Powder bags used to balance tires????? Need advice.

[toban]

I just talked to a tire dealer down the street fron Newmar in Napannee IN. Since we will be going there for some warranty work this fall, I called them to see if they could rotate some tires for me. the dealer was Pershing Tire and Lube. He said no problem but they use bags of white powder which they put in the tires before mounting them. He said the bags break and the tires are balanced for the life of the tire? They don't use weights as I guess they don't have a balancing machine I guess.
Has anyone got first hand experience with this, good or bad? Any corrosion I wonder on the rims inside which are alcoa rims?
Thanks

Toban
Anyone's help would be apprciated.

[toban]

I just talked to a tire dealer down the street fron Newmar in Napannee IN. Since we will be going there for some warranty work this fall, I called them to see if they could rotate some tires for me. the dealer was Pershing Tire and Lube. He said no problem but they use bags of white powder which they put in the tires before mounting them. He said the bags break and the tires are balanced for the life of the tire? They don't use weights as I guess they don't have a balancing machine I guess.
Has anyone got first hand experience with this, good or bad? Any corrosion I wonder on the rims inside which are alcoa rims?
Thanks

Toban
Anyone's help would be apprciated.

[wilpower]

They do use a product called "equal", which is powdery. There is also another product wich is beads that can be used. The only precaution I've heard of is special screens in the valve stems, to prevent "gunking up or clogging" the valves

[Digital Boy]

Yep, Equal (not the sweetener) comes in paper bags. I'm told they are small (grain of sand small) beads of glass.

When Newmar replaced my front tires a few years ago (recall) the tire installer threw a bag of Equal into each unmounted tire.

I was skeptical. But, 3 years later my ride is excellent and the tires look great!

[rebelcarm]

i just put 2 new tires on front of my DP 22.5 Goodyears. The tire Store gave me the option of glass beads or tire balance with weights.
I asked what did he think was the best?
His answer was that with the beads if there is any out of balance in the drums etc the beads work the best and as the tire wear they compensate as you drive. They did have the spin balance so the choice was mine.I have the beads. The installer also knows I have the pressure pro monitors installed and no mention of any problems with valve stems.Time will tell
The pressure pros are on and seem to be reading OK at this time. The tires that where removed where balanced with the metal weights.
The drive home seemed to be fine,about 50 miles.
My rims are the all aluminum Alcoas.

[Digital Boy]

With the Equal or other glass beads it really is a good idea to change out the valve stems to stems with little screens to help prevent the beads from lodging in the stem while checking pressures or adding air.

It is also a recommended practice to only add air (or manually check pressures) when the stem is at or near the 12:00 position. If the stem is at the bottom, beads are more likey to enter the stem.

[BZam]

I have been running Equal for some time and its great. You might experience a thump, thump for a few miles if you have been in storage for some time. When I have my rig washed and detailed at this one local place I always get this thump, thump for a couple or three miles but don't know exactly why as he is not getting water in the tires!

Some truckers use old golf balls. Works the same way.

[Onaqwest]

I use the dyna beads. 18k miles and no problems. I do have the filtered valve stems (they came from the same Dyna Bead folks. And I do have the pressure Pro TPMS. lou

[toban]

Thanks for your feedback. This is exactly the information I was looking for. You've helped alot. Thanks again.

Toban

[Max Hubrich]

I use Equal. Most all truckers use it now. The slower acceleration from a stop for big rigs, 18 wheelers, RV's etc, make it an ideal application. Not so good for cars.

No problems for me at all in two years.

[exrench]

I,too, have had a powder product installed and there is no problem with the wheel balance.BUT,every time I have checked tire pressure since,there has been a considerable loss of pressure and I had to add air pressure to clear the valves and adjust air pressure.They didn't install screen-type valves,and I will be taking this up with the tire dealer in due course.The bottom line is,I would not dare to check tire pressure if there was no compressor available and that sucks!

[Digital Boy]

I obtained and installed my screened stem inserts myself. The stem just unscrews. The trick is to complete the exchange before too much air escapes. Of course the stem is near the 12:00 position while doing this.

[exrench]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Digital Boy:
I obtained and installed my screened stem inserts myself. The stem just unscrews. The trick is to complete the exchange before too much air escapes. Of course the stem is near the 12:00 position while doing this. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
----------------------------
That is good information as I had assumed the screened valves would be a tire dealer install item.As long as I do it at home,there is lots of air pressure here.Thanks for your post.

[HarveyP]

I just bought new tires. The tire dealer here is a local guy I've known for 15 years or more, and had his kids in school. The first tire he put on the spin balancer was going to need a bunch of weight. The tires I was replacing had used the beads inside. I replaced because of age, not wear, but I know they had over 40,000 miles because I had the receipt from the previous tire change. We decided to go with beads again. The new valve stems needed came in the package with the beads. Good luck, HarveyP