Anybody use Dyna Beads?

ashooter

Adventurer
Anybody use Dyna Beads to balance your tires?

If so, long term likes/dislikes? I heard a rumor that they could break down into a powder after a while and then not work at all. Any truth to this?

FYI - the Centramatic thing is out for me because I'd have to use a 1" spacer to clear my calipers on the front. For a variety of reasons, I want to stay away from spacers.
 

prepmech

Observer
I use airsoft BBs in my 35s and they work great. We put them in my wife's WK with Bridgestone Dueller Revos on it, and they don't work at all. The Revos have ridges inside the tire that prevent the BBs to moving into place when the tire is spinning. I've used some of the smaller beads for semi tires, and they would get stuck in my valve stems when airing down or checking my tire pressure.
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
ashooter said:
Anybody use Dyna Beads to balance your tires?

If so, long term likes/dislikes? I heard a rumor that they could break down into a powder after a while and then not work at all. Any truth to this?

FYI - the Centramatic thing is out for me because I'd have to use a 1" spacer to clear my calipers on the front. For a variety of reasons, I want to stay away from spacers.


Yes I have/am used Dyna Beads. I have 315R75 16 Goodyear MT/R's...they're notorious for balance issues mine included. I installed 8oz of Dyna Beads into each tire about 18-months ago. I did not remove the existing balance weights...which after chunking since my last re-balance weren't in balance anyway (but I believe, to be fair, Dyna Bead recommends removing the existing balance weights).

They performed OK but not very well below about 50mph. You need to get the tires spinning before you feel their affect. I still had balance issues/tire vibrations at speeds greater than 50mph but the beads did reduce the balance issues approximately 80%.

Since then I have found a tire guy with a german made tire balancer that gets the same tires balanced perfectly. I however moved the Dyna Bead MT/R's to my Adventure Trailers Horizon model trailer and hate them. I need to have them removed and balanced I think to take care of the balance issues.

So whether or not I should have used more than 8oz per tire or not (8oz was the recommended amount per Dyna Bead) to balance effectively or removed the existing lead weights (which I will try on my AT before I go another route) I can't say. Overall it did help but not 100%.

I probably won't bother with them again as even if they are close to 100% effective for my size and type tires they don't become 'active' until 50mph or above.
 

ashooter

Adventurer
spressomon said:
...I probably won't bother with them again as even if they are close to 100% effective for my size and type tires they don't become 'active' until 50mph or above.


Yeah, I think their website says that the beads don't do much of anything below 45 mph, but I doubt any of the "dynamic balancing" systems do.

I wonder how much you would even feel an out of balance tire at speeds below 45 mph? I would think that at lower speeds, if you are feeling an "out of balance" tire, you probably actually have something else wrong - alignment, damaged out-of-round tire, etc.
 

Nullifier

Expedition Leader
I have been runing htem for a year and a half and have no issues. my tires never seem to be out of balance.
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
ashooter said:
Yeah, I think their website says that the beads don't do much of anything below 45 mph, but I doubt any of the "dynamic balancing" systems do.

I wonder how much you would even feel an out of balance tire at speeds below 45 mph? I would think that at lower speeds, if you are feeling an "out of balance" tire, you probably actually have something else wrong - alignment, damaged out-of-round tire, etc.


Well...I definitely felt the out of balance tires between 45mph and abot 50-53mph. Once above that speed range they smooth out.
 

Chas Stricker

Adventurer
I put the Dynabeads in my tires about 4 years ago. Before them the PO had some fluid stuff that didn't work for Poo. I didn't know I had that stuff in there until I dismounted all the tires to install the Dynabeads. I also have a bumpy spot sometimes around 45-50mph. I'm using 20oz (I think) per wheel and am very happy with not having to worry about it again. I would use this stuff again in a heartbeat. My wear is normal for a Mog.
Chas
 

madizell

Explorer
ashooter said:
I wonder how much you would even feel an out of balance tire at speeds below 45 mph? I would think that at lower speeds, if you are feeling an "out of balance" tire, you probably actually have something else wrong - alignment, damaged out-of-round tire, etc.

