Eh, not a new idea. We've used golf balls for years in trucks. Lately my rock crawler buddies have been using a few bags of Airsoft pellets in each tire. These things kinda resemble Airsoft pellets. Go figure.
check out the new 3M Lead free stick on wheel weights. It looks like a roll of thick tape. Go on the 3M website under automotivew. Uses the same adhesive technology as the claddings they put on new cars and has gone 200 MPH. Looks pretty cool.
Saw these at SEMA. Seems like a good system. Figure out how much weight you need, calculate length, cut, stick, done.
Nitrogen is used for a different purpose. I think most all race tires...oval racing, sports cars stuff like that use nitrogen. Nitrogen doesn't produce water at the really high tire temps that race tires see. At least I that's the reason I remember it being. I may be wrong. Anyway. It probably doesn't matter too much on a street tire.
i have it in the 37x13-15 MTs on my bronco and have no problems at all (never been over about 85ish?) and i beat the crap out of it. the stuff the shop put in was a conditioner, not a balancer, but they have figured out how much to put in a certain size tire and it works. so far.
Wow, how can you be into rods and NOT be open minded? Yeah it's snake oil. That's why trucking companies with how many rigs on the road? Doing how many miles? With how many tires? Have been using these for years. Yeah they're nuts. They are throwing their money in the wind and hoping for the best. Do your tires need balancing as they roll up the driveway? Do you even understand the need for balancing? Harmonics? By the way fuel injection was designed by the devil. And radials are a government conspiracy. Yep that's my intro! PS for those that are interested, I've been using them for 5 years. No problems, they balance (yes balance) tires effectively and I don't notice any difference between city and highway driving. 37" MT's and whatever size I'm rolling on the DD's.
I've been reading a lot of posts about these on different forums. I've noticed one thing. The people who have tried them love them and the people who think they are complete rubbish have never tried them. I'd like to point out another thing. Lets say the rim and tire are ballanced, but what about the other parts of the rotating mass? Here is a great video on how it works, although from a competitors site. http://www.centramatic.com/Demo/video2.mpg
I have had these in the tires of my daily driver for over a year now and can tell you they work great. I drive 50 miles round trip everyday.
When I mounted the tires on my jeep i poured 1000 airsoft bb's (plastic bb's) in each tire, I've been driving like that for almost a year now and I've never had a single wheel vibration, and I've also taken a few chunks out of the tires on rocks and other off road debris. They always come back to balance. heres an action shot those are 35" mud terrains
Has anyone tried using these on out-of-round tires? We have a load-force balancer that measures wheel run-out and load-force at the tread, and then you can match the tire to the wheel for minimum load force. This is different than balance, but if the pellets act as a harmonic dampener, they may cure this type of vibration where a spin balance cannot (or in a case where the tire is so bad it is like driving on an oval, unless you have a really bent rim to put it on and do the load force match balancing thing). Match balancing tends to be really expensive because it can involve dismounting the tire multiple times, only to find out that you can't get it in spec anyway. Back in the day, this was fixed by actually shaving the tire.
I worked for an aircraft company and we filled the tires with nitrogen to 120psi so there must be some reason for using nitrogen.
Airsoft? Haha, that shit aint soft! Hurts like hell. PS, Nitrogen is used in Aircraft as it does not expand as much as air does at altitude. Last thing you want it the suckers blowing out at 30,000ft as the landing can be hairy! Its also used in some race cars as it also expands less when heated, its easier to tune suspension with less pressure change like you get with air. Cheers, Doc.
Bout as traditional as it comes. Granddad Baade used to throw a handful of sand in the tubes on the old Ford and the binder to keep them from shakin as he called it. The first time I saw this method commercially promoted was in the late 50s. So the materials have changed, but the method is old school.
Can someone explain the physics at work here? I would expect the stuff to gather in the heaviest part of the tire, therefore making the balance problem much worse?? (I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm just saying I don't understand why it does work)
The people promoting nitrogen for passenger cars are saying it saves on gas. The reason is the nitrogen molecule is larger (so they say) and won't leak out as easily and of course keeping your tires properly inflated will save on fuel and make your tires last longer. Hypotheticcally of course! Just air up your tires, different shops have various percentages of nitrogen replacement according to the quality of their nitrogen equipment.so you don't know if your getting 90% or 65% nitrogen replacement. Good ole' free air works for me!!!!!!!!!
i worked at a 4x4 shop,and YES they work.we installed tons of them.most tires over 33'' tall arent that true .even the good ones take alot of wheel weights.with these they balance as you drive..the ones we sold didnt make noise when going slow...
As for the nitrogen thing, I work at a Cadillac dealership, and I can tell you that EVERY new car on the lot has nitrogen in the tires. And when cars come in to have tires replaced, on the invoice it specifies nitrogen in the tires. I've never seen the beads used, but it looks like an interesting idea. It doesn't look like it would work so well at lower speeds, but then again you wouldn't notice an out-of-balance tire at really low speeds anyway! Nick
About nitrogen... AIR is 78% nitrogen, as you breath it and as it goes in your tires from any common tire pump. If someone tells you they are charging you to put 78% (or less) nitrogen in your tires, punch 'em in the nose.
I used this stuff in the tires on my Prevost coach.. I'm not saying that it is the cause of my problems.. But, Since installing it in the tires, I have lost 3 like new tires to blow outs.. I had the tire shop remove it.. There hasn't been enough miles run since then to see if it is the source. But.. before using it.. I wasn't having this problem.. It has an 8000 mile drive coming in a few days.. Within 2 or 3 thousand miles I'll have a better idea... I'll let ya know...
AMEN! I have a customer who tried the Nitrogen, and claims he saw 3% MPG gain in his late model work van, and 1% in his Caddy (over a year's driving). I suspect the greater range of altitude the van sees may contribute to the bigger gain. Mythbusters would probably not be able to effectively test the Nitrogen deal, but the beads would be a great one for them.
I just ordered some...gonna give it a shot since I can't find anyone who will balance my wires around here without screwing them up.
Just got some and put in the model A. Helped alot. Not perfect but I believe it is worth the money. Put 3 OZ in each front tire. Stopped a lot of shaking.
The Jalopy Journal
