were out of round. As I write this they are replacing the 2 bad tires. After my experience, I suspect that some out-of-balance problems could be out-of-round issues.

In answer to your question, though,I prefer the plastic beads to the equal, because moisture will affect the equal and not the beads.

Doug

[grye]

I have not used liquid, beads or powder, however I have used Balance Masters, here, and Centramatic,here, with great success. You can change from one MoHo to another and/or keep them in use when you change tires. If the tires are out of round, just rotate on rim until they are in round or exchange the tire.

You will be pleased with either one, however I like the Balance Masters after using both. They are filled with mercury, whereas the Centramatics use oil and lead shot.

[Petro]

As a follow up, I have put about 4000 miles on since I put equal in and I am very happy. My dealer said he felt the problem from moisture comes from applying too much lubricant on the beads and it messes up the equal. I installed special valve cores also. Thanks everybody for your input.

Don

[Pubtym]

There's tire and rim balancing with weights...always start with that. Then, if you want total "wheel" balancing (tire-rim-brake hub and hub external and internal parts) you need to move to a dynamic system like Centramatic.

'The Centramatic Continuous Wheel Balancer consists of 20-gauge steel galvanized mounting plate with an aluminum balancing tube attached. Shot sized balancing weights are inserted into the balancing tube lubricated by a synthetic moly oil. The balancer mounts behind the wheel and centrifugal force redistributes the balancing weights opposite of out of balance points as the wheel rotates. The Company claims the dissimilar metallic composition of the balancer, i.e. steel mounting plate and aluminum balancing ring, dissipates wheel/tire heating while in operation. This feature is called "ThermoFlow" by the Company. Basic rules of thermal physics apply as different metals have different coefficients of contraction/expansion with convection heat transfer migrating to the metallic content with the highest coefficient of expansion/contraction, i.e. rapid transfer from the wheel/hub/tire assembly to the steel mounting plate to the aluminum tube. The Company has been manufacturing the balancers for sixteen years concentrating on the heavy duty trucking market and RV applications with over 400,000 sets on the road, according to the Company.'

http://www.centramatic.com/balancer.html

I have them on front steer tires and rear duals....you don't know what a vibration free ride is till you spend the money for them.

See what top line motor coaches are equipped with the 700 Series Balancers

[Gary RVRoamer]

Here is one liquid balancing product:
TIRE BALANCERS

[Paulin]

I'm interested in dynamic balancers and sent one of the companies an email to see if they had a set to fit my rig. They replied asking the bolt circle and stud size. How can I determine this information without dismounting tires, etc.?

[sucker]

I equal put in with new tires, my front wheels would bounce down the highway. I took my rv to a tire balance to have them balanced. I had to pay them to remove the equal powered, then spin balance. I was told by two experts that sell equal, they had people that are happy, but some people have problems. They say it is always best to spin balance. I agree from my experience and money wasted trying to use equal. I still have it in my rear tires, but I plan on having it removed next rotation when they get mounted up front.

[Wizard]

I had 6 new tires put on and equal put in them. A few hundred miles down the road, I pulled into a Goodyear service center because of severe shaking. The service tech put them on his balancer and the left one would make his machine shake. Had to put on a new tire, it balanced with only a few ounces of lead. Didn't put Equal back in. The other front, he had to remove equal to get it to balance. it was so far off that he had to rotate the tire 180 degrees on the wheel then it balanced good. After a couple of thousand miles they drive much better. I'm thinking about when I return home, I will have it removed from the rears too. I'm not real impressed with the Equal or Goodyear but am really impressed with the Goodyear dealer I went to in Platte City, Mo.

[David K]

My motor home tires were originally balanced with wheel weights -- very good ride. I just replaced all of the tires and had them all balanced with wheel weights again --- still a very good ride. The dealer that I purchased my tires from only sells truck tires and he said that the only way to go was to balance them with the wheel weights.

[Bob Endeavor]

I just had nitrogen put in all six tires and am very happy with the ride improvement as well as not needing to check the inflation as often. I was skeptical of any ride improvement claims but after three close friends swearing to improvement I tried it. Only cost $17.50 per with unlimited top offs as necessary. Well worth the cost. my 2 cents.

[AkTrek]

We strongly believe in good timely coach maintenence and brought our W20 Workhorse Chassis into Dick at Precision Frame and Alignment in Elk River Minnesota. We had our Coach four cornered weighed, tire pressure correctly adjusted all around and the alignment checked. After having our chassis lubed and kingpins greased we adjusted the SteerSafe steering stabilizer (Love the SteerSafe!) and took it for a 10mile test drive. Although everything was tracking perfect, we noticed a pronounced vibration in the front end. Dick lifted the front end up and Spun balanced both tires on the coach. By doing it this way everthing is compensated for. Hubs, rotors, TSP sensors and tires are all balanced at once. Our Trek rides virtually vibration free and tracks perfect. If you can find a service that can spin balance your tires on the coach this is a great solution. You do have to remember that if the tires are removed they have to be replaced in the same lug position.