Wheel balancers

Ray: I have the centramatics on the drive axle only. I inherited them from the previous owner. I have equal in steer and tag axles. So far so good with one exception and I have made mention of it in a previous post. The centramatic is positioned between the rear duals and thur centrifigual force the inner tire stem was almost cut in half by the balancer. Be sure the hole in the balancer is elongated enough to clear the tire stem or the stem is enclosed in rubber firmly. Mine have the rubber boot around the stem but it fits loosely. I carry spare tire stem extensions now. Hope this helps.

I want to add to Roger's suggestion about Centramatics. The tire valve stems may appear to not contact the centramatics when being inspected because the coach is stationary. Centrifugal force has a huge impact on the valve stems, especially if they have extensions. On my coach, because I was lazy and did not remove or inspect the extensions I was not aware that the extensions were actually wearing a hole in themselves on the opening in the wheel. I do not have centramatics and my stems which normally were centered in the hole in the wheel flexed while I was driving until they came in contact with the outside of the opening in the wheel. I posted the pictures a while back.

The same thing happens if you have Centramatics if the clearance hole is too small. My recommendation is to avoid using any extensions to the valve stems and instread use the straight foot tire fill valves. If you wear a hole through a valve stem or extension the air loss will occur rapidly, and if you are not aware of the loss of air, especially on the inside drive axle tire, it could start to come apart and tear things up (that's the good news), or worse it could heat up and start a fire.

I know several of the guys use the Equal product to balance their tires, and like I usually do, I wanted to check on other products that might be in the market now to do the same thing.

I found a product called Dyna Beads, which is mfged by Innovative Balancing. http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

This product looks to be exceptional in what it does, but AGAIN I HAVE NO personal experience with it. Has anyone used this product?

I sent an email request to the mfg. of Innovative Balancing and asked if his product was better than Equal and if so, why?

This was his response to me:

Hi Gary,
Have you seen our Fleet page?
Equal is very abrasive to your inner liner, and if there's any moisture on the inside, Equal will clump up and stop working. Equal is an old product, actually nothing more than a bunch of ground up plastic than has the consistency of sand, but the abrasiveness of emery. It was used for balancing, but is nowhere near the type of material that a good balancing material requires.
Our product is designed for balancing Fleet tires and other types of tires, but that's it's only purpose.
It is totally non-abrasive, moisture has absolutely no effect on it's balancing properties, it will not grind down inside your tires, and will not create rubber dust. We have had our product re-used from one set of steers to another, with over 400,000 miles so far, but we don't know how far it will go.
In the shop, you won't find out product dusty and messy to work with, nor hazardous to your employees. Our beads our 2mm in dia, come in a bag, and you can either pour them in, or put the whole bag in, but the entire operation is clean and neat. We don't require any special dry-air handling like Equal does, as moisture doesn't affect our product.
From a money standpoint, we don't require large purchases. We have customers with 2 trucks, we have customers with 100, and our product comes 12 to a case. If you need 1 case, you buy one case, if you need more, buy what your budget allows, we don't dictate minimums.

One other small thing, our product does not require special filtered valve cores.

We have a lot of very happy Fleet customers, if you need a reference, give Carol a call at the toll free number below.

Robert
Technical Support

Ceramic Tire Balancing
Tel-USA: 866-352-7251
Tel-Outside USA: 585-467-6028
www.dynabeads.com

I put this out there just FYI. No sales commissions or referrals, I hope just good information for our group??? :)


Gary S.

What does Equal say?:D

Just kidding Gary. I have used Equal for about 15 years. I have never seen it clumped or had any issues with abrasion on the inner tire lining. Personally, if it wasn't for the expense I would like Centrimatic type balancing, but for now I will continue with Equal or its equivalent. This looks like a good alternative.

The Equal product works well for balance and is cheap. I have it in my tires and will never use it again. I hate the valve stems getting stuck open when I check tire pressure. Sometimes I can reset the valve stem with a small screw driver, sometimes I must drag out the air doubler and blow the valve clean. What a hassle.

I put Centramatic's on my old American Tradition and loved them. I am getting new tires in about a year and I plan on the Centramatic's on all axles.

Good post on the valve stem interference issue. I think problems with tires are caused by faulty valve stems or leaking gaskets at the valve stem to wheel connection causing flats.

