Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Dyna Beads

Ceramic tire balancers, they say. Use 'em? Like 'em? Voodoo? What say you, lads?

I tried em recently. New tire, added beads then rode a couple thousand miles.
Had em pulled out, balanced traditionally and rode about another couple thousand miles and had to replace my tire cause it was cupping.

I could feel the beads get out of balance at times when slowing from high speed to low. Kinda odd when your slowing to take a turn and you feel your front end get slightly wobbly. It wasnt severe but I could feel it. I could also feel it when accelerating out of a turn if the beads didnt "balance" correctly. Id pull over, let em settle and take off again.

I cant blame the cuppig on the beads (no real proof, whose to say it wasnt a bad tire or something odd) but everything else checks out on the front end. At the same time I added the beads I also had the bearings in the rim replaced and new tire put on at the same time. I made sure the wheel ran true when I put it on. I used a dial indicator on the outer edges of the rim on both sides. Did the same thing each time (with beads, without beads and then again with the new tire).

Id say dont bother. Stick to the traditional method.
IF you really dont want to see the weel weights and if the shop is cool you can have te tire balanced, have the weights taped on to check. Once you know what you need ad where you need it have the shop add the weights the inside of the rim. This isnt advisable with spokes.