New tire balancing?

[Tagalong]

I posted last year about purchasing larger tires for our '03 34H Journey. Our purchase was between the Goodyear G670's and 255/80X22.5 Michelins. (We currently have 235/80X22.5.) [Side note: I am settling in on the Michelins because they tend to be "softer" than the Goodyears. Many of the people who like the Goodyears stated they thought the G670's were a much more "robust" and have a stiffer sidewall than the Michelin and the main purpose of buying the Michelins is to have a "softer" ride with our coach.]
We're honing in on the Michelins. Now, the next issue is balancing the tires. "Beads" or good ole weights??
Like most of us, I have always had the weights on all the vehicles we've ever owned. Is "bead" balancing just another "gimmick?"
Thanks,
Tagalong

[wa8yxm]

Some folks swear by beads, powders and the like.. Others Swear at 'em.

I would go with weights myself AND good tire pressure monitoring system like a Pressure Pro

[Wayne M]

Look at some of the trucker web site forums. I did a search on this some time ago and came up with a lot of hits on the bead method. You will find pros and cons regarding bead balancing.

Take it all with a grain of salt!

[LK23]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

Look at some of the trucker web site forums. I did a search on this some time ago and came up with a lot of hits on the bead method. You will find pros and cons regarding bead balancing.

Take it all with a grain of salt!

Or, take it with a grain of Equal.

[MrTransistor]

Hello Tagalong,

We had a 2003 Journey DL that came with the same tires you currently have. The Michelin 235/80R22.5 XRV is a very soft tire to please the RV market but as such, it lacks some of the qualities required for good handling and long life. We replaced the XRV tires with 255/80R22.5 XZE Michelins and were very pleased with booth the handling qualities, ride (just ever so slightly firmer), and the life. Your choice of the 255 XRV should get you a little better handling, a slightly smother ride and a little better life compared to the 235s.

As to which way you choose to balance. By all means, make sure that when the new tires are seated on the rim with pressure that the tire guy lets ALL the air back out of the tire and then re-inflates to the required pressure. This insures that the tire seats concentrically on the rim, which will reduce or eliminate the need for balancing. We just replaced the two front tires on our current coach with new Michelin 275/80R22.5 XZEs (old tires were from the inside rears and needed replacement for other reasons) and without any wheel weights at all there is no perceptible imbalance up to 55 MPH and above that is only a slight imbalance that comes a goes as the tires cycle in and out of sink. When it’s there it’s very slight, and when it’s not it’s smooth as silk. Not bad for 110 pound tires. I personally would have the tires balanced on the vehicle with weights. This way, you get to drive it first to see if balancing is required and if so, by balancing on the vehicle, they can check the run-out of the tire as well as the wheel assembly and then balance out booth together. Static balance only balances the rim and tire, not the hub and disk brake (granted, these usually require very little balancing if any).

I have no experience with any of the dynamic balancing products on the market. I did see a demonstration of one product that attaches to the rim and it seemed to do an excellent job although there was a seconds long period of imbalance every time the tire spun up until the system could adjust itself. I don’t recall the product name but I think it was a round hose with oil (?) and what looked like lead shot in it that attached to the rim under the hub cap. I’m not sure how it would attach to our aluminum rims.

Give the cost of new tires these days, it’s good to put a lot of thought into your selection.

Good luck.

[Pubtym]

There's tire and rim balancing with weights...always start with that. Then, if you want total "wheel" balancing (tire-rim-brake hub and hub external and internal parts) you need to move to a dynamic system like Centramatic.

"The Centramatic Continuous Wheel Balancer consists of 20-gauge steel galvanized mounting plate with an aluminum balancing tube attached. Shot sized balancing weights are inserted into the balancing tube lubricated by a synthetic moly oil. The balancer mounts behind the wheel and centrifugal force redistributes the balancing weights opposite of out of balance points as the wheel rotates. The Company claims the dissimilar metallic composition of the balancer, i.e. steel mounting plate and aluminum balancing ring, dissipates wheel/tire heating while in operation. This feature is called "ThermoFlow" by the Company. Basic rules of thermal physics apply as different metals have different coefficients of contraction/expansion with convection heat transfer migrating to the metallic content with the highest coefficient of expansion/contraction, i.e. rapid transfer from the wheel/hub/tire assembly to the steel mounting plate to the aluminum tube. The Company has been manufacturing the balancers for sixteen years concentrating on the heavy duty trucking market and RV applications with over 400,000 sets on the road, according to the Company."

http://www.centramatic.com/balancer.html

I have them on front steer tires and rear duals....you don't know what a vibration free ride is till you spend the money for them.

See what top line motor coaches are equipped with the 700 Series Balancers.

[Tagalong]

Thank you one and all. Now I have some homework to follow up on.
Once I have the new tires and all the balancing done I'll post a few thoughts on how it all works.
Tagalong

[Tagalong]

Thank you KTB. This product does sound very good. However, I purchased the tires back in May. I also learned that Michelin does not recommend any internal product be used in their products. I'll continue to watch the advance of this product for future reference.

[LK23]

Originally Posted by Tagalong

Thank you KTB. This product does sound very good. However, I purchased the tires back in May. I also learned that Michelin does not recommend any internal product be used in their products. I'll continue to watch the advance of this product for future reference.

Michelin has no problem with Equal. I spoke with their local Rep. before have Equal installed in my tires.

[smlranger]

FWIW, I used Equal in all 6 of my G670's when new in 2005. 32K miles later, all is well and they run smoothly.

[Thudman]

I opted for Equal in my 6 Michelin XRV's in Nov 08. Works good; hope it lasts a long time.

Thudman