dynabeads: controversy question :)

so ive been reading about dyna beads... apon reading, read that someone used airsoft pellets instead, so started reading on airsoft pellets. I work at a tire shop, so it was alot easier for me than the at home guy... (pellets dont fit through valve stem like dyna beads do) so heres the question... anyone do this with any luck or no avail? my old front tire had an ounce of sticky weights when i started..... I put the new tire on, added an ouce of air soft pellets... ( ounce of dyna beads is what it would call for) and kept the weights on.... it rides beautifuly!!!! no skip no hops or anything. i know some people are going to ask questions, some are going to have good comments, and some bad... so lets hear em!!! happy labor day guys, ride safe

 

Dynabeads will wear off the ribs on the inside of the tire....when you change a used tire that ran the beads there will be little black beads with the ceramic ones....those are rubber.

I really don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but don't like it. So I use a balance stand and live with the stick-on weights.

 

Normally I would too.. but I work at a tire shop but we can't balance motorcycle tires. It takes 112 pellets for my tire and was 15 dollars for 5000 beads. So I tried it. If I don't respond you know I died!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=eq263AYgyYg

I found an interesting DynaBead demonstration.
You just have to trust that they migrate away from the heavy spot.

Another thing- I believe that they would "bounce" on every rotation, as the bottom of the tire is "flat". It would make sense to balance a motorcycle tire first, then add just 1 OZ of beads.

 

Supposably they roll to the high spot every time. I heard mostly good about em. For the fact that I swapped tires and have NO wobble... I think I'm sold

 

Don't have them in my bike tires but i have them in my truck tires. 8oz of beads in a 37x12.50 Goodyear wrangler OZ tire. Put them in when it was mounted. 0 oz of weight on the wheels, none. Run smoother than any other "balanced" tire and it's been a bit over 20,000 miles on them now. They run perfectly smooth up past 90mph under an f-350 with an 8 inch lift.

 

OK, now you've read some pro's and cons. I bought a ton of them, enough for my car, my expedition and a couple of my bikes. Being tighter then a 14....being tight, I didn't opt for the add price for the installer, I fabbed one of my own.....

I installed them in 1 bike, (Vstrom 1000) and my car & truck......they do work....expensive but they do work. Here's a hitch.....once installed, there is no way to remover them short of removing the tire and washing them out. If you've ever even thought about using a can of Slime or other tire sealant, get that thought out of your head, unless of course you WANT a 4-6 ounce weight(depending on the type of tire) glued to one side of your tire. Another limitation can be installing a plug.....if you do, you will have found a new way to build a weight on one side of your tire.

Those two factors will keep me from using them again....so now I have 6-8 oz's sitting on the shelf.

jeff

 

to remove them and reuse you carve a hole in sidewall of the tire and pour them out. yeah that toroid shape is kinda a hassle (ever try to get old nasty water in a tire sitting outside?)

Ya don't have to "trust" the beads. only have to trust Sir Newton.

 

I've stayed out of this one up until now but I can't resist.

JeffK outlined a couple of very good reasons not to use them. (Plus they piss off the tire store guys almost as much as Slime.)

I understand that they seem to work. But it also seems like every time the vehicle is stopped, they're all going to "gather" at the bottom, and have to do their "balancing act" all over again every time it starts rolling again.

All a little TOO "dynamic" for my old-school engineering brain.

Personally, I'll stick to having my tires professionally mounted and high-speed spin balanced (using permanently-attached weights as needed) and leave the snake oil on the shelf.

But then again, the only thing I use my phone for is to talk on.

 

I see what you're saying about the low speed mush. I doubt the difference in mass is gonna matter. I'm looking forward to being able to say something first hand. Having never yet run them personally my guess is as good as yours. One advantage in my mind of the official beads vs BBs is that you can ride the tire before after adding the beads.

I've put in too many oil and spark plug helicoils in other guys rides to trust any of my vehicles in the hands of another human. (you're welcome to ride it and hell go ahead and crash it for all I care, just don't lay a wrench on it) On the two occasions I took up the offer of free mounting with purchase I watched the guy do it.

Them monkeys at the shop haven't got the same vested interest that you do. Their mind is on the clock and getting back to txting their GF or whatever they were doing before you came into their shop and interrupted their day waving your money around.
There are (few) exceptions out there and when I find them I tip well.

 

I ALWAYS "watch the guy do it." ALWAYS. Or my business goes elsewhere. Used to be kind of interesting at a big-box tire store "sir, you can't go back there" yeah right. Watch me, you're working on my car.

No way am I simply handing my wheel and tire to some kid 1/3 my age and watching it disappear into the back.

I have since found a tire store that's good, professional, does motorcycle tires, and is completely on board with knowledgeable customers being present in the work bays. While they're putting tires on my car, I use the opportunity to inspect the brakes, exhaust, etc., plus "supervise" the mounting, balancing and R&R process, and they're fine with it. Saves having to look up the torque spec for my lug bolts, they just ask me.

Try the beads out, let us know. I'll be fitting a new rear Avon next week sometime, and I won't be using them.

 

I needed a tire for a boat trailer - went to Pep Boys for a good price.
They managed to destroy the bead while mounting it. I took it back and the manager said "we don't warranty trailer tires" I told him it went flat overnite and never went down the road. It took alot to convince him to at least DISMOUNT it and that's when we saw the ripped-up bead.

 

So I ordered the Dynabeads and tried them for about three months... I tried these with all the excitement of a kid at Christmas... Whoopee got my Dynabeads in the mail cant wait to dump them in the tire and try them out. Well IMHO just not for me after all.

While not a bad concept I swear I could feel the bike bounce a bit on the front when stopping between 30 down to the last few mph... (kph for our metric members. LOL) This was likely due to the weight becoming unbalance in the dynamic shift of the beads.

On the flip side I like twisties! The kind that leave a biker cranking through the turns like a snow skier tearing up a slalom course. I like these turns so tight that you can't take the curve much faster than 25mph. This also seemed to be the speed the dynabead would cease doing their thing.

Maybe some of this was my imagination but I did give'em a try. Maybe these beads are great for sportbike riders on a race track or straight highway long haul riders. Just not for me though so I went back to the old weights. Now what I may do is, later as the tire ends it's lifespan, say into the last 1500 miles then I may slip the beads back in to make up the difference as a tire may wear out of round.

 

It would make no sense at all, if the tyre is balanced correctly there is no need for any beads

 

Shoots!!! You're telling me that dyna beads go in the TYRES??????

Now you tell me..... No wonder I've got a VERY rattly ENGINE...