So Mike C. did you look at the Dynabead products? If not, before you spend the money for Centramatic wheel balancers, you should weigh all options, including the Dynabead tire balance options? Just my opinion.

They apparently balance the tires without the need or hassle of plugging the valve stems.

Gary S.

To repeat what has already been posted before Equal or its equivalents need the valve stem cores that have the ceramic or mesh filters. That prevents debris from getting under the seat and causing a leak. But I have gone one further and it helps immensely, to the point that I haven't had any issues since using them. That is the installation of these:

http://www.tiresupplyguide.com/alligator/alligator.html

I do not use extensions, but a straight foot tire chuck with an integral pressure gauge. I got that at Wal-Mart for about $14, but the current ones only go to 100 PSI so an alternative such as this needs to be used:

http://www2.northerntool.com/product/12406.htm

That will have to be modified by adding a straight foot chuck.

I will never add wheel weights, not only because Jim Keller posted how the tire rotates on the rim, but because as the tire ages and wears it goes out of balance.

Keep It Simple ?????. Why do we keep complicating a very simple matter? Do we use Equal or its equivalent? Do we use ring balancers, Centramatics or another brand? Do we get out each time with our trusty infra red thermometer and check the heat of the wheels and tires with the many variables involved? Do we check the pressure with the hand air gauge and find we need two pounds of air and have to drag out the air hose or the air pressure multiplier and hook it up? I think you get the point.

The simple solution is the SmarTire system. I drive all day and pull into my stopping place and I check the pressure from the comfort of my driver's seat. I touch another button and I check the temps of each tire, from the comfort of my driver's seat. I do not need all of the above tools to do a very simple task - check air pressure and temperature. If a problem develops while driving an alarm sounds and the monitor lights red telling me there is a problem. I shut down for the night and before I leave in the am, a drive around the parking lot gives me readings on my cooled down tires. Everything is fine and I hit the road.

I run Equal in all of my tires, along with the safety caps Jon talked about, and have never had a problem. If I need to adjust pressure due to temp changes I use the combination air gauge and chuck and inflate/deflate the tires. I give a quick blast of air and it clears any particulate out of the valve core.

We have read about many tire failures and over heating on this POG site in recent months. Lloyd has recently posted on his blog about pulling into a campground and finding a flat tire. I believe this has happened twice. I just read on this site today about a blown tire and the wife going through the windshield. Many of this incidents could have been avoided by having the proper measures in place to constantly monitor the life line system of our vehicles - the tires and brakes. We can get along very well without every other system on the bus - ac, heat, bathroom, furnishing, etc. but the two things we cannot drive without are the tires and brakes.

Virtually every other system can malfunction and we can get to a service place for repairs but without brakes and tires we cannot operate. And if failure occurs while driving we better pray that we get landed safely. Yet this is an area we often neglect or step over dollars to get to pennies.

We have all kinds of gauges, dials, idiot lights and monitor systems telling about the engine, transmission, electrical and yes even the holding tanks but we go down the highway without anything reporting on the tires.

I have used the SmarTire system and Equal for over nine years and am 100% satisfied with it. I drive down the road knowing that the most important parts on my bus are constantly be checked. Can I experience a problem? Yes. but the odds of a catastrophic failure happening are greatly reduced.

So let's forget about all this other crap and keep it simple.

Denny is right. Period. If you opt to not have the pressure sensors take the time to check the tires.

He did leave out one thing that will put you on a flat bed trailer and that is a failed air bag. If I were to suggest the second most important thing after tires it would be the air bags. Even a failed brake chamber can be dealt with by plugging or capping the air hose or caging the brake (if it is an emergency brake diaphragm), but if an air bag lets go, you cannot drive with the bus sitting on the ground.

Just for information, I was speaking with the guy from the tire shop, and asked if he installed the centramatics, he said no, he de-installs them! He said he had a stack of them laying there.

He claims they don't have enough counter weight to actually do anything effective to the steer axel tires, and have not been PROVEN to help at all, other than in the company's own sales stuff.

He further claims that the best thing is to get a good balance off the bat, and another at the expected mid-life of the tire.

Once again, tires are not my field of genius at all, just passing along another opinion from someone in the biz.

I was all set up to get some, as the concept looked good to me, but I will take his advice for the time being anyway! I guess if you really want some, you might get some for a 12 pack down there ? :)


Steve B, I will be calling you.