Poll: Your preferred tire balancing method

[TXiceman]

I tried the Centramatic balances on my 1 ton dually and took them off and returned them for a refund. They never would get the vibration out. Went back to a balanced tire and no more issues.

Ken

[Gary RVRoamer]

This is almost a religious question rather than a technical one. And maybe a question of how you were raised (what your father taught you). Plus, some people feel that any sort of technical "insurance" is a worthwhile investment to protect their expensive toy, while others are willing to go with the odds when the potential for any issue is very low.


It's really interesting to see the variety of votes & responses - thanks for starting this poll!

[chunker]

Originally Posted by Ivylog

Davl and Chunker, how many 22.5 truck tires have you bough or even rode on?

Well the Itasca Horizon had 6 Michelin 275/80 R 22.5 ZXA3+ that when I bought it was out of balance and could be felt. Centramatics took care of that and were on the coach when I sold it 4 years later. The last year I wanted a rotation since I suspected one of the front was needing excess weights before putting on the centramatics when one of the rear centramatics, rear one, was found bad. 5 year warranty was replaced free. I've also "ridden" in several other motorhomes in the upwards of 45' which had the 22.5 tires

Some people don't balance trailer tires. I do. I want the stuff inside to have the least vibration possible so maybe stuff won't fall off the wall as soon.

[scbwr]

I can't answer the poll as I really don't have a preference. When I replaced all the tires, the installer used balance beads, with my approval. About a year later, I had Borg dually valve stems installed on the rear tires and the shop removed the balance beads and spin balanced the tires. Since then, the rear tires that were spin balanced and the front tires with balance beads seem to be working well.

Seems to me that spin balancing is tried and true, but changes to the tire due to usage will require rebalancing at some point. The basic science of how balance beads would seem to indicate that balancing may last longer, but you don't know how well the beads are holding up or disintegrating into powder and could cause problems with the valve stems.