Balancing Tires

mikelens · Post by **mikelens** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:46 am

Time for a new front tire. Removed the wheel from my 1500, removed 2 strips of 5 weights, cleaned & polished the wheel before taking it to the shop. When I picked it up, tech said it balanced with no weights. When I questioned this, since it had 2 1/2 ozs. on it prior, he stated it came up as 3 grams out which is nothing, there are no weights that small & all would be fine. What are your thoughts? Is 3 grams really nothing or is this tech Full Of It?

cbx4evr · Post by **cbx4evr** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 10:41 am

3 grams is less than 1/8 oz. I think the smallest weight is 1/4 oz. but don't quote me on that.

In any case have you given any thought to the use of Dyna Beads?? Do a forum search on it. Many folks use them myself included. These will balance the wheel to less than 1 gram.

golden highway · Post by **golden highway** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:54 pm

Dyna Beads are the best way to go no matter what.

Bad Blake · Post by **Bad Blake** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:07 pm

I have mounted Cobras that required no weights. The tire balanced anywhere it was stopped.

tfdeputydawg · Post by **tfdeputydawg** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:36 pm

RideOn is a balancer and sealant

minimac · Post by **minimac** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 9:04 am

The combination sealers/balancers work as advertised, but leave a gooey sloppy mess inside when it is time to change the tire. Personally, I run the Dyna Beads and really like them. A lot. I'm sure there may be other similar products, but the thing I like best about the Dyna Beads is after 18K miles, there is still no cupping on my front tire.

tfdeputydawg · Post by **tfdeputydawg** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:09 pm

minimac wrote:The combination sealers/balancers work as advertised, but leave a gooey sloppy mess inside when it is time to change the tire. Personally, I run the Dyna Beads and really like them. A lot. I'm sure there may be other similar products, but the thing I like best about the Dyna Beads is after 18K miles, there is still no cupping on my front tire.

RieOn does not do this! It locates in the tire and is not a problem when changing tires. It stays iin the tire. I have used this product for years in many tires with no problems at all. The only NO-NO for this product, at this time, it is not to be used in GoldWings that have the OEM TPMS as Honda decided to save penny or so by not coating the sensors!

minimac · Post by **minimac** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:03 am

Not trying to pee in anyone's cornflakes, but check what theWINGADMIN had to say about RideOn in the DynaBeads thread. His comment backs up my experience with RideOn. It made a gooey mess of my rim and it took a lot of effort to get it all cleaned up.

YouTube · Post by **WingAdmin** » Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:59 pm

minimac wrote:Not trying to pee in anyone's cornflakes, but check what theWINGADMIN had to say about RideOn in the DynaBeads thread. His comment backs up my experience with RideOn. It made a gooey mess of my rim and it took a lot of effort to get it all cleaned up.

Not just the rim - but the tire changing machine as well, because it all dripped out and gooped all over the machine. It took longer to clean the rim and the machine up afterwards than it took to change the tire.

Greytful · Post by **Greytful** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:20 pm

I've been the ugly stick-on route, and then used the Dynabeads, and had no problems with them. However, for the last three sets of tires I have put in a 50-50 mix of antifreeze, 2 oz in the front and 3 oz in the rear. I remove the valve cores and use a plastic syringe to feed it slowly thru the valve stem.

tfdeputydawg · Post by **tfdeputydawg** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:07 am

WingAdmin wrote:
minimac wrote:Not trying to pee in anyone's cornflakes, but check what theWINGADMIN had to say about RideOn in the DynaBeads thread. His comment backs up my experience with RideOn. It made a gooey mess of my rim and it took a lot of effort to get it all cleaned up.
Not just the rim - but the tire changing machine as well, because it all dripped out and gooped all over the machine. It took longer to clean the rim and the machine up afterwards than it took to change the tire.

Never had this experience myself!?
Mine has always stayed in the tire.
BTW, RideOn is water soluable.
Are you sure you were using RideOn and not Slime which does exactly what you described?

Dogsled · Post by **Dogsled** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 6:20 pm

mikelens wrote:Time for a new front tire. Removed the wheel from my 1500, removed 2 strips of 5 weights, cleaned & polished the wheel before taking it to the shop. When I picked it up, tech said it balanced with no weights. When I questioned this, since it had 2 1/2 ozs. on it prior, he stated it came up as 3 grams out which is nothing, there are no weights that small & all would be fine. What are your thoughts? Is 3 grams really nothing or is this tech Full Of It?

