I worked at a tire shop for a couple years, I remember one time I popped open a big truck tire and the entire thing was FULL of balance beads. The customer was complaining about the truck pulling to the right and a severe vibration at high speeds. It probably had three gallons of balance beads. That was an interesting conversation with him
I'm still not 100% sure exactly how they work, but the GoPro weighed 7 oz, I put 8 oz of balance beats in the tire, and it was 1.5 to 2 oz off balance, So that's telling me that they're doing something just not sure exactly how.
The engineers who figure out tire construction materials & methods are brilliant!! Watching what a tire goes through has given me a whole new level of respect.😄
All my years of working on cars and I’ve never seen the inside of a tire while driving, even if you’re not a mechanic or car enthusiast this video is SWEET!
Probably 70 percent of heavy truck tires are balanced with beads. I worked 11 years in a shop with "tire" in it's name. If you would have poured a second bag of beads in your tire, it would have spun up at zero on the balancer. I have spun tires on the balancer, corrected with weights, and driven the truck. I then went back to the shop, added slightly more beads by weight than I used to balance the tire, stripped off the weights, and drove again. EVERY TIME I did this, (like 10 or 12 times), the truck was smoother with the beads. Mind you, the steering wheel ( I always did this to left front) Kind of "chugged" until the tire had been at speed for 10 or 15 seconds or so. Then it was as smooth as road force imbalance could let it be. After my research, we built the cost of beads into the price of all front tires on 19.5 inch rims and larger. All of our medium and heavy duty customers kept coming back, saying "xxx"s tires are 20 bucks cheaper, but yours run better" I understand why it is counterintuitive, but I think the beads bounce off the heavy spots because they are moving faster away from the axle centerline than the light spots.This results in the beads "finding" the right position for the tire AT THAT MOMENT. Just my opinion, hope it helps.
That is pretty much my understanding, much like water would spread out if you spin a glass smoothly. So i picture it like the vibrations on the wheel shake the beads until it reaches equilibrium and the vibration stops, effectively balancing the wheel
@@johnhufnagel He says 70% of heavy truck tires are balanced with beads because most people will only balance the front tires because you're really not going to feel vibration in unbalanced wheels on the other axles on a 1.5 ton and larger. So a lot of shops will only put weights on the front, and then toss in beads on the others just to save time.
This guy is absolutely braindead; he drives like he's the main character. Good to know the people speeding down streets honking at anyone "cutting them off" might be filming a fucking youtube video.
US consept: "Freedom driving" - feel free to be hit by a "Freedom driver" anytime soon. Otherwise; great video, that shows only things that a gynologist might see!
I became a firm believer in them the first time I used them in my RV tires. I have split rings on one of my vintage RV's and I couldn't keep the weights from flipping off. Because they are split rings, they have tubes. Dyna beads makes a tube friendly bead that you send through the valve stem. The first time I used them I was stunned at this voodoo magic! Great Video BTW!
They work because the tire is rotating around its *center of mass*. If the tire has a heavy spot, the center of mass is going to be offset towards it, Meaning even though the heavy spot itself wants to be flung outward from a static reference frame, from the rotating reference frame of the tire, the heavy spot is actually staying closer to the center and the light spot is being flung outwards the farthest. The beads, which are free to move and not a connected to the tire at all only move via centripetal force of the tire trying to pull them back to the center, and they'll collect in the high spot which is the light spot.
@@RealityCheckThat no problem! Glad that helps. I just searched and found a video titled "DynaBeads demo video" that I definitely recommend for anyone trying to visualize it. The guy used an eccentricity weighted water bottle with flexible extension in a drill to demonstrate the beads and i think it really helps to get a more intuitive feel for the phenomena.
Nope. Now, I know your are going to (firstly) trust the vendor over some stranger on the Internet, but hear me out. An unbalanced wheel on a spring suspension will drag the axle in the direction of the extra mass. That means that the heavy side is further from the centre of rotation, not closer. The way these beads work is that any on the heavy side get hit harder than those on the light side. Result, the ones on the heavy side get redistributed more than those on the light side.
I’ve eaten a couple spoonfuls of these before my recent gymnastics competitions with AMAZING results! I’m off to nationals next month and hope to get a sponsor.
This guy's a clown, ALWAYS mount a 2nd GoPro to balance your tires. These "balance beads" are just going to sandblast your GoPros, requiring them to be replaced much sooner.
Briefly studied this in engineering school. For balance beads to work the tire has to spin out of concentric. Won’t give you consistent results on spin balancer because the wheel is held firm. 2oz out of balance nothing to brag about. Some have good luck with balance beads. For others when the wheel hits a bump it spins out of concentric, moving the beads, which then have to move back into place. A bump from the road followed by a bump from imbalance. And then there is the issue of having to rebalance every time the wheel starts rolling. Some beads are sticky or use static electricity to stay in contact with the tire. That I know, OTR trucks simply do not balance any but possibly the steering tires. And use weights. Good old fashioned balancing works. There is a reason your new car doesn’t come from the factory with balance beads.
@@VndNvwYvvSvv I don't find that to be as true as it was 40 years ago. Balance motorcycles tires myself when mounting. Have checked balance before removing old tire and found it to still be pretty good. On cars my deal with Discount Tire provides free rotation. Don't believe they balance when rotating.
Amazing how well they work. In India we are using rice instead. Works the same way, but you have to replace the rice at least once a year. But we have enough of it, and it isn't very expensive.
Ive been using ceramic balance beads in all my truck, car and motorcycle tires for years. They work awesome. You must put the correct amount in the tire depending on tire size and tread width or you can have an out of balance situation from too many beads. You get a random harmonic imbalance that comes and goes when you have too many beads installed. I swear by ceramic beads. Tires last longer and they perfectly rebalance the tire every time yhe tire gets to 15mph. Ceramic beads are reuseable too. Causes no damage to tire, wheel or tps sensors.
Awesome. The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them
Yes they work, i put them in my land cruiser MT tyres after i could not get them balanced with weights, the work well. I had a flat after about 25.000 km and there was no damage in the tyre and beads were clean, no dust or other debris.
I run beads in all my truck tires, I've never had a smoother ride out of tires over 35 inchs. I've heard horror stories about Milestar Patagonia's being incredibly hard to balance but I've been through two sets of 38's on my Jeep and the beads work perfectly.
I've been using these for about a year now. I was initially under the impression they found the inbalance area and stuck to it. Your video cleared that up. They don't stick, instead it's a continuous move to find the inbalance. Awesome video. Be careful and follow the directions. Amount matters for tire size. 😊
Yeah, no. The beads don't "flow" to the place where the wheel is out of balance, like water to a low spot. Once you get up to 20-30 mph, the beads are spread all throughout the tire … completely random…and are held in place by centrifugal force. Then they stay there until you slow down enough. Then they redistribute completely randomly again the next time you take off. That's why he measured 2 different settings on his tire machine at the beginning of this video.
@@0101-s7v Like 3 marbles on the end of strings attached to a stick. Rotate the stick. Shorten one string to make off balance and see how the other string marbles react to balance the contraption if the rim will hold them. OR a frisbee on an electric drill with the BB's. Put a small weight on the frisbee ( like a penny/nickel ) to throw it out of balance and watch the marbles adjust inside the rim. Ride-on or PnuemaSeal thixotropic gels do that too. I use Rid-on in my bike tires and smooth running at all speeds.
Mechanical Engineer here. First off, excellent work and video. I’m going to take a stab at explaining the balance bead functionality. First off, any spot on the wheel or tire that is rotating around the axis of rotation is experiencing centripetal force causing acceleration of mass toward that axis of rotation. The acceleration can be calculated as (V^2)/Radius where V is tangential velocity. It can alternatively be calculated as Radius*(omega^2) where omega is rotational velocity. Well, everyone has probably heard of Newton’s second law, i.e. the sum of the forces are equal to mass times Acceleration or F=MA in the direction of the resulting force if not equal to zero. If the mass of the tire isn’t perfectly distributed, then there isn’t equal mass on the opposite side of the tire to cancel out or equalize the sum of forces caused by the acceleration forces resulting from rotation. As rotational velocity increases, the resulting forces increase by square. A heavy spot will “pull” the entire rotating assembly (rim and tire) in that direction because M in the F=MA equation is larger on that side. The beads being free to move throughout the tire will “fall” back to the side with less mass, think falling back in your seat as a car accelerates. The beads being pushed to the side of the tire with less mass essentially balances the “tire”. I understand this stuff well, but may not be the best at explaining things, so please correct anything I missed.
