Dynabeads ? Errrrrm WTF

[porter_jamie]

they are supposed to be good for big old lumpy 4x4 tyres. dont know anyone who has used them though

[Yorick]

Under hard braking, they'd all shoot to the 'front' of the tyre.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Under hard braking, they'd all shoot to the 'front' of the tyre.

It's a different scale of number. At 150mph the inside edge of your tyre is pulling about 2000g, it obviously drops off as you slow down and the wheels spin slower, but even at 50mph the wheels are hitting more than 50g. Braking might get a little bit more than 1g so the force the beads feel from spinning is still gonna be tens or hundreds of times that which they feel from braking.

I've seen these dynabeads pop up online loads of times, I'm always a bit "Hmmmm" about them. On the one hand it sorta makes sense, but on the other I've seen lots and lots of rotating things in my time - jet engine bits, drive shafts, electric motors...all sorts - most of which are balanced, some to a very very high standard, and I've never seen anything like these beads employed in a 'professional' setting IYSWIM.

[mangocrazy]

they are supposed to be good for big old lumpy 4x4 tyres. dont know anyone who has used them though

Errm, I have used them (or a very similar product) as I mentioned in an earlier post. Been using them for the last 12 years. They may just be a placebo and none of my tyres/wheels needed balancing, but I'd say the odds are probably against it.

[BBB]

As the beads are free to move independently of the tyre and each other what prevents them from forming a clump of beads that really unbalances the tyre.?

Is the answer science?

[David]

As the beads are free to move independently of the tyre and each other what prevents them from forming a clump of beads that really unbalances the tyre.?

Is the answer science?

Yes.

[Bwana]

As one who doesn't bother balancing tyres anymore, and have had no problems because of that, I'd say this is a marketing opportunity in search of a problem.

well, apparently they've been around for 20 years... so not much of a marketing thing gone on.

The same as frozen youghurt as a replacement for ice cream then, they keep trying. If they succeed they'll be an overnight sensation.

Biking demographics have changed, maybe they'll find a market with the more money than sense determined to win track dayers. You'd have to weigh the pros and cons, better balanced wheels therefore smoother, but the extra unsprung weight must have negative consequences.

Extra sprung weight? If they replace the balance weights on the rim, there should be no additional unsprung weight. A friend of mine owns a mail order business that sells MC parts, primarily for goldwings. His business was selling CounterAct balance beads for a bit - I'm not sure they're still selling them. It would be nice to see some long term evaluations on several tires to see what kind of wear occurs compared to conventional weights. They can be used with inner tubes on motorcycles. They are not recommended for passenger car tires - their website covers the reasons. link

I'd seen the following video before and found the second one while looking for the first. These aren't the tiny glass beads, they're fairly substantial balls in a fluid within a ring that gets installed before the wheel is mounted on the vehicle. The first video shows them in a clear ring with a strobe to get stop motion imaging. The second video shows the actual product and installation.

[Horse]

Centripetal acceleration

Or an I missing something ?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59687427.amp

[Taipan]

For my bike I need 2 x 2oz bags which is about £28. I'm going to put new tyres on soon, so may give them a go. Better than ugly weights...

Qty Tyre/Kit Beads Price

1 Bike Kit 4 Bike Kit 4 £ 18.40

Subtotal: £ 18.40
Postage: £ 4.95
20% vat: £ 4.67
<< Edit Order Total: £ 28.02

[mangocrazy]

I use EasyBalance tyre powder, and have done for the last 12+ years. I dose the wheels in a 1:2 ratio front to rear, so (for example) the front gets 50g, the rear gets 100g. Since using it I've had no problems and have never needed any balance weoghts or suffered out of balance wheels. This where I get it from:

https://www.parmagroup.co.uk/ProductGrp ... g-compound

It's a lot cheaper than the stuff you're looking at...

[Taipan]

Sweet! Almost a 3rd of the price. I'll order some when I get my new tyres. Mucho gracias!

[mangocrazy]

Sweet! Almost a 3rd of the price. I'll order some when I get my new tyres. Mucho gracias!

No probs! I've even gone down to 33g front, 66g rear with zero balance issues, which makes it even cheaper.

[mangocrazy]

And no fucking ugly balance weights!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Sweet! Almost a 3rd of the price. I'll order some when I get my new tyres. Mucho gracias!

No probs! I've even gone down to 33g front, 66g rear with zero balance issues, which makes it even cheaper.

Haven't you got an LC, it doesn't go fast enough to need the rear wheel balancing and you'd only notice the front being unbalanced at over 90mph.

Anyway I've got some special wheel balancing Snake Oil I can sell you two muppets.

[Taipan]

Sweet! Almost a 3rd of the price. I'll order some when I get my new tyres. Mucho gracias!

No probs! I've even gone down to 33g front, 66g rear with zero balance issues, which makes it even cheaper.

Haven't you got an LC, it doesn't go fast enough to need the rear wheel balancing and you'd only notice the front being unbalanced at over 90mph.

Anyway I've got some special wheel balancing Snake Oil I can sell you two muppets.

Go polish your wheel weights Gixxer boy!

[mangocrazy]

Sweet! Almost a 3rd of the price. I'll order some when I get my new tyres. Mucho gracias!

No probs! I've even gone down to 33g front, 66g rear with zero balance issues, which makes it even cheaper.

Haven't you got an LC, it doesn't go fast enough to need the rear wheel balancing and you'd only notice the front being unbalanced at over 90mph.

Anyway I've got some special wheel balancing Snake Oil I can sell you two muppets.

Can't use it on the LC cos it has tubed tyres, so ner ner ni ner ner.

Use it on everything else and don't need to piss about balancing wheels. Your loss.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The thing I can never quite figure out with these weights - if they're effective, wouldn't water be equally good? Except you'd need more of it 'cause it's less dense and maybe you don't want water inside your tyres anyway.

Sand?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The thing I can never quite figure out with these weights - if they're effective, wouldn't water be equally good? Except you'd need more of it 'cause it's less dense and maybe you don't want water inside your tyres anyway.

Sand?

The people who make Slime claim it balances the wheel, I can't see it myself - but it would be very easy to prove one way or the other with a car wheel and tyre and a tyre balancing machine.

[JackyJoll]

The thing I can never quite figure out with these weights - if they're effective, wouldn't water be equally good? Except you'd need more of it 'cause it's less dense and maybe you don't want water inside your tyres anyway.

Sand?

Ballasting tractor tyres with water has been fairly common practice. Freezing can be prevented by dissolved calcium chloride in the water.

[mangocrazy]

The thing I can never quite figure out with these weights - if they're effective, wouldn't water be equally good? Except you'd need more of it 'cause it's less dense and maybe you don't want water inside your tyres anyway.

Sand?

EasyBalance powder is not that dissimilar to certain types of sand, although the individual grains appear to be a more regular shape. I've never put it under a lupe or microscope to compare. Perhaps I will one day (if I'm terminally bored) but all I'm really bothered with is if it works or not. And in my experience it does. I may have been lucky and my wheels didn't really need balancing anyway, but in that case I've been getting lucky for over 12 years on 4 different sets of wheels and well over a dozen tyres.