Is your tech untrustworthy??

Balancing a wheel/tire isn't rocket science.

Cars ran fine on bubble balancers until the newer/improved high speed balancer came out to charge me more........Funny though, no tire shop ever called me in to watch a guy bubble/balance a tire like they did when they bought the high rpm balancers they charged extra for..I was impressed....I paid for the show $$$$$ Didn't handle any different.

It may not be our tires, but the world the internet has created that continues to spin out of balance to make us concern ourselves with 3 grams....and consult to a forum whether he's right or not.... TRUST YOUR LOCAL MECHANIC....
Al

mikelens · Post by **mikelens** » Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:55 am

After having put a few miles on the new tire, I have to say; when the tech says it's good, it's good. No weights & rides smooth as can be.

furnacedoc · Post by **furnacedoc** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:31 pm

Hello , I have been using dyna beads for the last three tire changes. got 16,500 miles on the front tire with very minimal cupping right towards the end of its life, then replaced with Dunlop E 3 and have 16,000 on them now and still have good tread left and minimal cupping. put Dunlop E3 on rear and had 16,743 miles before changing, they still had tread left but we were going to ride the rockies and some high passes and wanted new tires for the trip. By the way we had a great time 5000 miles in 2 weeks, rode million dollar highway, monarch pass, then up to Yellowstone and on up to chief Joseph highway and beartooth pass and then home wohoo lots of fun. see ya on the road

Ray Aube · Post by **Ray Aube** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:11 pm

I'm using Counteact balancing beads and they work beautifully!

bellboy40 · Post by **bellboy40** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:29 pm

I have been replacing motorcycle tires on mine and some of my riding buddies bikes for nearly 40 years. I have only had maybe 3 or 4 in that time that didn't need any weights to balance. It does happen but is not very common in my experience.

dwitgoldwing · Post by **dwitgoldwing** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:06 am

I have also been doing my own tire replacement with my trusty, (and cheap), Harbor Freight tire changer in my garage. One neat trick I learned from a guy who changed truck tires for a living is that he always inflated the tire up to pressure to seat the bead and then let ALL the air out of the tire. When you refill the tire, it helps it get more centered. I found I have used less weights when balancing by using this procedure.
I also VERY carefully clean the rim with solvents before I put on the new tire.
The set that is on my bike right now was done at the dealer when I bought the bike.
Their mechanic put in sealer and it leaks all around the edge of the rim...I guarantee he did
not clean the rim. Getting ready to pull off those junky tires and go Darkside.

Best wishes.
Goldwings are the best!!!
DW

YouTube · Post by **WingAdmin** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:13 pm

dwitgoldwing wrote:I have also been doing my own tire replacement with my trusty, (and cheap), Harbor Freight tire changer in my garage. One neat trick I learned from a guy who changed truck tires for a living is that he always inflated the tire up to pressure to seat the bead and then let ALL the air out of the tire. When you refill the tire, it helps it get more centered. I found I have used less weights when balancing by using this procedure.
I also VERY carefully clean the rim with solvents before I put on the new tire.
The set that is on my bike right now was done at the dealer when I bought the bike.
Their mechanic put in sealer and it leaks all around the edge of the rim...I guarantee he did
not clean the rim. Getting ready to pull off those junky tires and go Darkside.

I clean the bead with a brass wire brush in a drill. It rotates the brush and cleans the old rubber and crud left from the old tire. Then clean with a solvent.

As for seating the bead - to seat the bead, you need the valve core out of the valve, or else you can't get enough volume into the tire to seat it. That said, once you remove the seating chuck, the air comes out naturally, and you sure aren't going to easily get a valve core in there while all the air is coming out!