I'm impressed those janky ass tires survived that jankier ass street! I tried beads for the first time recently in some bigger offroad tires and now I'm a believer.
I knew they worked, I know a lot of big mud tire guys that use them because it’s almost impossible to balance those tires. But it’s so cool to see them in action. 10/10 best use of a GoPro this year.
This is also how your washing machine balances in the spin cycle. They use either a couple of balls, beads like this, or a ring of fluid (infinitesimally small beads). You normally don't notice them on top-loaders, but you can hear them roll around when you manually rotate a front-loader.
Absolute incredible video debunking all the tire shop sadists that scream these balancing beads don’t work. They just hate they can’t fleece our pockets anymore lol. More importantly getting to see the inner workings of a tire in motion in top of the bead test was amazing.
I use them on my 05 Suburban tires and they work very well. When I put the beads in mine I dumped them in the tire after you put the inside bead on the rim then dump the beads on the opposite side of the air valve and then mount the outer bead on the rim and inflate the tire,no mess with beads all over the bead seat getting stuck between the rim and the bead on the tire.
I used to drive 250 miles a night on gravel roads, on wet nights gravel would get stuck on the inside my rims and when I would hit pavement the wheels were unbalanced. I started using balance beads and they worked great for the next 2 years I did that job.
i had that same problem on my old hilux. solved by buying better wheels. that factory wheel looked like it was designed to accumulate sand, mud and debris. incredibly bad.
I had been using them on my motorcycles for over 20 years, and I had got thousands of miles more on every tire than regular balancing. Not only did my tires last forever, but the ride was smoother and no tire cupping, especially on my second gen Honda Goldwing that are famously knowing for front-end vibration. I had always waited to use them on the second set of tires and beyong on every new bike, but at this point, it is the first modification I do when I get a new bike. By the way, I always use a fresh set of beads on new tires. Thanks for the video.
Agreed. I used them in my 1983 Suzuki GS650 and always had a super smooth ride. I chatted with a rep from CounterAct, a brand of balancing beads, they don't work in everything. They work best in vehicles with stiff suspensions, such as trucks and motorcycles. They don't recommend them for passenger cars due to softer suspensions, but they see about a 75% success rate there. They also said that they won't work at super high speeds, like motorcycle racing, because the high centripetal force of the tire prevents them from properly redistributing in the tire. The reason you get additional thousands of miles is that the tires never go out of balance the way they do with traditional balancing methods. As an example, I rotate and balance my car tires every 5,000 miles. I notice how they are super smooth for the first 1,000-ish miles and then they go progressively out of balance over the next 4,000-ish miles. While they are out of balance, they are wearing unevenly. Uneven wear begets more uneven wear. Finally, I end up replacing tires because of noise and crappy ride quality rather than getting to the wear bars.
I will be lying if I say exact miles, but I remember on my 2006 M109r, I say the second set of tires lasted 4000 miles more and they were Metzelers my choice of tires (with a softer compound). I used them on my Ninja, VMax, Hayabusa, Goldwing, M109r, and my Honda Fury has now about 26000 miles and still had the factory tires.
A true Chicagoan! Drives a rustbucket onto the streets with tyres that any cop would have a fit at, slams the horn as if his lizard brain was born with the reflex when some douche cuts him off and wears sunglasses at night. Loved this video, didn't think the balance beads would work that well! Never stop
Just watched the interesting & informative vid'...was checking the comments to find a logical, scientific basis to explain the beads' effectiveness... Read your comment and couldn't help but laugh my ass off (out loud)... Thanks, from an expat' dude sitting/supping out front of a 7-11 in a small fishing port on the northeast coast of Taiwan... F**king funny as f*ck!!!
Welcome to a prime practical example of the quantum existence where the act of trying/attempting to observe the thing you want to observe directly affects the outcome of it.
Where did it impact the outcome? He said they worked. And we saw them at work. For your theory to be correct. They would have had to not work, but they did. Not to mention the only real way to see them work fully would be to use multiple cameras. We only saw a small part of the inside of the tire, and therefore the beads. ✌️
I've been running balancing beads for 9 years and over 20,000 miles in my Harley dresser motorcycle, the balance is perfect. The tires still have a few thousand miles to go on them, I contribute the high milage to continuous perfect balance. When I change the tires, I'll see the effect the beads have on the interior.
Both Dressers, 2013 Road King CVO and a 2015 St Glide with a 120 St motor. Over 20,000 miles on both. No dry rot, original tires on both. @@vinniem4404
I have 4 Harleys, actually one has 4 legs. I have 2 in Florida and one in NY. Two dressers and one Softail. I strictly ride sole and mostly highway driving.@@Ma-xi6il
I used to install counteract in tires at an old job. It's pretty cool seeing it in action. We had pre-weighed bags of the beads though. Made it much easier than your method.
I've used airsoft BBs in my HMMWV tires for about 12 years now. They work, but they do throw things off when you turn hard or change speeds. For a big heavy tire on a 2 piece wheel with PVC pipe inside, they do ok though. It would require some insane weight to get them remotely close to balanced on their own. (They are Trail Worthy Fab re-centered wheels with mil-surp tires)
I never thought the beads would work for the same reasons you did. I assumed they would gather at the heavy part and make it even worse. You learn something every day. Cool video.
Lowest energy state - if the beads went to the heaviest spot, the wheel would deform to be egg shaped, so now the weight difference of the heavy spot would fight against the force of all the other rubber having to pull in closer to the center which it doesnt want to do since its spinning. I bet it wouldn't work with liquids, which would work how you intuitively think.
I did some research on these a few years back... The heavy part becomes the "source" of the vibration when you're getting up to speed (35-45), and the beads naturally migrate away from that source.... therefore, they end up pretty much precisely on the opposite of where the vibration was, and it "cancels out"/balances the tire. That's how they work. Hopefully it makes sense for ya! I'm not too good with wording things!
👍 this video was fantastic. I've used balancing beads in my motorcycles for years. I balance the rims with normal weights (1x, rims don't usually go out of balance) and after that i just put 20g per wheel. If any stone gets trapped in the thread the beads work their "magic". From what I've read, the beads start working above 60kmh.
This has brought to my attention how much flexing a time does in three dimensions! It is amazing they last so long! Excellent video. Thanks for posting!
Those moving shots inside the tire are just mesmerizing. The shot of the air leaving the valve stem was super cool too. Also really impressive that GoPro was still recording just fine. I definitely do not understand the science behind these beads, hahaha.
There is a very good demonstration of balance beads using an empty water bottle on the end of a drill. You place a sticky weight on one side and spin it up and the beads migrate to the opposite side.
Thanks , this is amazing ! I've used them in Motorsickle tires but was always skeptical to be honest , I don't know if this answers "do they work ?" I think the balance machine said "yes" and I sure loved seeing the tire tread & sidewall doing their thang , friggin' amazing...
Now this is an awesome video!!! From what we could see the beads were evenly distributed, but to balance the GO-PRO the beads would be out of view. Perhaps next time TWO GO-PROs???
That's a good point.. if they were working wouldn't they end up at the opposite side of the go pro? Maybe there's a lot more beads in there than I realize
They're great if you have large heavy tires that either take alot of weight to balance on the machine or you don't have a machine big enough for. They're also nice cause they're faster, just drop the bag in and go (the clear bag that you saw the beads in, that bag, not the stronger outer bag) The bag is designed to rip almost instantly. So when you put them in the first time the car drives it rips open and they do their thing.
