Wheel balancing powder?

[Charles in SC]

I priced some new tires the other day and asked about balancing them. I was told that they do not balance them anymore (at that tire place anyway). They now put a powder in the tire that does it. Has anyone here had any experience with this stuff? Is it ok? What happens if the bus sits 6 months or so. Does it sit up and make a big lump?
Thanks in advance!

[Frank @ TX]

Hi Charles,
For about 10 years I had "EQUAL" powder in each of the tires.
The only negative is that about every year I would have to replace the valve stem insert.
The powder would back up into the stem and cause a leak.
I only checked & filled the tires with the stem at the top of the tire BUT still it made it back into the stem.
If you're going to use the stuff be prepared.
The new set of tires I have on the RV does not have the powder , I had them spin balanced.
One year and no valve stem issues.
Good luck with your choice.
Frank

[eagle19952]

And when the valve stem leaks and your on the road the tire slow leaks off the bead and you need to air the tire...you'll quite likely end up with a bead seal leak.....that KRAP will blow out on the seat. I had that krap removed..at more $$.
Fortunately I didn't pay to put it in there, the PO did. But I did have to pay to get it out.
I am on the "it's krap" side of the coin.
Donald PH

[opus]

I've been using...I think its Counteract for quite sometime now.  I dont see how people are having problems with it, but what do I know. When they put it in, they install a valve core that wont do what was mentioned above.  No leaks, nothing.

[Charles in SC]

Thanks for the input everyone! I think I am going to take my business somewhere they can spin balance the tires. That has worked for a long time and I do not think I am ready for any new deals if I do not need them.

[gumpy]

Buy a set of Centrimatics and put on. They work well.

[B_K]

Charles you'll find as many arguments against it as you will for it.

I ran several brands/types (powder, beads and even a gel) in our older fleet of charter buses for several years with no problems.

But when we bought our 05' Setra S417's (@ 3yrs old but new to us in '08) they both had some vibrations and we tried everything new tires powder, beads, & even golf balls (no kidding) with no LUCK!
So finally I had them down in Orlando at the Setra dealer and had them trying to find it (again, the original owner an I had had them in Greensboro 5 or 6 times between the 2 of us!)

Well after spending all day on the first one (the second one arrived a day later) they found NOTHING!
But the female service writer was bound and determined she was going to try an impress us by telling us
"You have a tire out of balance"
So I asked her "which one"
she replied "well we don't know we'd have to take them all off and have them balanced to find that out."
So I asked "and just how much is that going to cost me?"
She said "Well let me figure that, it'd be 1 hr ea to take them off, whatever amount of time it took to drive them over to the place that does that for us, plus the time waiting for them to balance all 8 of them. Then the drive time back to here and another hr ea to put them back on. So probably about 26 to 30 hrs @ $95 per hr."
After I picked my jaw up off the floor I said "You must be crazy! If you think I'm going to spend almost $3000 just to balance the tires on that coach. Besides that those tires don't need balancing because they have equal in them"
She said "What is equal?"
When I told her "it's a balancing media that goes inside the tire. and keep the tire balanced from inside"
She replied "OH that stuff doesn't work on bus tires"
I asked "Say what?"
She said "that stuff might work on trucks but not on buses!"
I told her "look I didn't just fall off that truck"
She said "what truck?"
I told her "That TURNIP truck that musta just went by there you think I fell off from!" and I continued with "I was born at night but it wasn't LAST NIGHT! & I don't know what yer smokin if you think I believe that those tire are smart enough to know if they are on a truck or and bus and tell each other OH OK GUYS since we are going to be on a bus lets not balance with that balancing stuff inside us!"

She turned as red as a fire truck and slammed the phone down and told the other service writer "Your going to have to deal with this guy, I can't handle anymore of him"

My driver that was standing in front of her and only hearing what she was telling me had to run outside to keep from busting out laughing at her and called me and told me "Boss I dunno what you said to that lady but she done turned about 7 different shades of red and and is glowing brighter than Rudolf's nose about now, you sure know how to piss a lady off don't ya!?!"  

SO use your own judgement but I will tell ya if ya go with the "media balancing" make sure to get the proper valve stems installed.

BTW we did finally get those 2 buses where the vibration was minimal after having all 8 tires spun balanced on a super high tech balancer that used at least 5 different beams to balance them at Best One Tire in Jackson, TN and it didn't even cost $200! (let alone $3000)
OH and the lady service writer was gone from that shop soon after too!
 BK  

[wg4t50]

My experience with Equal was not good, installed new front tires 11R X 24.5 and were not good for balance, tried different shops, strobe light, equal, Rings, nothing made the front end smooth.  On a trip to Arcadia Fl, and having stopped at a Flying J on I95, found an ad for a tire shop that could solve any tire issue, so I went directly there, Ft Pierce Battery & Tire at Ft Pierce Fl, I related the info, they started laughing and saying no problem, they cleaned out the Equal, washed & dried the inside of the tires, remounted, put on their fancy balancer, first tire took 14 oz. and the 2nd required 7 oz, so I  am off for test, up 95 at 90 mph, smooth front end, back to their shop, had the other six balanced.  Never been so happy and I only use them now.
A crap shoot, all tire shops are not up to the task, they just want your money.
Dave M

[eagle19952]

Here's your answer:

BTW we did finally get those 2 buses where the vibration was minimal after having all 8 tires spun balanced on a super high tech balancer that used at least 5 different beams to balance them at Best One Tire in Jackson, TN

[TomC]

From my 21 years on the road and 1.3 million miles of driving my own truck, I'll tell you what works. Number one-if you're buying truck tires from a place that does NOT have a spin balancing machine-drive away and find one that does.
When you buy a new tire, after they mount it, have ALL tires spun balanced before remounting on the bus. Use Centramatic balancing rings in the front. Centrimatics can help on the dual tires. And then weigh your bus by axle and run the tire pressure that is suggested by your tire manufacturer for that tire. Your bus will be smoooooth.

What doesn't work-Equal or any other kind of "balancing" powder. Golf balls in the tires or any other kind of loose balls. Balancing rings with liquid in them-just not enough weight to make a difference. I don't run any kind of balancing ring on mine (my studs are not long enough)-just had the tires spun balanced, run the correct tire pressure and make sure you have the toe checked for alignment. Good Luck, TomC

[bevans6]

I've also heard good things about the Centramatics, I had a problem on my truck that was so bad I was going to try them when I found a shop with a Hunter spin balancer.  But what I wanted to say is that none of the tires on my bus are balanced and the ride is smooth as silk.  Just a fluke?

Brian

[lostagain]

I have driven lots of buses with tires not balanced and they were just as smooth as mine now that is balanced. Next time I get tires on the bus, I'll just put them on, and if one is out of balance, have it replaced with a better tire, or balanced. I think a big tire for a bus that is out of balance is defective and should be replaced with a good one.

JC

[John316]

We always have our spin balanced. Equal didn't work for us at all. Not again.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Considering the size of our tire is is amazing that any of them are perfectly balanced.......Think about it for a second, how much smaller are our car tires?  Ever see any tire shop that does not automatically put new tires on a balancer?  Look at cars in a parking lot or at your own car, how many tires don't have any weights on either the inside or outside of the wheel?   

[TomC]

The old fashion, really complete way of balancing was with the tire on the truck spinning the entire tire, wheel and brake drum. But-after equipment came apart and injured enough tire guys, that system was ended.

Balancing a tire and wheel doesn't mean the tire is bad, it just means the combination of the tire and wheel produces an imbalance that has to be corrected. Good Luck, TomC