Whether or not you can "feel" the out of balance condition at lower speeds, if it is there, your tire knows it, and the wear pattern will reflect it eventually. Out of balance also contributes to most of those "other" problems, except for an actually damaged tire which should be replaced anyway.

Beads have to be spinning sufficiently for the mass of the bead to be affected so as to redistribute the beads, and to be held against the inner perimeter of the tire, rather than having them cascade around inside like clothes in a front loading wash machine. Until the tire is spinning fast enough for centripetal acceleration to hold the beads against the tire, they don't do a thing. If your tire is more than 8 ounces out of balance, naturally 8 ounces of bead won't correct the problem, nor can the beads align themselves in such a way that 8 ounces will actually cure an 8 ounce out of balance condition. You need a bit more beads than the imbalance calls for because they will be strung out in the area that needs them rather than concentrated on the spot where the actual weight will do the most good.

It isn't that beads don't work. They do. Physics tells us that they have to. But how well they work as a tire balancing device is a different question. If beads can balance a tire, so can balancing weights properly applied. I figure that if I can balance a 37 inch Bogger with a Harbor Freight bubble balancer and stick on weights, any tire can be balanced with a real balancing machine and a qualified tech.
 

ashooter

Adventurer
madizell said:
...Beads have to be spinning sufficiently for the mass of the bead to be affected so as to redistribute the beads, and to be held against the inner perimeter of the tire, rather than having them cascade around inside like clothes in a front loading wash machine....


I posted this same question over at ih8mud and somebody there said they use "Counteract beads", which use static electricity to hold the beads in place inside the tire even after you stop. The way I understand it, this should make the tire stay in balance even at low speeds, but still allow the beads to shift around inside the tire to adjust as needed to keep the tire in balance.

Anybody know anything about these Counteract beads?
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
madizell said:
Whether or not you can "feel" the out of balance condition at lower speeds, if it is there, your tire knows it, and the wear pattern will reflect it eventually. Out of balance also contributes to most of those "other" problems, except for an actually damaged tire which should be replaced anyway.

Beads have to be spinning sufficiently for the mass of the bead to be affected so as to redistribute the beads, and to be held against the inner perimeter of the tire, rather than having them cascade around inside like clothes in a front loading wash machine. Until the tire is spinning fast enough for centripetal acceleration to hold the beads against the tire, they don't do a thing. If your tire is more than 8 ounces out of balance, naturally 8 ounces of bead won't correct the problem, nor can the beads align themselves in such a way that 8 ounces will actually cure an 8 ounce out of balance condition. You need a bit more beads than the imbalance calls for because they will be strung out in the area that needs them rather than concentrated on the spot where the actual weight will do the most good.

It isn't that beads don't work. They do. Physics tells us that they have to. But how well they work as a tire balancing device is a different question. If beads can balance a tire, so can balancing weights properly applied. I figure that if I can balance a 37 inch Bogger with a Harbor Freight bubble balancer and stick on weights, any tire can be balanced with a real balancing machine and a qualified tech.


Correct. The convenience with the beads or similar lies when you have small stones/rocks stuck in the tread and/or mud and/or chunks missing since your last balance job.
 

peekay

Adventurer
would it be possible to balance the tires with traditional lead weights, and then adding the dynabeads? That would seem to solve the low speed issues, and the Dynabeads could fine-tune the high speed vibrations.
 

spressomon

Expedition Leader
peekay said:
would it be possible to balance the tires with traditional lead weights, and then adding the dynabeads? That would seem to solve the low speed issues, and the Dynabeads could fine-tune the high speed vibrations.


Well...that's how I have the 35" MT/R's set up on my AT trailer and it doesn't really work that well until 55mph-ish is reached.
 

Lynn

Expedition Leader
peekay said:
would it be possible to balance the tires with traditional lead weights, and then adding the dynabeads? That would seem to solve the low speed issues, and the Dynabeads could fine-tune the high speed vibrations.

Even if the tires are balanced in the traditional manner, the beads are going to 'unbalance' it until they get distributed at ~55mph.
 

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