They DON'T in a big truck tire! They do not work in my motor home running on 22.5 tires! Dealer insisted on putting them in. Drove from Phoenix to OKC. Stopped and paid to have them removed at a Truck shop! Every time there was a bump or chuckhole on I-40, they would get off-balance and start hammering me! It took several miles to get smooth again, just about when I would hit another chuckhole. Truck Shop found one of my tires was perfectly balanced with no weights and the other needed 5 ounces. i will>>Never Ever allow those magic beads to be put in my tires! Fool me once: shame on you. Fool me twice: shame on me!
@@daveh5635 The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires for hundred of thousands miles. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them.
@@Roger_Rabbit_Adventures Who knew? Obviously not my tire dealer! I had them removed at the big Fleet Pride Shop in Weatherford (Hydro) OK. The experience at that shop was bad with beads, so they were not surprised. They had a brand-new state of the art spin balancer . Found one was perfect and other needed 5 ounces. Ahh , such relief! The rears didn’t seem to matter. The fronts on that Freightliner chassis were so sensitive to imbalance! Had never used Fleet Pride, but they were impressive guys there!
@@madmanonwheels5150 sometimes the ceramic or plastic can break down, but I haven't experienced that. The steel ones can be picked up with a magnet if you drop em.
Balance beads work. I use them in my motorcycle tires and in my car's mags all the time. Way better than lead weights. They keep tires balanced over their entire lifetime, unlike lead weights.
The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them. Like you said use the correct amount & make sure they are installed correctly
They do not work in my motor home running on 22.5 tires! Dealer insisted on putting them in. Drove from Phoenix to OKC. Stopped and paid to have them removed at a Truck shop! Every time there was a bump or chuckhole on I-40, they would get off-balance and start hammering me! It took several miles to get smooth again, just about when I would hit another chuckhole. Truck Shop found one of my tires was perfectly balanced with no weights and the other needed 5 ounces. i will>>Never Ever allow those magic beads to be put in my tires! Fool me once: shame on you. Fool me twice: shame on me!
100% agree. Balance beads are total bs. Might as well just put sand in your tires. The guy who came up with them is laughing from his mansion I'm sure.
I spent 2,500 bucks on a set of 33x12.50-20 wheels and tires for my truck and the shop recommended balance beads cuz they were the new best way to go. A horrible shake around 45 mph that lasted to around 70 and 3 trips back to the tire shop later they took the beads out and balanced them with some stick on weights. problem solved. Not sure why they wouldn't work for me but they wouldn't. Maybe someday ill try a different application but for now i am not a believer.
These Are About As Genius As Filling Your Tire With Fix A Flat. How Many Of These Tires Are Designed To Have A Bunch Of Plastic Balls Wearing Peculiar Parts Of The Tire From The Inside? Damn We're Dealing With A Bunch Of Fucking Downsey Einsteins.
I bought Nitto 33x12x20 for my HD2500, have had balance beads since day one, 4 years, and I have never rotated my tires, and they have worn more evenly than any tire I've ever had. 50,000 miles on them and still have half the tread!
@@robertheinkel6225 I wondered the same thing. When you buy them they come in bags, one bag per tire I guess but you would think not all tires are create equal and obviously much different in size. I surely can question the competence of the shop as well. Thier is a reason I do all my auto work myself with the exception of tires since I lack the machine and balancer.
I run 35s with 10oz of off-road beads works excellent. You went wrong going to some pea brain shop. I got my own tire spoons and mount my own. They didn't use enough beads.
"It shows it's only 2 ounces off balance"?! That is huge! That's not even close to being properly balanced. That will cause vibration, premature tire wear and premature suspension component wear, i.e. tie rod ends, etc. The first wheel balance shows 2.0 ounces out of balance on the inside edge and 0.25 ounces on the outside edge of the wheel. The second wheel balance shows 1.50 ounces out of balance on the inside edge of the wheel and 0.50 ounces out of balance in the outside edge of the wheel, which is very different than the first wheel balance. This is a huge variation and if they worked, this variation should not be happening! The tread separating from the tire's sidewall is a very dangerous condition and can cause a blowout. They appear defective to me and may be covered under warranty. Those tires are in desperate need of replacing. - BF Goodrich T/A Certified Tire Specialist.
Yes all of what you say is true, but I think the point of the video was if it could balance those crappy tires, it can balance any tire. I think he could have used more beads in the second new tire he put on the balancer at the end of the video, but nevertheless, they still worked. Correction, I did not listen the first time. He didn't even have beads in the tire at the end of the video. Just the tire on the wheel. I bet the beads woulda worked wonders on that.
@@HiTechOilCo I'm still gonna try it. If it doesn't work, I'll take it to get "properly balanced" The thing is though, this is not new technology. It's been around for years and done with plenty of other things that probably shouldn't have been in a tire, and yet still accomplished the same thing. For less than 7 bucks a tire, I'll definitely try it. And I'll return with my own results.
One of my engineering college professors was giving his take on difficult fields of engineering. Some people proposed rocket science, aerospace, etc. he claimed that tire engineering took the best engineers because it was insane how many calculations and modeling goes into designing a new tire.
Like they say "Don't drive and text" maybe you should have someone else drive and you watch the video. Even so, coming back from a trip to the coast yesterday I was thinking 'tires' probably take the most beating day after day than anything else. What's going on inside them and you just showed us. Very cool. Next time, let someone else drive, don't become a statistic.
Couple things I learned over the years, Beads work good if installed properly. The balancer may not show them as well because they do need the bumps in the roads to help situate them after centrifugal force has them stuck to the tire. The vibrations will help them spread to where they need to go. Also, I had bad luck with them when they were installed by throwing the 'Bag of beads" in the tire before tire install. Instructions say the bag will disintegrate after a while, but that take way too long. You'll get intermittent out of balance feel, and it will change every time you stop and start again because the bag remnants create a barrier and catch a bunch of the beads throwing the tire out of balance again. The way you installed them is the best and most effective. 👍
Counteract also recommends a transfer pump that is useful with semi truck tires. Have had great success with the glass beads from Counter Act. Like you said they must be installed properly! Also install the extended valve core that comes with them
@@djpg2000 you can use a funnel & hose like longslyde1 said or you can throw the 'inner bag' unopened inside the tire before mounting it. They also make a transfer pump you can use low pressure shop air to transfer them into the tire, works well for semi truck tires already mounted. Think there's an instructional video on Counter Act's site/page
After a while those beads start to tear up the tire from the inside. I’ve seen and heard of rubber “Powder” coming off from the inside because of the beads. This stopped me from using them on my Harley.
@@WarpedYTI was told they are mostly used in Re-Capped Semi Truck tires and not to put them in new tires. I stayed with the stick on weights for my Harley which don’t look good. I really wanted to give them a try, but those Harley labeled White Walls are big $$$. Thanks for Great Video! The camera inside the tire was fantastic.
No surprise to me that the balancing bit worked. 45 years ago, I used a semi-viscous motorcycle tyre sealant for the purpose of sealing any future punctures. The manufacturers also claimed that it automatically balanced the tyre (which it seemed to) and caused the tyre to run a bit cooler (which I couldn't test).
I first used balance beads when I worked at McCarthy tires on 18 wheelers I've since ran them in my motorcycle and they really work great I recommend them all the time.
We used them in our agencies firetrucks, as well as F250's F350's and agencies PD vehicles, and so far so good. No issues. We would just toss the bag into the rim with the tire not seated yet. Using the tire machine to push the tire away from the rim to provide the gap needed then we would just air up the tire. Once the vehicle gets moving, the bag breaks open and self balances and the bag doesn't get in the way or matter much.
Mine got lumps and put my tire out of balance. The tire shop said they get moisture inside the tire and sooner or later will be like a rock. Yep, total junk. Took them out of my small fleet and went back to lead weights. Expensive lesson learned.
Mind blown on the camera inside the tire view! I have used a competitor Dynabeads that are ceramic in my motorcycle tubeless tires and they work as advertised. That company recommended how much to put in different tires and putting more than that won't help you. I didn't realize there were so many competitors now.
