Balancing Tires with Anti Freeze

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I've heard that you can have balanced tires with a one-time injection of 50/50 antifreeze/water in through the valve stem (removed and deflated). Supposedly it reduces vibration, shimmy, and heat as well. It provides a dynamic rather than static balance (continually adapts to changes in tire wear). I would also assume it's safe for the tire since antifreeze is non caustic to rubber. Anyone have experience or knowledge about this? I'm game for this one.
 
Sounds like the balancing beads the truckers use to balance the big rigs. I have never heard about using a liquid though.
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Ive read of a powder that can be added to big(ish) off road tyres to perform an in service dynamic balancing.

I'd guess that these items (the powder, and the antifreeze) would reduce fuel economy to a greater or lesser degree, as they have to move around in the tyre.

Ugly3, those ring things used to be available down here for cars.

A company tried to sell me the same thing to balance my turbines at work... until he looked at the dimensions.
 
I don't see it being possible to repair a wheel with antifreeze in it. If you get flats on a regular basis it would be much cheaper to spring for the balancing.

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I used to put balancing beads in the front tires of transport trucks. You could just dump the bag in before putting air in the tire if it was new. There was also a tool for blowing it into the tires through the valve stems. Both solutions were way cheaper than buying a truck wheel balancer and took up less shop space.

I've also worked on a road crew and saw a lot of lead transport wheel weights imbedded into the asphalt. They don't appear to hold on very well.

Cheers, Steve
 
Yes, I too, have heard of adding tire beads into tire but never about adding thin liquid such as Antifreeze+ water.

While I cannot votch for it's effectiveness in a truck tire, I can tell you with confidence that if you attempt to deal with certain mechanical/material defectives by taking the "easy" way out, chance are, it will not save you any $$ in any way.

You know, most of those cheap radial tires are not "balanced" nor "round" right from the beginning. The cheaper, the worst it gets.

Also, if you have mechanical problems such as worn upper/lower ball joints, out-of-true rims/wheel hub, worn wheel bearings, etc. chance are, your car is going to vibrate/shimmy no matter how good your tires are.

Also: not all radial tires are the same when it comes to quality: most European, Japanese, French, UK, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and some US rubber tire casting are of superior quality; on the contrary, some S.American, China, Indonesia, and a few well-regarded US brand name tire castings are crap, IMHO.
 
My Dunlop and Metzeller motorcycle tires have been within 1/2 mm of being round. You can tell this when you wear the tread right off of them. Some spots will be bald and other spots will have a touch of tread. My Cheng Shins have been out by several mm.

Steve
 
I guess this is a little off topic, but how well do these balancing beads work.

I just upgraded my 04 Ranger's tires from the factory P235/75-15s to 31x10.5R15s.

I noticed that the tire place had to put 5 pounds of weight on each one to get balanced (J/K, but it's a lot).

This would be a way to get all those weights off my nice wheels!

But how well do they work? And how well will they work in a 1/4 ton truck (I thought they were designed for big rigs)?

Thanks,
Brian
 
quote:

Originally posted by Brian Miller:
I guess this is a little off topic, but how well do these balancing beads work.

I just upgraded my 04 Ranger's tires from the factory P235/75-15s to 31x10.5R15s.

I noticed that the tire place had to put 5 pounds of weight on each one to get balanced (J/K, but it's a lot).

This would be a way to get all those weights off my nice wheels!

But how well do they work? And how well will they work in a 1/4 ton truck (I thought they were designed for big rigs)?

Thanks,
Brian


Here is info on equal

and here is one on centramatic
 
Forget the anti-freeze balance method. That's Bravo Sierra for sure. What holds the fluid in place? By some magic it finds the right spot and stays there?? One more problem. A 50-50 mix with water is double trouble. The water will vaporize and increase tire pressure dramaticly at high temperatures. If this worked it would be SOP everywhere. Good luck if you try it...
 
If your tyres exceed the boiling point of water under any conditions (on the road), then you have serious issues.
 
Water is volatile and vaporizes at any temperature above 32 degrees. At 110 degrees it will build up considerable vapor pressure causing a far greater pressure rise than the tire manufacturer intended.

Tire nuts and racers inflate their tires with dry nitrogen to stabilize pressure and eliminate oxidation.
 
Let's not even get in to the rust that a steel wheel would generate if it had this mixture in long enough.

Oh, yeah, not to mention the Glycol would make the tire virtually impossible to repair.
 
Yes you can use the mixture. Some guys in the offroad scene use it, but things such as Equal, BBs, and golf balls are more often used.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Fuelrod:
Water is volatile and vaporizes at any temperature above 32 degrees. At 110 degrees it will build up considerable vapor pressure causing a far greater pressure rise than the tire manufacturer intended.

Fuelrod, I doubt that any tyre manufactured anywhere in the world would have an issue with the additional 1psi difference between 32F and 110F with water in the tyre.

Between those two temperatures, dry nitrogen will increase tyre pressure by nearly 5psi assuming they are 32psi@32F.
 
Where do you come up with the 1psi vapor pressure?? In any case, NO tire manufacturer recommends or ALLOWS anything but compressed air be put in their high speed street tires.. I have seen tires that were inflated with air from compressors that were full of water. Even a small amount of water in a tire makes a big mess and degrades the safety of the tire..If you think you can balance a tire with anti-freeze, be my guest.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Fuelrod:
Where do you come up with the 1psi vapor pressure??

Steam Tables.

I've not said that it's a good, bad, or indifferent idea, nor that I was going to try it.

Just couldn't wrap my skull around your statement of serious overpressurisation due to even small amounts of water.
 
I've had a couple people come in and insist that their on road tires have antifreeze added instead of balancing them on the machine.

They have all come back in a week or less to pay for antifreeze removal and proper balancing.
 
I have used the antifreeze method in a big truck but the blend was 70 antifreeze to 30 water didn't work as well as the gel used it in every tire on the truck and trailer with great results. Been away from the industry for 5 years and cannot remember the brand of balancing gel
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quote:

Originally posted by Brian Miller:
I guess this is a little off topic, but how well do these balancing beads work.

I just upgraded my 04 Ranger's tires from the factory P235/75-15s to 31x10.5R15s.

I noticed that the tire place had to put 5 pounds of weight on each one to get balanced (J/K, but it's a lot).

This would be a way to get all those weights off my nice wheels!
Thanks,
Brian


I would reject those tires. The tire maker may say that if it is possible at all to balance the tires, then the tire is OK. Not for me. I wouldn't want to see 2 oz., and would be much happier with one ounce or less.

If that tire shop has a Hunter GSP9700 balancer, tell them the tires are shaking and that you want a "Road Force" balancing. This machine will also tell if the tire is out of round, thereby being difficult to balance, or has soft or stiff parts of the sidewall.


Ken
 
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