Wheel balancing

[chessie4905]

Which is the pereferred method? Weights, Centramatics, Equal or equiv. beads, or antifreeze or nothing?

[OKIE9ERS]

Been selling Equal for 15 yrs or so..
Never had a customer use the money back gaurantee

[dtcerrato]

We run centramatics because they stay with the tires as they're moved or changed out. We like them.

[luvrbus]

If the shop is equipped spin balance is the best if you are into balancing,I buy good tires and use nothing.90% of the time if you need balancing it is the drum that needs balancing,the beads seem to be going to glass or ceramic when using a tire monitoring system and are reusable.You going to run steel or aluminum wheels ? aluminum wheels are far superior over the 2 piece welded steel wheels for balancing IMO     

[chessie4905]

all aluminum with Michelins.

[oldmansax]

I use BBs. Buy 'em at the local hardware store. I have had zero problems with them so far. there is a chart on the internet that says how much to use in a given tire size.  14oz. for a 1200 x 22.5 I think.

TOM

[luvrbus]

all aluminum with Michelins.

I wouldn't worry about it then

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I run Balance Masters and never had a problem.  They are worth looking into.  They can pay for themselves if you run enuf miles per year.  The good  thing is, if you pick up a rock in the tread or whatever, they immediately re-balance themselves and you can't even tell.  They also have a Lifetime guarantee so if anything goes wrong, which I have never heard of that happening, they will replace them.  Check them out here http://balancemasters.com/

[luvrbus]

I had no dealing with Balance Master,I removed my Centramatics because they covered the cooling holes in the drums,the place in Texas was nice they just gave me money back when I told him of my concerns about covering the holes 

[Jim Eh.]

I have never used any products  mfg by balance master or centramatics  in any of my equipment. I do know that basic physics states that anything in motion tends to remain in motion.

Sorry but

"In short, Balance Masters? precisely, continually, instantly and dynamically self-adjusts to tire and wheel imbalance because nature MUST have equilibrium, and natural forces will act on the counter-balancing fluid to eliminate vibrational resonance and disequilibrium"

seems nothing more than a marketing claim. Exactly how will "natural forces act on the counter-balancing fluid to eliminate vibrational resonance and disequilibrium".

"Balance Masters? utilizes the natural forces created by 20,000 plus pounds of truck rolling down the highway to reduce vibration and create better handling in a very simple yet effective way"

They don't say how it is done. In fact almost the whole page is innuendo.

I don't mean to single out this product but their website reads pretty strange to me.

There are two types of balancing ... static and dynamic. Static balance is simply the reduction of up and down forces of a wheel. Dynamic balancing adjusts not only up and down but side to side forces as well. I am not too sure how balancing beads or liquid can ever control both axial and lateral forces of an out of balance wheel.

Fact is your tire supplier will probably tell you that any warranty claim is jeopardized if you put anything inside the tire. Whether it actually does damages to the liner or not it doesn't matter. If it is in there they have a right to void any warranty. Not that they don't already have an arm's length of reasons not to payout anything anyway. This does not apply to the

Whenever anyone talks about liquid or beads or that type of balancing I always think of swinging a pail of water around in a circle. The effect of an out of balance wheel is similar to an axle being off center resulting in a "heavy" spot on the area furthest from that axle. Just like a pail of water being swung in a circle. It seems to me the liquid (or beads) would  gravitate towards the heavy spot but I am no physicist by any means. Because of this I will continue to shy away from the liquid or bead balance but that is just me.

Let the pitchforks and torches fly.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

I could never understand how a liquid would work....it seems to me that it would be evenly dispersed around the whole tire and not just go to one spot and stay there.

[Geoff]

I guess it's time for me to step in and say "nothing". My tires have always ridden nice with no balancing.

[PP]

I guess it's time for me to step in and say "nothing". My tires have always ridden nice with no balancing.

Ditto 

[eagle19952]

Ditto 

Another ditto.
My first set on this bus had some sand stuff...it was a pain. it would migrate to the valve stem if i over filled the tire and had to let some out... Paid to have it removed and never looked back.
Michelin and/or Bridgestone on steel wheels.

[chessie4905]

Just a thought, but if valve stem is placed at 6 oclock, it shouldn't be a problem. At 12 oclock, I could see some dropping from top inside of tire to valve stem inlet on inside of rim.