I ran balancing beats for 6years+ on multiple cars. And yes they do work very well. Just make sure you have 1oz more in the tires per tire. The extra weight makes it even smoother on 100mph and more. The vibration you saw each time the tire hits the surface ground causes the not balanced beats to move a bit till they hit the correct spot to balancing out the whole tire assembly.
Got a guy up here in Canada who uses golf balls inside a semi truck tire for balancing, 4 of them. Works great, auto self balancing throughout the tire's wear cycle. Would love to see you experiment with other types of balls for tire balancing video.
Thank you. That was GREAT info. Jim4412 said was I was thinking while watching the video. Puts in perspective how important tire maintenance is, especially air pressure. Thanks again. P.S. Great idea putting the gopro inside the tire.
You trying to fill the beads through the valve stem cracked me up for an hour! Good video - seriously always wondered about this (use them in my motorcycles for years) too bad I still don't fathom the physics involved 😛 Guess I'm just a dope...but they work 🙂
I bought two new tires for my motorcycle. Went for an unbalanced ride and got death wobble at 55 mph. Came home and put the beads in my tubes. Like you, Its not easy to install in a tube. I found a twist tie in the plastic tube and spinning it a bit worked best. I then went for a ride. 105 mph is top speed on my KLR 650. It was very stable at that speed. I have used the same beads on numerous tubes by cutting it open and reusing
I know someone that has used balance beads forever. Never had any tire wear issues and always a smooth ride. He just mounts his tires himself and dumps some beads in there to save money. He only does this on his little daily driver Corolla though. He said it isn't ideal for highway use but if you're driving through town or on rougher roads they work perfectly. I wonder if that's because they need to be moved around properly to distribute and not build up? I wonder if the inside surface of some tires can mess with the beads as well.
I've used them for years in my motorcycle tires. With my Yamaha FJR they ran smooth as glass from 35 to 135. When I changed tires, I drilled a hole in the old tire and drained out the beads and re-used them. Never saw any interior damage to any of the tires I ran them in.
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It is amazing that the tire withstands so many deformations during its lifetime without getting tired.
Tires can get tired over time, you can also retire a tire to be like new
@@john-martinI hope I’m not too tired to enjoy being retired.
Heh
It’s rubber…
That tired old joke...
I worked at a tire shop for a couple years, I remember one time I popped open a big truck tire and the entire thing was FULL of balance beads. The customer was complaining about the truck pulling to the right and a severe vibration at high speeds. It probably had three gallons of balance beads. That was an interesting conversation with him
Lol... He probably got a flat and instead of fixing it just filled it with beads. Your comment made me crack up
This kind of reminds me of that prank RUclipsr who put beans in his PC and then called a PC repair guy.
@@SecretSauceyjuiceReminds me of that prank extraterrestrial demi-god who filled an entire planet with retards.
He probably thought they were a consumable...
A case where more is not better
I've always wanted to know if balancing beads work and how they work! Thank you!!
I'm still not 100% sure exactly how they work, but the GoPro weighed 7 oz, I put 8 oz of balance beats in the tire, and it was 1.5 to 2 oz off balance, So that's telling me that they're doing something just not sure exactly how.
Time to put them into your lawnmower oil?
Can you zero it with more beads? :)
I wonder which balance beads are the best?
@@Eduardo_Espinozagood question, the GoPro weighs 7oz and I put 8 oz of beads in there.
The engineers who figure out tire construction materials & methods are brilliant!! Watching what a tire goes through has given me a whole new level of respect.😄
I agree 💯
Dont forget, tiretechnology is even older than a car
Imagine a race tire. Cold pressures at 22-23 hot pressure 32-33. Things take a beating
Remember also that if that was up to the governments, we would still be with horses and carriages.
Not kidding!! I have worked at ford forever and man! They really do go through a lot!
All my years of working on cars and I’ve never seen the inside of a tire while driving, even if you’re not a mechanic or car enthusiast this video is SWEET!
I used to work on tires way back when. I thought this was pretty cool.
I didn’t think the tire would flex THAT much! I’m gonna go 50 and wear my seatbelt from now on!
@@Payote88 It is pretty amazing how much flex there is in a tire.
لم اهتم لموضوع الفيديو فقط شاهدته لمشاهدة الإطار من الداخل اثناء القيادة .
Probably 70 percent of heavy truck tires are balanced with beads. I worked 11 years in a shop with "tire" in it's name. If you would have poured a second bag of beads in your tire, it would have spun up at zero on the balancer. I have spun tires on the balancer, corrected with weights, and driven the truck. I then went back to the shop, added slightly more beads by weight than I used to balance the tire, stripped off the weights, and drove again. EVERY TIME I did this, (like 10 or 12 times), the truck was smoother with the beads. Mind you, the steering wheel ( I always did this to left front) Kind of "chugged" until the tire had been at speed for 10 or 15 seconds or so. Then it was as smooth as road force imbalance could let it be. After my research, we built the cost of beads into the price of all front tires on 19.5 inch rims and larger. All of our medium and heavy duty customers kept coming back, saying "xxx"s tires are 20 bucks cheaper, but yours run better" I understand why it is counterintuitive, but I think the beads bounce off the heavy spots because they are moving faster away from the axle centerline than the light spots.This results in the beads "finding" the right position for the tire AT THAT MOMENT. Just my opinion, hope it helps.
That is pretty much my understanding, much like water would spread out if you spin a glass smoothly. So i picture it like the vibrations on the wheel shake the beads until it reaches equilibrium and the vibration stops, effectively balancing the wheel
is there any reason you wouldn't want to use a combination of beads and weights?
@@johnhufnagel He says 70% of heavy truck tires are balanced with beads because most people will only balance the front tires because you're really not going to feel vibration in unbalanced wheels on the other axles on a 1.5 ton and larger. So a lot of shops will only put weights on the front, and then toss in beads on the others just to save time.
Wouldn't water do the same thing?
@@petericho71 not when frozen
Complaining about other drivers while hooning through city areas on destroyed tire(s) with cell phone in hand. Excellent.
Yeah that made me laugh
This guy is absolutely braindead; he drives like he's the main character. Good to know the people speeding down streets honking at anyone "cutting them off" might be filming a fucking youtube video.
Yep, life in the real world.
Go cry about it
He's doing science, get off his back.
50 mph in the city at night with his sunglasses on, looking at his phone driving 😂.
Don't try this at home!
With tyres ready to blow out.
@@graememckay9972 "they're in great shape!"
US consept: "Freedom driving" - feel free to be hit by a "Freedom driver" anytime soon. Otherwise; great video, that shows only things that a gynologist might see!
If you are going to test balance beads in a scientific way, then how do you expect him to dress!
Screw the beads, just seeing how the tire reacts to driving is cool and the flexing while turning is mind blowing.
I watched the video 5 times just for that alone.
They actually make beads specifically for screwing...
I became a firm believer in them the first time I used them in my RV tires. I have split rings on one of my vintage RV's and I couldn't keep the weights from flipping off. Because they are split rings, they have tubes. Dyna beads makes a tube friendly bead that you send through the valve stem. The first time I used them I was stunned at this voodoo magic! Great Video BTW!
I have a vintage RV with split rings and tubes…I want to try this. What was your tire size and how much weight of beads did you put in?
They work because the tire is rotating around its *center of mass*. If the tire has a heavy spot, the center of mass is going to be offset towards it, Meaning even though the heavy spot itself wants to be flung outward from a static reference frame, from the rotating reference frame of the tire, the heavy spot is actually staying closer to the center and the light spot is being flung outwards the farthest. The beads, which are free to move and not a connected to the tire at all only move via centripetal force of the tire trying to pull them back to the center, and they'll collect in the high spot which is the light spot.
Sticky Sticky this and give the guy some more likes plz.!
Your explanation makes sense when you think about it. Thanks.
@@RealityCheckThat no problem! Glad that helps. I just searched and found a video titled "DynaBeads demo video" that I definitely recommend for anyone trying to visualize it. The guy used an eccentricity weighted water bottle with flexible extension in a drill to demonstrate the beads and i think it really helps to get a more intuitive feel for the phenomena.
