Attn Motorcycle Monkeys
- Thread starter Pesqueeb
- Start date
I was hearing about that this morning. Some guy was talking about what a pain in the ass it was to get tires to balance in California with the stupid steel weights. I had never heard of such a thing.
I have used Equal tire balance powder, BB's, golfballs, etc. in offroad tires that are notoriously hard to balance, I did not think it was any better than wheel weights. I was not impressed. Some guys swear by it.
I have never tried it on a motorcycle tire. I don't own a motorcycle.
I have never tried it on a motorcycle tire. I don't own a motorcycle.
What a crock of sh!t to make a buck. As kickstand said, offroaders have been using BB's to balance big, large lugged tires (read: hard to balance) for years. Most people I know of that have used it swear by it. Not sure making them out of ceramic and labeling them as specific tire-balancing beads is anything more than a scam.
Last edited:
ok...here is the deal with tire balancing, you have to rotate the tire around the wheel to find the right the equal spot and you wont need weights, and if you do need weight you should only have to use minor amounts of spoke weights. there is no wheel that has a true balance and there is no tire that has a true balance. but if you rotate these two correctly it will balance.
the only reason I would balance my tires on the dirt bikes is if they were plated bikes.
Here is the process to do it right
mount tire and tube on wheel
grease tire bead enough t will rotate around wheel and tube.
mark original position on tire at the stem
Balance
if out of balance, rotate tire on wheel and tube to 180 degrees and mark at stem
Balance
if still out of balance rotate 90 degrees and mark at stem
balance
repeat tire rotations until the best spot has been found. you will incrementally mark the tire at the stem as it goes around and you will start seeing the trend in the marks on the tire and be able to find the best spot. there are very very few tires that need any weights using this method.
the only reason I would balance my tires on the dirt bikes is if they were plated bikes.
Here is the process to do it right
mount tire and tube on wheel
grease tire bead enough t will rotate around wheel and tube.
mark original position on tire at the stem
Balance
if out of balance, rotate tire on wheel and tube to 180 degrees and mark at stem
Balance
if still out of balance rotate 90 degrees and mark at stem
balance
repeat tire rotations until the best spot has been found. you will incrementally mark the tire at the stem as it goes around and you will start seeing the trend in the marks on the tire and be able to find the best spot. there are very very few tires that need any weights using this method.
Bingo. Mounted a new Metzler tourance on the front of the F650GS yesterday. Its close enough I'm not going to worry about it, but I was scouring teh interwebz for options just in case, as a new tire for the rear is "in the mail." BTW, if anyone has a dismount/mounting secret I'd love to hear it. Avons on BMW rims = major suckage. Pinched two tubes putting the new Metzler on too.
imo
There's enough positive experience out there to warrant trying the beads if you're doing your own mount.
I have the shop mount mine and have not tried the beads on my bike.
If I were doing it myself I would try them.
It makes sense to me.
There's enough positive experience out there to warrant trying the beads if you're doing your own mount.
I have the shop mount mine and have not tried the beads on my bike.
If I were doing it myself I would try them.
It makes sense to me.
The way I dismount a tire is pop the bead off one side, remove the tube, pull the bead of the other side (the beads of the tried should be on opposite sides of the rim to allow the rim to drop down in the tire, push the rim down into tire, and with one hand push the upper part of the tire away from you(where the largest gap between the rim and tire bead is) and with the other pull the rim towards you. Some dish soap will help, and I've actually had to to heat up a cold tire before. If none of this makes any sense I'll be making a video sometime this week provided my new dunlops come in on time, so I'll post it if need be.Bingo. Mounted a new Metzler tourance on the front of the F650GS yesterday. Its close enough I'm not going to worry about it, but I was scouring teh interwebz for options just in case, as a new tire for the rear is "in the mail." BTW, if anyone has a dismount/mounting secret I'd love to hear it. Avons on BMW rims = major suckage. Pinched two tubes putting the new Metzler on too.
As for re-mounting I have no idea, with as many tires I've changed I still always have trouble getting the valve stem back in the tube.
EDIT: as for the beads. My dad just bought the tire shop neighboring his body shop and has bought several bags of these to sell to customers and the tires seem to balance fine and we haven't had any complaints.. though with the roads around here if your car isn't vibrating you start to wonder if something is wrong.
Last edited:
Pretty much my technique. It was kind of cold yesterday, so I don't think that helped. The little I've gleaned from teh interwebz seem to confirm my suspicion that the bmw rims might just be the problem. Tons of dish soap and 3 tire irons were necessarily to complete removal and installation. I break the beads with a giant c-clamp, seems to make short work of that part of the job. Don't really have any issues with the stem, its not easy by any means but its not hard either.
For the $20 I have been charged to mount tires, it was worth me not doing it. The beads seem kind of expensive and gimmicky. Like GFF said, you can usually rotate the tire to find the sweet spot and even if you get close, a little weight won't hurt anything. I don't balance anything off road either.