tire balance

It is almost time for new tires for my 2010 FJR. I've been watching YouTube on using beads to balance the wheels and tires. Anyone have an opinion on this?

Opinions being like belly buttons here is mine. I like the old fashioned way and that's how I do every one in my shop. If somebody wants to bring the beads I will put them in and tell them that the next time I will charge more because I hate having all those beads on the floor acting like marbles. So there is mine and it's worth what it cost you.

Only personal experience came from putting them in an ex girlfriends BMW F800ST. Rear swing-arm is a single sided unit and so the rear wheel would require a special adapter to use on a balancer as the axle isn't conventional.. Beads worked nice for the application but for any "normal" wheel I still like the old fashioned way of doing things.

Sure they "work" if the tire is already fairly in balance, meaning if you did nothing, it would be the same. If not, you'll get vibrations after about 70 Mph. They are worthless from my experience. Have it spin balanced or static balanced.

"It depends"

In my cruiser days, running Meztlers, the beads worked flawlessly.

Switched to Michelins on the FJR and the beads failed.

My theory is the tire mold release agent used by Michelin is just sticky enough to stop the beads from moving freely inside the tire.

-Steve

My current front tire, Bridgestone T-30GT, has pulled hard to the left since the day it was installed whenever you let go of the bars but I don't notice it otherwise. Personally I am convinced that the installer got tire goop on the inside of the tire when mounting it and then the beads all stuck to that like glue. The directions even tell you not to let this happen. If the rear tire has been affected by having the beads in it I am unable to tell. With that said, I will go back to the old way of balancing tires in the future. Also with that said, I have a friend who rides a Gold Wing and he swears by them. If you're doing your own tire changes try them for yourself, otherwise I can't recommend based on my own experience.

Snake oil.

Sometimes the old fashioned way is best.

FJReady said:

Snake oil.
Sometimes the old fashioned way is best.

Click to expand...

The FJReady tire balancer is what I use...any stock available for jrr, or do we send him to Marc Parnes? https://www.marcparnes.com/

TomInPA said:

FJReady said:

Snake oil.
Sometimes the old fashioned way is best.

Click to expand...

The FJReady tire balancer is what I use...any stock available for jrr, or do we send him to Marc Parnes? https://www.marcparnes.com/

Click to expand...

Gunny that!! I have not had to rebalance any tire since I began using the FJReady balancer. It's super nice and one of my favorite pieces of equipment.

Regarding beads, think about this: if beads would magically roll into the light spot, why buy beads at all when water would do the exact same thing? Back in the day when my roommates and I were building up lots of 4x4 Jeeps with big tires, we used these balancing spacer disks that were filled with some kind of media. They did not eliminate the need for a standard balance, they were supposed to help counteract the effects of mud and debris stuck in the tread, until the tire could spin it off. No idea if they even worked, but my bet is No. Maybe, beads could help fix some small off-balance imperfection, but to depend on them to run the balance all the time is a large stretch.

Thanks to those who responded. I get it. Stick with tried and true.

Very interesting amalgam of opinion. I have been using Dyna Beads in the front tire of my motorcycles for years. Apparently I have been very lucky or numb to the effects of a tire that is not balanced. I have not exceeded 110mph with beads and never felt any vibration or wheel shake. Rear tires I have been using RideOn for quite a while with the same positive results. I have no affiliation with either products and do not give a shit if others have differing opinions. It works for me and until that is no longer true, I will continue as stated. No weights to come off while riding and no damage to wheels, All tires have been Michelin PR2, 4, and 5.

Its so easy to balance a wheel with a few simple tools. You could even make your own if you are too cheap to buy one of the readily available balancers on the market. I really dont understand why anyone would want to mess around with goo or beads.

Fred W said:

Its so easy to balance a wheel with a few simple tools. You could even make your own if you are too cheap to buy one of the readily available balancers on the market. I really dont understand why anyone would want to mess around with goo or beads.

Click to expand...