You can also see this effect if you spin an ax in the air. It looks like the handle is orbiting the ax head
Nope.
Now, I know your are going to (firstly) trust the vendor over some stranger on the Internet, but hear me out.
An unbalanced wheel on a spring suspension will drag the axle in the direction of the extra mass.
That means that the heavy side is further from the centre of rotation, not closer.
The way these beads work is that any on the heavy side get hit harder than those on the light side. Result, the ones on the heavy side get redistributed more than those on the light side.
I’ve eaten a couple spoonfuls of these before my recent gymnastics competitions with AMAZING results! I’m off to nationals next month and hope to get a sponsor.
I used a vibrator after each dose. I follow instructions.
i ate a whole bag and i became a gyroscope so precise i was able to experience earth's rotation
@@aiexzs I know you’re lying because Earth is flat. Who paid you to promote this sphere nonsense?
So you're a swinger? LOL
I think that's the balance *beam* you were supposed to "internalize"
Really makes me appreciate how tires warm up so much as you drive seeing them deform so quickly in motion.
That's why a tire mustn't be under pressured, otherwise deformation is too big, tire becomes too hot, then break or explode !
I'm more impressed with the GoPro staying attached. Some serious adhesive.
but it didn't though...
For as long as it did, great adhesive.
This guy's a clown, ALWAYS mount a 2nd GoPro to balance your tires. These "balance beads" are just going to sandblast your GoPros, requiring them to be replaced much sooner.
3M VHB Is no joke. Makes you rethink adhesive tape
I was impressed on how long the battery lasted. I can only get a battery to last an hour in my hero11
I gotta say, this is one of the coolest tire videos I have ever seen in my life.
Briefly studied this in engineering school. For balance beads to work the tire has to spin out of concentric. Won’t give you consistent results on spin balancer because the wheel is held firm. 2oz out of balance nothing to brag about.
Some have good luck with balance beads. For others when the wheel hits a bump it spins out of concentric, moving the beads, which then have to move back into place. A bump from the road followed by a bump from imbalance. And then there is the issue of having to rebalance every time the wheel starts rolling. Some beads are sticky or use static electricity to stay in contact with the tire.
That I know, OTR trucks simply do not balance any but possibly the steering tires. And use weights.
Good old fashioned balancing works. There is a reason your new car doesn’t come from the factory with balance beads.
I have to wonder if they act as an abrasive on the inside of the tire. Probably not enough to affect the service life.
They came in my Yamaha ATV tires from Factory somebody in engineering probably recommend them
Sometimes you need an engineer to call out the BS. Thank you sir!
But then you sometimes need to rebalance as the tire wears.
@@VndNvwYvvSvv I don't find that to be as true as it was 40 years ago. Balance motorcycles tires myself when mounting. Have checked balance before removing old tire and found it to still be pretty good. On cars my deal with Discount Tire provides free rotation. Don't believe they balance when rotating.
Amazing how well they work. In India we are using rice instead. Works the same way, but you have to replace the rice at least once a year. But we have enough of it, and it isn't very expensive.
And the removed rice gets sold it the local supermarket?
@@jimspc07Norway here, that would be sold as "scrxxed rice" or carcinogenic supplements
Ive been using ceramic balance beads in all my truck, car and motorcycle tires for years. They work awesome. You must put the correct amount in the tire depending on tire size and tread width or you can have an out of balance situation from too many beads. You get a random harmonic imbalance that comes and goes when you have too many beads installed.
I swear by ceramic beads. Tires last longer and they perfectly rebalance the tire every time yhe tire gets to 15mph. Ceramic beads are reuseable too. Causes no damage to tire, wheel or tps sensors.
Awesome. The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them
What about bikes?
Yes they work, i put them in my land cruiser MT tyres after i could not get them balanced with weights, the work well.
I had a flat after about 25.000 km and there was no damage in the tyre and beads were clean, no dust or other debris.
If nothing else, visually this is one of the most interesting videos I've seen in a long while!
Seeing the funnel inside the tire as the air drained from the tire was a real Warped Perception moment. Awesome
I run beads in all my truck tires, I've never had a smoother ride out of tires over 35 inchs. I've heard horror stories about Milestar Patagonia's being incredibly hard to balance but I've been through two sets of 38's on my Jeep and the beads work perfectly.
I've been using these for about a year now. I was initially under the impression they found the inbalance area and stuck to it. Your video cleared that up. They don't stick, instead it's a continuous move to find the inbalance. Awesome video. Be careful and follow the directions. Amount matters for tire size. 😊
Main purpose of balance beads is they decrease your bank account balance when you buy them
Yeah, no. The beads don't "flow" to the place where the wheel is out of balance, like water to a low spot. Once you get up to 20-30 mph, the beads are spread all throughout the tire … completely random…and are held in place by centrifugal force. Then they stay there until you slow down enough. Then they redistribute completely randomly again the next time you take off. That's why he measured 2 different settings on his tire machine at the beginning of this video.
@@0101-s7v Like 3 marbles on the end of strings attached to a stick. Rotate the stick. Shorten one string to make off balance and see how the other string marbles react to balance the contraption if the rim will hold them. OR a frisbee on an electric drill with the BB's. Put a small weight on the frisbee ( like a penny/nickel ) to throw it out of balance and watch the marbles adjust inside the rim. Ride-on or PnuemaSeal thixotropic gels do that too. I use Rid-on in my bike tires and smooth running at all speeds.
They probably stick if tire is not dry ( care about moist and grease )
4 -6 oz should cover most situations
Mechanical Engineer here. First off, excellent work and video. I’m going to take a stab at explaining the balance bead functionality. First off, any spot on the wheel or tire that is rotating around the axis of rotation is experiencing centripetal force causing acceleration of mass toward that axis of rotation. The acceleration can be calculated as (V^2)/Radius where V is tangential velocity. It can alternatively be calculated as Radius*(omega^2) where omega is rotational velocity. Well, everyone has probably heard of Newton’s second law, i.e. the sum of the forces are equal to mass times Acceleration or F=MA in the direction of the resulting force if not equal to zero. If the mass of the tire isn’t perfectly distributed, then there isn’t equal mass on the opposite side of the tire to cancel out or equalize the sum of forces caused by the acceleration forces resulting from rotation. As rotational velocity increases, the resulting forces increase by square. A heavy spot will “pull” the entire rotating assembly (rim and tire) in that direction because M in the F=MA equation is larger on that side. The beads being free to move throughout the tire will “fall” back to the side with less mass, think falling back in your seat as a car accelerates. The beads being pushed to the side of the tire with less mass essentially balances the “tire”. I understand this stuff well, but may not be the best at explaining things, so please correct anything I missed.
0:08 quick tip: don’t let your tire get to such a poor position.
It's very normal👌👍 *not*
I'm impressed those janky ass tires survived that jankier ass street! I tried beads for the first time recently in some bigger offroad tires and now I'm a believer.
I knew they worked, I know a lot of big mud tire guys that use them because it’s almost impossible to balance those tires. But it’s so cool to see them in action. 10/10 best use of a GoPro this year.
Antifreeze works too
@@juliogonzo2718 liquid in a tire does the opposite it makes it unbalanced
@@joshmanis9860 how would it work opposite?
This is also how your washing machine balances in the spin cycle. They use either a couple of balls, beads like this, or a ring of fluid (infinitesimally small beads). You normally don't notice them on top-loaders, but you can hear them roll around when you manually rotate a front-loader.
Absolute incredible video debunking all the tire shop sadists that scream these balancing beads don’t work. They just hate they can’t fleece our pockets anymore lol. More importantly getting to see the inner workings of a tire in motion in top of the bead test was amazing.
I use them on my 05 Suburban tires and they work very well. When I put the beads in mine I dumped them in the tire after you put the inside bead on the rim then dump the beads on the opposite side of the air valve and then mount the outer bead on the rim and inflate the tire,no mess with beads all over the bead seat getting stuck between the rim and the bead on the tire.
