So has anyone on here used bbs or air soft pellets to balance out tires? I was wondering how this works. It seems the airsoft pellets/bbs would be much quieter than the steel bbs. I just wonder how many ounces of bbs one would have to put in to balance a tire?
I've heard of people using steel bb's, plastic bb's, equal, and dyna beads. I have heard that steel bb's can rust, and Equal can clump. I have not heard any bad info on airsoft style plastic bb's. I have heard that dynabeads have many benefits but is expensive and if plugs get used they stick to the plug.
IMO I would try something cheap like airsoft beads.
I have regular bb's in mine. do they work... well it seems to do ok however I can not compare to without. honestly, they make a cool sound when coming to a stop! That is all I can say for them.....
How much weight did you put in each tire and have you had any issues with clumping? I would prefer to use steel bb's because it is a lot cheaper that airsoft bb's
I'd never heard about doing this... so I'm curious. What keeps the weight from building up at one point and throwing everything off-balence?? What is the theory behind this?
And why wouldn't some sort of liquid work? Water might be too corrosive, and oils might break down the rubber, but if something else were found that had the consistency of, say, Maple Suryp... would that do the same thing and be silent too?
(Or just invest in enough Slim and let it do double duty... sealing small punctures and creating a self-adjusting balance) LOL.
A viscous fluid will take time to flow into the area that needs the weight . Think winter and maple syrup:drool:, yummy!! Water freezes. The bbs distribute themselves as soon as you get rolling. There is a sort of powder, I think called equalize, that is used but it is messy and can clump up. I guess if you got some moisture in the tire, the bbs could also stick together and clump. But they should break apart and balance out. Slime will help with the punctures but it coats the inner tire. It may help with the balance, although it is pretty thick.
I am going to go get some today and will try to get them in the tire before the weekend. We will see if I can break the bead off the rims to get them installed. Maybe they will make enough noise to drown out the sound of my square driveshaft clanking.
I had Les Schwab put in "equal" they have a machine that just shoots it in through the valve stem. No muss no fuss :idea:and you can tell them how much you want based on the size of the tire (they have a chart too). It is actually made for this use, unlike bb's which are made for shooting - stuff.
If you use Equal, you do have to change the valvestem core to one that won't let the Equal plug it up. Les Schwab will change these for you.
We have tried Equal on our mixer tires with little success.
Seems to work pretty well in my IROKS, but thanks for the tip about the valve stems. I do have one that just takes forever to get air OUT of. Probably plugged up. I will go get some new valve cores!
oh yeah! i used equal and it stinks .....it shook too bad to drive at 42 mph! i sucked it out with a shopvac and poured in 8.5 ounces ...1 and a half cups in each tire of air soft pellets and its like a noisey caddillac!
I have heard of people using a lot of different things to balance big tires, water, antifreeze, BB's, sand, etc.etc.....Why not lead? not on the rim but in the tire like lead shot, is there anyone that has used lead shot? if so any pros and cons
I've ran both bb's and airsoft. BB's first (Jeep) then airsoft(jeep and DD(95 F350)). I noticed the bb's are louder because it's metal on metal and they beat up my rim (bb's dropping on rim when coming to a stop). Airsoft aren't as loud but noticeable when the windows are down. I've been runing the airsoft now for 2 years in the DD and about a year in the jeep. As for balancing my tires, the best I've ever had.
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