Magical balancing BB's

[Kodeen]

I read this on an MSM forum, and thought you guys might find it interesting. I make no claims as to whether he's correct or not.


Its a truck trick mostly, not very known in the car world. Theres a formula that determines how much weight you need per tire depending on what type of tire, diameter, and how many ply your tire is. Then after you figure out the weight you put airsoft BB's in. (they are smooth, dont rust, and are very light, so you get a lot of distribution) Goin out and rippin up your tires, you have to have a new static balance every 2 weeks, but with the BB's it acts as a dynamic balance, constantly changing to whatever the tire needs to stay in balance. I put them in all my tires usually, I decided not to put them in my front tires as the BB's would not be able to balance under high speed corning, But I never balance or rotate for the life of my tires. The BB's do everything for you. I have about 3.5 ounces in my rear tires, but thats still to much... I could have used as little as 2 oz.

[Tnhatch03]

i don't get it.

are you going to do that in your new ride?

[Kodeen]

No, I'm very skeptical. It's just that I have never heard of anything like this, and wanted the opinions of people who know more about tires than I do.

[drjd888]

I don't see how that would work... I call BS!

[Draw7Seven]

Yeah I don't think that putting tiny balls into your tires addresses the problems of spot wear-- off the top of my head, I can't think of any physics phenomenon that would suggest the bb's would move towards the thinnest areas of the rubber or help the tires operate under better balance. Some ideas stay in the "truck scene" for a reason... =\

[talonXracer]

Well, any rapid changes in tire rotation will cause the "BB's" to shift and no longer be in dynamic balance. Probably ok for Ranger Rick and his pickup truck though.

[metalviper]

I decided not to put them in my front tires as the BB's would not be able to balance under high speed corning

like more than 25 mph??

[Drew1d]

I read this on an MSM forum, and thought you guys might find it interesting. I make no claims as to whether he's correct or not.
I call shenanigans. :msmooch:

Why not just rotate and balance your tires, opposed to using witchcraft?

[dobbs02si]

I dont know about the ball trick BUT..from past experiece working with atv's, tire slime helps balance bigger tires(over 27 inches). Your also talking about top speed being 50ish, not 120.

[FCobra94]

Yeah I don't think that putting tiny balls into your tires addresses the problems of spot wear-- off the top of my head, I can't think of any physics phenomenon that would suggest the bb's would move towards the thinnest areas of the rubber or help the tires operate under better balance. Some ideas stay in the "truck scene" for a reason... =\
:squint:

Are you suggesting that it doesn't work? The reason that the idea comes from the "truck scene" is because it tends to only benefit guys running tire sizes in the 35" tires or larger. This because it's tough to balance such a big tire.

If you think that it's a joke then I suggest you do some reading:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297708

[socmex7]

absolutely a horrible idea! tire/wheels assemblies require weight because they are usually not perfect circle (for whels) or the tires have heavy spots (just how they came out of the factory). the only way to truely balance a tire is an a computer machine. and it terms oftruck tires (whick i think he's talking about) once you get past a certain size the balancing won't matter. the big all terrain and mud terrain tires will have vibrations regardless of how well balanced they are.

[civictype_r04]

Sounds weird!!

[dichotomous]

it works, works fine in motorcycle tires too, and those are thinner and lower profile than ours (generally) than ours. by the time you get to the higher speeds the beads have redistributed themselves again and balance things nicely, you dont need much balancing at lower speeds

[4angrybadgers]

The BBs would just roll around inside the tire, most likely staying towards the bottom (thanks to gravity). How the hell is that supposed to balance a tire? Balancing a tire involves static weights to counteract imbalances at specific points.

If the tire is spinning fast enough, the BBs will stay towards the heavier side and accentuate the imbalance (spin a bucket of water and see what I mean). So it's pointless. :mrolleyes:

[dichotomous]

The BBs would just roll around inside the tire, most likely staying towards the bottom (thanks to gravity). How the hell is that supposed to balance a tire? Balancing a tire involves static weights to counteract imbalances at specific points.

If the tire is spinning fast enough, the BBs will stay towards the heavier side and accentuate the imbalance (spin a bucket of water and see what I mean). So it's pointless. :mrolleyes:

sure, swinging ONE bucket of water will create a big imballance, try swinging two or three or four, and they will find their way to be balanced. rotating objects without constraint seem to find their own balance point, however our tires are rotating objects WITH a constraint.

I'm not saying its better than a dynamic balancing machine and static weights to balance the wheel with itself, its clearly not. this is a cheep thing for people who either have really big tires that are very off balance and would require a whole lot of weight that would like rip off at speed or while off roading(or the tire slips on the rim when the pressure is reduced drasticlly for offroad traction-very common) or the tire would require tread shaving to get even close and its not wanted, or someone whos really cheep and figures a package of airsoft pellets is a lot cheeper than paying a shop to balance the tires.

I dont use these, but I've heard a bunch of people that do say they work great, even on very lightweight sportbike tires, and when the tire of a lightweight bike is off, you feel it and it really messes things up, way worse than an annoying vibration, and I have seen no comments yet about them messing with the off-axial (right term?) balance or any weird gyroscopit effects which would be easy to see in that application.

[talonXracer]

The airsoft pellets perform the same job as the balancing slime, BUT it can and does shift within the tire at a much faster rate due to inertia. So the tires are out of balance during accel and decel.

[dichotomous]

The airsoft pellets perform the same job as the balancing slime, BUT it can and does shift within the tire at a much faster rate due to inertia. So the tires are out of balance during accel and decel.

fully agree there, and I've read that if the tires feel out of balance, brake hard and get back up to speed and get things all shifted around. the innovative beads work better I belive, because they are smaller and dont shift around as much during acceleration because each bead has less mass and less size as well so they "stick" better

[4angrybadgers]

I still see zero proof of how these BBs magically find the spots that need weight and "stick" to them...

[FCobra94]

I still see zero proof of how these BBs magically find the spots that need weight and "stick" to them...
The reason why it "sticks" isn't because of "magic." It uses centrifugal force and vertical imbalance.

Here's the best way I've heard it descirbed:

Centrifugal force spreads the beads equally in the tire until the heavy part of the tire tries to pull the tire up (bounce) as it passes the 12 o’clock position. The upward motion (inertia) forces the balance median in an equal and opposite direction.

This link says the same thing with diagrams:

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/HowItWorks.htm

If you don't know how it works, just say so. Suggesting that this idea is about as worthwhile as the Tornado or fuel magnets is going to get you no where fast. There are thousands of truckers, off-roaders, sport bike riders, etc. that will quickly make you think otherwise.

[talonXracer]

fully agree there, and I've read that if the tires feel out of balance, brake hard and get back up to speed and get things all shifted around. the innovative beads work better I belive, because they are smaller and dont shift around as much during acceleration because each bead has less mass and less size as well so they "stick" better


It does work, just refer to it as the PFM principle(Pure Fucking Magic)

[Draw7Seven]

If you don't know how it works, just say so. Suggesting that this idea is about as worthwhile as the Tornado or fuel magnets is going to get you no where fast. There are thousands of truckers, off-roaders, sport bike riders, etc. that will quickly make you think otherwise.

But if you mention that you can't think of a reason it would work and poke a humorous jab at that group of truckers, you'll get flamed hardcore. So watch out.

[Zzyzx]

Sounds like a "fix" for a problem that's not really a problem unless your wheel/tire combo cant fit on a balance machine... which is decidedly not the case for us.

So why do we care?