I used to drive 250 miles a night on gravel roads, on wet nights gravel would get stuck on the inside my rims and when I would hit pavement the wheels were unbalanced. I started using balance beads and they worked great for the next 2 years I did that job.
i had that same problem on my old hilux. solved by buying better wheels. that factory wheel looked like it was designed to accumulate sand, mud and debris. incredibly bad.
looking at a video, driving in urban traffic, at night, IN SUNGLASSES. SUPER GENIUS
+with tyres that about to desintegrate
@@danibot3000a
@@danibot3000sad sadc
It's actually illegal to be driving on tires that bad. Yeah that was all pretty cringe
one hand on the phone, the other on the horn
I had been using them on my motorcycles for over 20 years, and I had got thousands of miles more on every tire than regular balancing. Not only did my tires last forever, but the ride was smoother and no tire cupping, especially on my second gen Honda Goldwing that are famously knowing for front-end vibration. I had always waited to use them on the second set of tires and beyong on every new bike, but at this point, it is the first modification I do when I get a new bike. By the way, I always use a fresh set of beads on new tires. Thanks for the video.
How about some hard numbers for comparison?
@@michaelvachon1334You are joking? To suggest you got thousands of kilometres more from a tyre with these things in it is just ridiculous.
Agreed. I used them in my 1983 Suzuki GS650 and always had a super smooth ride.
I chatted with a rep from CounterAct, a brand of balancing beads, they don't work in everything. They work best in vehicles with stiff suspensions, such as trucks and motorcycles. They don't recommend them for passenger cars due to softer suspensions, but they see about a 75% success rate there. They also said that they won't work at super high speeds, like motorcycle racing, because the high centripetal force of the tire prevents them from properly redistributing in the tire.
The reason you get additional thousands of miles is that the tires never go out of balance the way they do with traditional balancing methods. As an example, I rotate and balance my car tires every 5,000 miles. I notice how they are super smooth for the first 1,000-ish miles and then they go progressively out of balance over the next 4,000-ish miles. While they are out of balance, they are wearing unevenly. Uneven wear begets more uneven wear. Finally, I end up replacing tires because of noise and crappy ride quality rather than getting to the wear bars.
@@paulsmith4701- I wasn't making any such claim. I'm quite skeptical of these products.
I will be lying if I say exact miles, but I remember on my 2006 M109r, I say the second set of tires lasted 4000 miles more and they were Metzelers my choice of tires (with a softer compound). I used them on my Ninja, VMax, Hayabusa, Goldwing, M109r, and my Honda Fury has now about 26000 miles and still had the factory tires.
You got at least another 45K thousand miles on those tires man. Lucky to find such good tires these days.
I thought so too, but I ended up changing them lol
Funny intro. Super degradated tire in a fancy shop garage. I always thought tires had tubes in them so that was very interesting to find out.
Thanks 👍
A true Chicagoan! Drives a rustbucket onto the streets with tyres that any cop would have a fit at, slams the horn as if his lizard brain was born with the reflex when some douche cuts him off and wears sunglasses at night.
Loved this video, didn't think the balance beads would work that well!
Never stop
Illinois has state inspection 🧐..this is more a Detroit thing to do.. we just don't have a real city to drive in
Hahaha ..
Actually he didn't cut me off, he made a u-turn from the oncoming traffic, but again like you said a Chicagoan thing I'm sure
@@throttleblip1 No it doesn't.
They used to inspect pick ups but that ended in the 80's.
Just watched the interesting & informative vid'...was checking the comments to find a logical, scientific basis to explain the beads' effectiveness...
Read your comment and couldn't help but laugh my ass off (out loud)...
Thanks, from an expat' dude sitting/supping out front of a 7-11 in a small fishing port on the northeast coast of Taiwan...
F**king funny as f*ck!!!
Welcome to a prime practical example of the quantum existence where the act of trying/attempting to observe the thing you want to observe directly affects the outcome of it.
Where did it impact the outcome? He said they worked. And we saw them at work. For your theory to be correct. They would have had to not work, but they did.
Not to mention the only real way to see them work fully would be to use multiple cameras. We only saw a small part of the inside of the tire, and therefore the beads. ✌️
@@amb3cog put them in your tires every bump will throw your balance off
@@Wtfsazerk WTF does that have to do with this conversation? We're taking about the observer effect. Not tire beads friend. Reading is fundamental. ✌️
Such as the effect of shoving a GoPro in? :)
I've been running balancing beads for 9 years and over 20,000 miles in my Harley dresser motorcycle, the balance is perfect. The tires still have a few thousand miles to go on them, I contribute the high milage to continuous perfect balance. When I change the tires, I'll see the effect the beads have on the interior.
You got 20k out of a set of tires on your dresser?
Both Dressers, 2013 Road King CVO and a 2015 St Glide with a 120 St motor. Over 20,000 miles on both. No dry rot, original tires on both. @@vinniem4404
It took you 9 years to go 20,000 miles?
I have 4 Harleys, actually one has 4 legs. I have 2 in Florida and one in NY. Two dressers and one Softail. I strictly ride sole and mostly highway driving.@@Ma-xi6il
I used to install counteract in tires at an old job. It's pretty cool seeing it in action. We had pre-weighed bags of the beads though. Made it much easier than your method.
I've used airsoft BBs in my HMMWV tires for about 12 years now. They work, but they do throw things off when you turn hard or change speeds. For a big heavy tire on a 2 piece wheel with PVC pipe inside, they do ok though. It would require some insane weight to get them remotely close to balanced on their own. (They are Trail Worthy Fab re-centered wheels with mil-surp tires)
I never thought the beads would work for the same reasons you did. I assumed they would gather at the heavy part and make it even worse. You learn something every day. Cool video.
True the centrifugal would just spread the beads the wieght on balance usually never changes ?
Lowest energy state - if the beads went to the heaviest spot, the wheel would deform to be egg shaped, so now the weight difference of the heavy spot would fight against the force of all the other rubber having to pull in closer to the center which it doesnt want to do since its spinning. I bet it wouldn't work with liquids, which would work how you intuitively think.
@@cannaroe1213A fine powder suspended in air, behaves like liquid. So now you alo know how the latex anti-leak milks work.
I did some research on these a few years back...
The heavy part becomes the "source" of the vibration when you're getting up to speed (35-45), and the beads naturally migrate away from that source.... therefore, they end up pretty much precisely on the opposite of where the vibration was, and it "cancels out"/balances the tire. That's how they work. Hopefully it makes sense for ya! I'm not too good with wording things!
@@billymanilli your message is clear to a techie!
👍 this video was fantastic. I've used balancing beads in my motorcycles for years. I balance the rims with normal weights (1x, rims don't usually go out of balance) and after that i just put 20g per wheel. If any stone gets trapped in the thread the beads work their "magic".
From what I've read, the beads start working above 60kmh.
His footage show them kicking in at well under 35mph, by the time he shows he hit 37(which is almost 60kmh) they had already been sticking in place.
@@XiaolinDraconis Exactly, but prior to Go-pros inside a tire it would be kinda difficult to understand the behaviour, I guess.
@@paulojrg put them in a pop bottle and spin it with a drill or search for that video it will help you wrap your head around what's going on.
@@shaner.5 That was the example from DynaBeads, not a real world though.
This has brought to my attention how much flexing a time does in three dimensions! It is amazing they last so long!
Excellent video. Thanks for posting!
Thank you, yeah it's actually really amazing The amount of movement a tire goes through and it's lifetime not to mention all the stresses
@@WarpedYT plus many drive with them under inflated! Lots more sidewall movement!!
Those moving shots inside the tire are just mesmerizing. The shot of the air leaving the valve stem was super cool too. Also really impressive that GoPro was still recording just fine. I definitely do not understand the science behind these beads, hahaha.
that's because there IS no science behind them. LOL.
@@jakeg1967 Well there's certainly a lot of science, just doesn't necessarily demonstrate that they actually work. 😂
There is a very good demonstration of balance beads using an empty water bottle on the end of a drill. You place a sticky weight on one side and spin it up and the beads migrate to the opposite side.