When seating the bead I will fill it and allow it to empty several times. Sometimes when it is seated and looks fine, it's not - and only by releasing the air does it become apparent that one of the beads may not have fully seated properly. Once I'm happy with it, with the tire filled, I will spin it on the axle and watch the edge of the tire right next to the rim. I find a mold mark on the sidewall that goes around the tire, and make sure that it is equidistant from the rim at all points. This is my double-check that the beat is 100% seated.

dwitgoldwing · Post by **dwitgoldwing** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:42 pm

Yes, sir:
Excellent post...I do believe some of the techs who install car and motorcycle tires are in such a hurry, that they don't take the time to really get a good true-running tire BEFORE they start balancing. A good clean rim and even bead are definitely KEY to a great balance.
DW

bellboy40 · Post by **bellboy40** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 5:42 pm

I agree that it is important to clean the rim really good before mounting the tire. I failed to do that once and the tire kept loosing air. Upon investigation I found that it was slowly leaking air around the rim in a couple different places. I wound up having to dismount the tire and clean the rim. When I mounted the tire again it didn't leak a bit.
On another note, I have found that a good lubricant to put on the rim and tire before mounting is some Armor All. It is slick enough for the tire to seat easily but will not corrode the rim. I don't remember where I picked up this tip but it works very well.

dwitgoldwing · Post by **dwitgoldwing** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 12:48 pm

I will try the Armor All, once my gallon of Ru-Glyde runs out. I've been pretty happy with the slickness and ease of tire installation, the Ru-Glyde has given me.
DW

bellboy40 · Post by **bellboy40** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 1:06 pm

I forgot to say to be very careful not to get any Armor All on the tread area of the tire. You don't want that slick stuff on the tread when you start riding. I usually just spray some on my fingers and rub it around the bead on the tire then spray the area on the rim where the bead goes. The tires will usually pop on the rim with less than the running pressure of the tire.

hondageorge · Post by **hondageorge** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:53 pm

Dogsled wrote:
mikelens wrote:Time for a new front tire. Removed the wheel from my 1500, removed 2 strips of 5 weights, cleaned & polished the wheel before taking it to the shop. When I picked it up, tech said it balanced with no weights. When I questioned this, since it had 2 1/2 ozs. on it prior, he stated it came up as 3 grams out which is nothing, there are no weights that small & all would be fine. What are your thoughts? Is 3 grams really nothing or is this tech Full Of It?

Is your tech untrustworthy??

Balancing a wheel/tire isn't rocket science.

Cars ran fine on bubble balancers until the newer/improved high speed balancer came out to charge me more........Funny though, no tire shop ever called me in to watch a guy bubble/balance a tire like they did when they bought the high rpm balancers they charged extra for..I was impressed....I paid for the show $$$$$ Didn't handle any different.

It may not be our tires, but the world the internet has created that continues to spin out of balance to make us concern ourselves with 3 grams....and consult to a forum whether he's right or not.... TRUST YOUR LOCAL MECHANIC....
Al

Sure do agree with Al on this. Computer chips and artificial intelligence in our lives has attempted to transform us into believing that standards any less then what was acceptable
several years are now either not close enough or sometimes considered bogus. But it works both ways too. I've never seen it, but I'm willing to bet that most companies like Dunlop (especially with their racing experience) have millions invested in computer manufacturing & balance control of their tires...tires expected to now be stable at 180+mph. Now for any new aftermarket/tire dealer balancers to show an out of balance, they have to measure in grams. And their getting more precise all the time. Is gram precision necessary for our touring bikes? probably not so much. My new elite 3 tires I just purchased are the heaviest & firmest motorcycle tires I've ever had mounted in 60 years, yet they are more precisely manufactured and factory balanced by lots of ounces better compared to my previous bias ply tires purchased for my old 750 or even older 350's which balanced fine on bubble balancers with ounce weights. Rubber-glide/soap/or equiv. as well as brass wire wheel to clean the bead seating area and valve stem remover as stated by others are necessary tools on hand for a professional mount.
Put those factory paint marks on your new tires by the valve stem and additional balance most likely will be minimal. (isn't that why the factory sprayed on the paint dot on new tires?
I myself had my 'wing tires mounted as above, (with no weight) they were confirmed balanced on a newer Snap-on M/C balancer, so I elected for dyna-beads as a future balance as these tires wear. Immediately took it for a smooth 3 day 1000 mile ride down the East Coast. gotta love the new tire technology,..... but also sleep well in my 12 year old bed that I won't replace anytime soon. Knowledge is key to everything, and I absorb all of it I can from others on this site.

buffdaddy55 · Post by **buffdaddy55** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:49 am

Dyna beads all the way baby , Have in both my 1200 and 1800 and will soon install in my 650C

dwitgoldwing · Post by **dwitgoldwing** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 2:43 pm

Getting ready to place my order for Dyna Beads for my sidecar rig... wonder if they will work in the sidecar tire as well as they do the bike tires... Hmmmm

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