Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Tire Balance Beads - Anyone use em?

Ive a work truck that I use extensively off-road. This time of year it’s not at all uncommon to get mud buildup inside the rims and then have to drive a couple hundred miles with the thing shaking like a wet dog until I can get to a car wash and spray the rims down.

Anybody use those balance beads inside the tire? I’ve some tendinitis in my wrist and it really makes it flare up having to hold on to a vibrating steering wheel for five hours.

Wife’s truck 2500 Chevy crew cab. 20” tires. About 7k miles w them in. Okay so far

? Never heard of such.

Have glass beads in my Hummer H3 tires. They work very well.

FOLLOWING: Yeah, I need to look into them. This WY mud and bentonite settles and sticks inside my wheels. The only time mine don't vibrate is when driving home from the car wash, and only if I didn't miss any mud inside the rim.

Never heard of the beads. Do they somehow balance out a gob of frozen mud on one inside of a tire rim?

I've had to crawl under the rig and gouge out mud with a stick, etc. Very hard when it is frozen. Worst time it was so out of balance I could not get up to 30 mph. when I got back to pavement after three days of crawling around moose country at slow speed.

Grandkids are the best accessory for crawling under to gouge out mud.

with this style Auto balancer be better than me rings that bolt between the hub and rim ?

The bigger the tire, the better it works. Lots of big rigs run the beads and don't have any balance problems. Small tires/wheels, not so much.

Got a friend who uses beads. Has 'em on a '67 Camaro show car, a custom '66 Chevy pick up with 35's (?) and his daily driver Surburban. Does his own tire mounting. He says he has zero problems. They work well. You do need to get the proper weight beads for your specific tire application.

I assume that doesn't work with TPMS?

I ran them and they are ok as long as you never plug a tire, never have a flat repaired and have dry air.

A FAR superior solution is a centramatic, they pinch between the rim and hub face and offer 60oz dynamic balance. I do not have my tires balanced any longer and they run longer and smoother. Some of the best money I've spent....we have 3 sets, one 265 with duals and two rigs on 35's.....all smooth wear.

Didn’t them Ol timers that ran the 44” super swamper monster mudderd use golf balls?

Doesn't sound good to me.

Common on steer tires on trucks.

You could try breaking one bead, pouring some antifreeze in.

I've known guys do that on truck steers also.

My Dad had a ton truck with 10 ply tires that would not balance. He bought a piece you put on hub before placing the rim. It had ball bearings inside that free spun and balanced the tire and wheel. He loved it and had it for many years.

That's a centramatic. They work excellent.

Had an Isuzu 16 foot box truck. Ran 3 golf balls per tire for a lot of years. Went to bags full of rubber beads in the end. Golf balls did great, they would keep spinning around the rim for quite a few seconds after you stopped the truck. Makes me want to try them again on some Patagonia 33/12.5/R16s on my F350. They are always out of balance with mud this time of year.

Yes, the beads work. I wouldn't use them for normal car/SUV tires but larger mud tires that can be difficult to balance or keep balanced over their lifespan are ideal candidates. They work.
Kinda like the balancing slime stuff in motorcycle tires. I haven't had wheel weights on my bikes in years and the tires are always perfectly balanced.

I've run both on semi's and trailers, and I disagree strongly. The Centramatics introduce a variable between the tandems and I've had more loose lug nuts and a couple of near wheel-offs with them. They also have an unacceptable failure rate, and when they fail the bearings rust together and you ruin one or two tires in an awful big hurry if you don't notice the balance problem (like on a trailer).

The beads work great. Toss in a bag when buying the tire, drive. I estimate my tire expense has dropped by about 15% since starting to use them, but nearly 40% reduction in steer tire expense. Much less problems with uneven wear and tires going out of balance prematurely. I'll never, EVER go back to centramatics.