Thanks , this is amazing ! I've used them in Motorsickle tires but was always skeptical to be honest , I don't know if this answers "do they work ?" I think the balance machine said "yes" and I sure loved seeing the tire tread & sidewall doing their thang , friggin' amazing...
Don't google "vibrating beads inside cavity"
lol
@@thecatdaddy1974 I already did that. First return was something like ...Asian teen happy ending
😂
lol please don’t I’m stubborn so 😂🤦🏼🤷🏼 I wish I didn’t
Now I have to…😂
I have no freaking clue what I expected but wow thank you so much.
I'm more amazed that you got a gopro to run long enough to capture the footage without glitching out.
Maybe it's an older GoPro. The OG GoPros were champs. It's the newer ones where quality has taken a serious decline.
I am now truly impressed with the workings of a tire I had no idea that it went through so many repetitive movements and flexing. Pretty amazing
Now this is an awesome video!!! From what we could see the beads were evenly distributed, but to balance the GO-PRO the beads would be out of view. Perhaps next time TWO GO-PROs???
That's a good point.. if they were working wouldn't they end up at the opposite side of the go pro? Maybe there's a lot more beads in there than I realize
Ok, so need enuf beads to counter imbalance. Probly a counter weight opposit the go pro so the GoPro is on the light side.
Never heard of those, looks pretty cool. amazing little things, did not expect them to do a lot.
They're great if you have large heavy tires that either take alot of weight to balance on the machine or you don't have a machine big enough for.
They're also nice cause they're faster, just drop the bag in and go (the clear bag that you saw the beads in, that bag, not the stronger outer bag)
The bag is designed to rip almost instantly. So when you put them in the first time the car drives it rips open and they do their thing.
They DON'T in a big truck tire! They do not work in my motor home running on 22.5 tires! Dealer insisted on putting them in. Drove from Phoenix to OKC. Stopped and paid to have them removed at a Truck shop! Every time there was a bump or chuckhole on I-40, they would get off-balance and start hammering me! It took several miles to get smooth again, just about when I would hit another chuckhole. Truck Shop found one of my tires was perfectly balanced with no weights and the other needed 5 ounces. i will>>Never Ever allow those magic beads to be put in my tires! Fool me once: shame on you. Fool me twice: shame on me!
@@daveh5635 The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires for hundred of thousands miles. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them.
@@Roger_Rabbit_Adventures Who knew? Obviously not my tire dealer! I had them removed at the big Fleet Pride Shop in Weatherford (Hydro) OK. The experience at that shop was bad with beads, so they were not surprised. They had a brand-new state of the art spin balancer . Found one was perfect and other needed 5 ounces. Ahh , such relief! The rears didn’t seem to matter. The fronts on that Freightliner chassis were so sensitive to imbalance! Had never used Fleet Pride, but they were impressive guys there!
I've been using them in my motorcycle tires for a decade and 150,000 miles. They work great!!! I use the steel beads because you can reuse them.
I reuse ceramic beads all the time in my motorcycle
What brand are the steel and ceramic ones? And what's the advantage of the ceramic beads, compared to the plastic and steel ones?
@@madmanonwheels5150 sometimes the ceramic or plastic can break down, but I haven't experienced that. The steel ones can be picked up with a magnet if you drop em.
@@tman7449,
Oh. Okay. Thanks
Balance beads work. I use them in my motorcycle tires and in my car's mags all the time. Way better than lead weights. They keep tires balanced over their entire lifetime, unlike lead weights.
We use balance beads on medium and heavy duty Trk tires. They mostly work great as long as you use the correct amount for the tire size.
The Counter Act balancing beads he shows here are not plastic but rather smooth glass beads. I use them in my Semi Truck tires. There's a chart that shows the proper Ounce bag to use for your size tire. Also install the extended valve core that comes with them. Like you said use the correct amount & make sure they are installed correctly
This cat ignores physics and Google, but nails RUclips videos that spotlight his balance cluelessness. You do you, bro.
They do not work in my motor home running on 22.5 tires! Dealer insisted on putting them in. Drove from Phoenix to OKC. Stopped and paid to have them removed at a Truck shop! Every time there was a bump or chuckhole on I-40, they would get off-balance and start hammering me! It took several miles to get smooth again, just about when I would hit another chuckhole. Truck Shop found one of my tires was perfectly balanced with no weights and the other needed 5 ounces. i will>>Never Ever allow those magic beads to be put in my tires! Fool me once: shame on you. Fool me twice: shame on me!
100% agree. Balance beads are total bs. Might as well just put sand in your tires. The guy who came up with them is laughing from his mansion I'm sure.
I spent 2,500 bucks on a set of 33x12.50-20 wheels and tires for my truck and the shop recommended balance beads cuz they were the new best way to go. A horrible shake around 45 mph that lasted to around 70 and 3 trips back to the tire shop later they took the beads out and balanced them with some stick on weights. problem solved. Not sure why they wouldn't work for me but they wouldn't. Maybe someday ill try a different application but for now i am not a believer.
These Are About As Genius As Filling Your Tire With Fix A Flat. How Many Of These Tires Are Designed To Have A Bunch Of Plastic Balls Wearing Peculiar Parts Of The Tire From The Inside? Damn We're Dealing With A Bunch Of Fucking Downsey Einsteins.
It makes me wonder if there weren’t enough beads in the tire to make it work
I bought Nitto 33x12x20 for my HD2500, have had balance beads since day one, 4 years, and I have never rotated my tires, and they have worn more evenly than any tire I've ever had. 50,000 miles on them and still have half the tread!
@@robertheinkel6225 I wondered the same thing. When you buy them they come in bags, one bag per tire I guess but you would think not all tires are create equal and obviously much different in size. I surely can question the competence of the shop as well. Thier is a reason I do all my auto work myself with the exception of tires since I lack the machine and balancer.
I run 35s with 10oz of off-road beads works excellent. You went wrong going to some pea brain shop. I got my own tire spoons and mount my own. They didn't use enough beads.
"It shows it's only 2 ounces off balance"?! That is huge! That's not even close to being properly balanced. That will cause vibration, premature tire wear and premature suspension component wear, i.e. tie rod ends, etc. The first wheel balance shows 2.0 ounces out of balance on the inside edge and 0.25 ounces on the outside edge of the wheel. The second wheel balance shows 1.50 ounces out of balance on the inside edge of the wheel and 0.50 ounces out of balance in the outside edge of the wheel, which is very different than the first wheel balance. This is a huge variation and if they worked, this variation should not be happening! The tread separating from the tire's sidewall is a very dangerous condition and can cause a blowout. They appear defective to me and may be covered under warranty. Those tires are in desperate need of replacing. - BF Goodrich T/A Certified Tire Specialist.
But the host said they were in "great" condition. 😅
Yes all of what you say is true, but I think the point of the video was if it could balance those crappy tires, it can balance any tire. I think he could have used more beads in the second new tire he put on the balancer at the end of the video, but nevertheless, they still worked.
Correction, I did not listen the first time. He didn't even have beads in the tire at the end of the video. Just the tire on the wheel. I bet the beads woulda worked wonders on that.
@@Red1red1MC- As the results of the wheel balancing demonstrated, the beads didn't work. There is no replacement for a proper wheel balancing job.
Keep in mind he had a 4-6oz camera in the tire. Unless he supplied the same weight in beads, they could not possibly balance it out.
@@HiTechOilCo I'm still gonna try it. If it doesn't work, I'll take it to get "properly balanced"
The thing is though, this is not new technology. It's been around for years and done with plenty of other things that probably shouldn't have been in a tire, and yet still accomplished the same thing. For less than 7 bucks a tire, I'll definitely try it. And I'll return with my own results.
One of my engineering college professors was giving his take on difficult fields of engineering. Some people proposed rocket science, aerospace, etc. he claimed that tire engineering took the best engineers because it was insane how many calculations and modeling goes into designing a new tire.
