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Tire balancing and airing down

MomoJeep

Basic User
Silver Member
City
Seattle
State
WA
After airing down several times it seems my tires have gone way out of balance. They are Goodyear Dura tracks. They are probably 60% worn down. It’s also possible that the previous balancing weights got knocked off or something like that. I went in and had them re-balanced and they added significantly more weights on one or two of the tires.

So, can airing down throw the tire and wheel out of balance? For example if the air pressure is low enough could the way the tire is mounted to the wheel shift in some way that throws it off balance? Off center?
 

spankrjs

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Biloxi
State
MS
Yes. The tire can slip on the wheel a little bit and throw the balance out. Also, knocking wheel weights off is just a fact of life from going off road.

I will usually balance tires/wheels before a long trip, go wheel, drive home, rebalance. Just depends on how bad they vibrate. Not every wheeling trip will cause issues, but it is not uncommon. Find a chain tire store and buy the lifetime balance plan and use it.
 

RockTractor

Basic User
Silver Member
City
Albuquerque
State
NM
I ran AirSoft BBs in my 35s on my CJ7. No tire weights required and it worked great... I could run up to 70 MPH (Jeep top end) w/o vibration.
 

laffman

CJ-8 Member
Member
City
Imlay City
State
MI
I switched to internal beads a few years ago and they work great. I have a seasonal campsite near Silver Lake Sand Dunes in MI. I run my Jeeps up there all summer long. I run 35s at 4 psi all summer. Driving at that psi on pavement from the campground to the dunes and back chews the hell out of the mud tires, which throws them out of balance. Beads are a great solution. And you can add them through the valve steam even if you still have weights on. You just leave the weights on.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
I switched to internal beads a few years ago and they work great. I have a seasonal campsite near Silver Lake Sand Dunes in MI. I run my Jeeps up there all summer long. I run 35s at 4 psi all summer. Driving at that psi on pavement from the campground to the dunes and back chews the hell out of the mud tires, which throws them out of balance. Beads are a great solution. And you can add them through the valve steam even if you still have weights on. You just leave the weights on.
But- if you are having your tires rebalanced with weights, make sure to pull all the old weights first.
 

MomoJeep

Basic User
Silver Member
City
Seattle
State
WA
I switched to internal beads a few years ago and they work great. I have a seasonal campsite near Silver Lake Sand Dunes in MI. I run my Jeeps up there all summer long. I run 35s at 4 psi all summer. Driving at that psi on pavement from the campground to the dunes and back chews the hell out of the mud tires, which throws them out of balance. Beads are a great solution. And you can add them through the valve steam even if you still have weights on. You just leave the weights on.
I haven't yet heard of these. Where do they come from? How do they work?
 

laffman

CJ-8 Member
Member
City
Imlay City
State
MI
I haven't yet heard of these. Where do they come from? How do they work?
Several tire shops I've gone to have them. But you have to ask for them. You don't usually use them for passenger cars, so they don't ask what type of balancing you want. But with the big tires we run, especially mud terrain tires, the shops have a hard time balancing them. The beads rebalance the tire every time you take off from a stop. But they're hit and miss with their success. They work great on my Jeeps' mud tires. But didn't do so good in my dually's 10 ply tires. I think they were originally developed for balancing semi truck tires.

Search Google for tire balancing beads. There's a lot of information out there on them. Even some YouTube videos demonstrating them in a 2 liter bottle attached to a drill.
 

MomoJeep

Basic User
Silver Member
City
Seattle
State
WA
SOLVED:

The tires needed to be balanced (AGAIN). This was my hunch, but the tire shop just did them. Turns out something wasn't right. In the process of chasing down the problem I:
(1) Changed a rear U-joint (didn't need to)
(2) Found one tire was underinflated
(3) Replaced a bad shock bushing - after this the vibration did change a little but was still there.
(4) Found Right front wheel bearings were slightly loose - tightened them.

Rides so smooth now!
 
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