Fred, We just returned from a 2900 mile ride and my riding companion had a new set of PR4's installed just before departure. About half way through the ride he claimed he heard a loud clunk that seemed to come from the rear of the bike. At first we thought it may have been something on the road he ran over. That evening while cleaning our bikes he noticed there were no wheel weights on the raar wheel. You could see where the weights were placed (clean area). I too started the ride with a new set of Road 5's with beads in front and Ride-On in rear, no ugly weights to fly off and the bike rode totally free of vibration. I have been using this method for eight years and have never had a balance issue. Once after returning from a trip to southern NM I noticed a nail in the rear tire. Checked the tire air pressure to see if it would make it to the shop 12 miles away. The tire maintained 42psi. I'm a believer in snake oil!

I would never trust the crappy double sided foam tape that comes on most stick on wheel weights. Undoubtedly, that is what failed on your friends wheel weight. The clip on weights are the best, and my preference. Youll never throw one of those. If you must use stick on weights, just peel off the crappy foam tape and replace it with 3M double sided urethane foam tape. Its made to hold trim on cars and will hold any wheel weight. Never had one come loose until I wanted it off. You also have to clean the area on the wheel and back side of the weight with a good solvent before trying to stick it on. It aint rocket surgery making a 7 gram weight stay where you want it.

People that think using goo or beads inside a tire is magically going to properly balance it should go right ahead using it. To me it is easier to properly balance a wheel than to use any of that junk. You might ask yourself, if beads or goo do such a great job balancing tires, why dont racers use it? With the number of tires they go through you would think that not having to balance them would be a big benefit, yet Ive never heard of a single racer that does that.

Fred, the reason you never hear about racers using these magic beads is because...It's a Secret. I don't want to get too technical here 'cause you probably wouldn't understand. See what happens is a Race Bike tire is spinning really, really fast. Like a LOT faster than a regular motorcycle tire. This rapid rotation creates something called the gyroscopic effect. That just means the tire don't want to lean over. This makes it harder to turn the bike and that's bad because they usually put lots of turns on racetracks. What the really smart racer guys do is pour in a carefully calculated mass of Magic Beads in each tire. As the tire is spinning one way, the magic beads are spinning in the opposite direction. Those magic beads become little miniature gyroscopes but since they are turning the opposite direction of the tire, they completely cancel out the gyroscopic effect of the tire! That's how these motorcycle racers are able to actually turn their bikes.

Now if they accidentally miscalculate and add too many magic beads they will overcompensate for the gyroscopic effect of the front tire. Since that gyroscopic effect is what makes the bike stand up, now we have A Problem. The bikes just fall over. You can see this at almost every race, there will be at least one bike that falls over and then slides around on its side. This usually happens at those pesky turns which makes sense because that is when the racer guy tries to lean the bike over.

Another thing that is Very Important is getting the correct Magic Beads matched to each tire. The rear tire always uses Anal Beads, because obviously they are getting put in the rear. Of the bike. It is worth noting that the correct lubricant for mounting a rear tire is always some form of Anal Lube. Anal Eaze is a favorite of many.

I would explain how these Magic Beads actually balance the tire but y'all probably wouldn't understand.

I sure as hell don't.

Anal beads? Yeah, Im not gonna touch that...

:lol:

All I know is I spoon on my own tires. I appreciate having a clean spent tire and rim when I separate them. Loose ball bearings and me dont get along, I certainly dont want to deal with thousands of them every tire change. And this Anal Lube stuff for the rear tire, well, just how am I going to explain having several spent tubes of that stuff on my garage work bench to the wife?

Ewww, makes me want to take a shower or something just thinking about it.

Brodie

Red, thats funny!

I still wish someone would put the beads to the test. Mount a tire that really has the vibes. Add beads. Ride it again and see if the vibes are gone. Wait. Silly me. I did actually do that.

I removed the beads, static balanced the wheel and all was well. Smooth from zero to felony speed. For all those that swear by them, try this: take them out and see if your bike shakes like a paint mixer. Heck. Nobody is going to do that. Since beads are installed along with the tire, how does one know for sure they do anything?

Gitbox that's just Crazy Talk! You and Fred need to stop applying logic to this and just accept the Magic for what it is.