Amazing video man!!
Thanks
I bet shops love these when they go spilling everywhere during a tire replacement..
Actually, i use antifreeze in my truck wheels and the shops never spilled more than a few drops so eh?
At least it's not fix a flat or slime
@@Barty.Crowellyeah, finding a half gallon of tire slime is NO fun, talk about a mess.
@1924ab yea especially after they forget about it and drive months or longer with that crqp inside, through a couple hot and cold months. Yuck
Fix a flat will ruin the tire pressure sensors. @@Barty.Crowell
Always wanted to know how those worked, this will be cool.
I remember working at a tire shop and being surprised when all these beads were in a tire!
They’re in great shape?!? Hell no! Buy new tires that aren’t falling apart.
That's... The joke.
I hope there's as much sarcasm in this comment as there was in him saying the tyre are in great shape 😅
Great video! I use BBs and antifreeze to balance the mud tires on my lifted Chevy. The faster I drive, the better the tires balance out.
The best use of a GoPro I've seen yet.
Now I know your daughter dressed you this morning. lol Cool video.
LOL my creative director is a 2nd grader, i need new pants tho
I was trying to think of a similar comment, but yours would be hard to beat...
Wow, this was a really cool video. I never thought these balance beads would do much.
Interesting! I never heard about tire beads. As you showed, they seem to be quite effective. Thanks Matt!
Like they say "Don't drive and text" maybe you should have someone else drive and you watch the video. Even so, coming back from a trip to the coast yesterday I was thinking 'tires' probably take the most beating day after day than anything else. What's going on inside them and you just showed us. Very cool. Next time, let someone else drive, don't become a statistic.
Couple things I learned over the years, Beads work good if installed properly. The balancer may not show them as well because they do need the bumps in the roads to help situate them after centrifugal force has them stuck to the tire. The vibrations will help them spread to where they need to go. Also, I had bad luck with them when they were installed by throwing the 'Bag of beads" in the tire before tire install. Instructions say the bag will disintegrate after a while, but that take way too long. You'll get intermittent out of balance feel, and it will change every time you stop and start again because the bag remnants create a barrier and catch a bunch of the beads throwing the tire out of balance again. The way you installed them is the best and most effective. 👍
Counteract also recommends a transfer pump that is useful with semi truck tires. Have had great success with the glass beads from Counter Act. Like you said they must be installed properly! Also install the extended valve core that comes with them
I got some tire lube on my beads when I installed them that way. They were clumping together inside the tires so I had to vacuum them out. Any ideas?
Use a funnel with a hose that goes past the in the tire, then set the bead. That seems to work best for me anyway...
@@djpg2000 you can use a funnel & hose like longslyde1 said or you can throw the 'inner bag' unopened inside the tire before mounting it. They also make a transfer pump you can use low pressure shop air to transfer them into the tire, works well for semi truck tires already mounted. Think there's an instructional video on Counter Act's site/page
8:32 This man wears his sunglasses at night.
As you can see my tires are in great shape 😂😂😂
4:53 The balance beads don’t actually work untill over 35 mph
No it was less than that I think it was like 12 MPH
This is pretty amazing footage. It’s really cool to see what the tire does when it’s rotating on a vehicle. I had no idea that they flexed so much.
It's amazing that so many people didn't know that while driving, the tire flexes with every revolution of the wheel.
If you wanna see whats inside thr tire skip to 5:35
Thank you, now I know
Wait what-@@WarpedYT
Thanks but i have sponsorblock
i recommend sponsorblock for yall who ever want to just skip to the highlight of the video
After a while those beads start to tear up the tire from the inside. I’ve seen and heard of rubber “Powder” coming off from the inside because of the beads.
This stopped me from using them on my Harley.
I was thinking about that.
@@WarpedYTI was told they are mostly used in Re-Capped Semi Truck tires and not to put them in new tires.
I stayed with the stick on weights for my Harley which don’t look good.
I really wanted to give them a try, but those Harley labeled White Walls are big $$$.
Thanks for Great Video! The camera inside the tire was fantastic.
At 8:11 the balance beads transform a van into a sedan.
No surprise to me that the balancing bit worked. 45 years ago, I used a semi-viscous motorcycle tyre sealant for the purpose of sealing any future punctures. The manufacturers also claimed that it automatically balanced the tyre (which it seemed to) and caused the tyre to run a bit cooler (which I couldn't test).
I first used balance beads when I worked at McCarthy tires on 18 wheelers I've since ran them in my motorcycle and they really work great I recommend them all the time.
Would love to have seen the balance on the machine with the only the Go Pro and then the balance on the machine after the beads are added - to compare
I'm curious how the beads would work below freezing. If there is moisture inside your tire, will it cause beads to clump together?
Centrifugal force and inertia dude!
We used them in our agencies firetrucks, as well as F250's F350's and agencies PD vehicles, and so far so good. No issues. We would just toss the bag into the rim with the tire not seated yet. Using the tire machine to push the tire away from the rim to provide the gap needed then we would just air up the tire. Once the vehicle gets moving, the bag breaks open and self balances and the bag doesn't get in the way or matter much.
Mine got lumps and put my tire out of balance. The tire shop said they get moisture inside the tire and sooner or later will be like a rock. Yep, total junk. Took them out of my small fleet and went back to lead weights. Expensive lesson learned.
Mind blown on the camera inside the tire view! I have used a competitor Dynabeads that are ceramic in my motorcycle tubeless tires and they work as advertised. That company recommended how much to put in different tires and putting more than that won't help you. I didn't realize there were so many competitors now.
One of the best car videos !! Thx from Germany
I ran balancing beats for 6years+ on multiple cars. And yes they do work very well. Just make sure you have 1oz more in the tires per tire. The extra weight makes it even smoother on 100mph and more. The vibration you saw each time the tire hits the surface ground causes the not balanced beats to move a bit till they hit the correct spot to balancing out the whole tire assembly.
Got a guy up here in Canada who uses golf balls inside a semi truck tire for balancing, 4 of them. Works great, auto self balancing throughout the tire's wear cycle. Would love to see you experiment with other types of balls for tire balancing video.
Thank you. That was GREAT info. Jim4412 said was I was thinking while watching the video. Puts in perspective how important tire maintenance is, especially air pressure. Thanks again. P.S. Great idea putting the gopro inside the tire.
You trying to fill the beads through the valve stem cracked me up for an hour! Good video - seriously always wondered about this (use them in my motorcycles for years) too bad I still don't fathom the physics involved 😛 Guess I'm just a dope...but they work 🙂
A very creative way to sandblast a GoPro, cool video.
I was fascinated with this video. Nice dude!
Used balance beads on a set of 37" tires years ago. The truck drove smooth as glass. Plan to use them again on my next set of tires.
I bought two new tires for my motorcycle. Went for an unbalanced ride and got death wobble at 55 mph. Came home and put the beads in my tubes. Like you, Its not easy to install in a tube. I found a twist tie in the plastic tube and spinning it a bit worked best. I then went for a ride. 105 mph is top speed on my KLR 650. It was very stable at that speed. I have used the same beads on numerous tubes by cutting it open and reusing
I know someone that has used balance beads forever. Never had any tire wear issues and always a smooth ride. He just mounts his tires himself and dumps some beads in there to save money. He only does this on his little daily driver Corolla though. He said it isn't ideal for highway use but if you're driving through town or on rougher roads they work perfectly. I wonder if that's because they need to be moved around properly to distribute and not build up? I wonder if the inside surface of some tires can mess with the beads as well.
I've used them for years in my motorcycle tires. With my Yamaha FJR they ran smooth as glass from 35 to 135. When I changed tires, I drilled a hole in the old tire and drained out the beads and re-used them. Never saw any interior damage to any of the tires I ran them in.
*After watching this video,the tyres gained my respect*
It's really insane how much abuse they go through and stay reliable, it's kind of crazy to think about
This is going to make me more humble with the gas pedal when driving from now on. 😅😅 I have so much respect for Tyres. Thank you.
Very cool to see that tire flex that much while driving amazing.