[CrystalPistol]

Now …… now I am curious.

A buddy of mine and I were talking today and this very subject came up, he said he throws the same 5 golf balls in his GL's tires every time he mounts up a new one. I knew some truck operators do it, never heard of it being done with a MC tire. If the BBs & "balance beads" can find balance, I wonder why can't 5 golf balls find balance too. My grandpa used to fill the big tractor tires with liquid, it always road pretty smooth on the black top in high gear with throttle up, and it was flying. Even clothing in a dryer will try to balance the drum, but they often aren't free to moved so freely.

Hell, I might even try it myself. First though, I'll need to go to the store and get some cheap golf balls. 8 or 10 should do the rear tires of the trike, 4 or 5 in each at next tire change. I'd try it in the trike's front tire except it's near new Avon radial trike tire, and I'm gonna need 2 rear P215/70-15 tires sooner (already shopping around for the right look).

Anybody else?

 

[AZgl1800]

Dyna Beads explicitly states, do NOT use beads in Low Profile tires, as they won't spread out evenly across the width of the tire.

So, I would think it would depend on the type of car tire is on the trike.
I've not heard of the Golf Ball idea before in car tires, maybe in semi truck tires?

 

[RambozoClown]

There's no kill like overkill. So how do I get bowling balls into bicycle tires?

 

[DaveO430]

I imagine the golf balls couldn't disperse around the tire if a small amount of balance was needed in a particular spot like smaller beads can. As in if the weight of 1/2 a golf ball was all that was needed how would the others counteract it.

 

[redwing52]

I imagine the golf balls couldn't disperse around the tire if a small amount of balance was needed in a particular spot like smaller beads can. As in if the weight of 1/2 a golf ball was all that was needed how would the others counteract it.

The theory is sound. The balls are too big, BB's?????? I wonder

 

[joe in calif]

I don't recall ever having that much balancing a tire. Usually the shop just used weights and that worked great. On my Kawasaki 1400 the shop put in Ride On tire seal and balance, ir worked great But it messed up the TPMS, which they had to replace at their cost since they were the ones that suggested it

 

[DaveO430]

The theory is sound. The balls are too big, BB's?????? I wonder

I put BBs in the tires of my S10 when I first got it, the tires weren't worth paying to have balanced. They worked just fine but could hear them when rolling slow.

 

[noviwinger]

Now …… now I am curious.

A buddy of mine and I were talking today and this very subject came up, he said he throws the same 5 golf balls in his GL's tires every time he mounts up a new one. I knew some truck operators do it, never heard of it being done with a MC tire. If the BBs & "balance beads" can find balance, I wonder why can't 5 golf balls find balance too. My grandpa used to fill the big tractor tires with liquid, it always road pretty smooth on the black top in high gear with throttle up, and it was flying. Even clothing in a dryer will try to balance the drum, but they often aren't free to moved so freely.

Hell, I might even try it myself. First though, I'll need to go to the store and get some cheap golf balls. 8 or 10 should do the rear tires of the trike, 4 or 5 in each at next tire change. I'd try it in the trike's front tire except it's near new Avon radial trike tire, and I'm gonna need 2 rear P215/70-15 tires sooner (already shopping around for the right look).

Anybody else?

I can see the hard heavy golf balls destroying the TPS. I have no evidence other than reasoning on my part.

 

[briese]

Most wheel and tire assemblies only need from a .25 ounces (7 gram) or less and not more than 2 ounces (56 grams) weight to balance them.

Balance beads are so light that they constantly finely tune the wheel tire balance as the rubber erodes away or the wheel picks up dirt from the road. Have you cleaned your rear wheel lately? Notice the dirt build-up? It affects the balance of the wheel/tire assembly. It takes several hundred if not thousands of beads to amount to an ounce. How is a golf ball that weighs approximately 1.6 ounces (45 grams) going to finely balance a motorcycle tire?

It may work fine for you but I don't see me trying it any time soon.

 

[AZgl1800]

I always use Dyna Beads, and feel that beads far outweigh the benefits of a solid lead weight.
I have had truck tires balanced, and the first time I went over a gravel road and a stone lodged in the tread, it started bouncing.

Beads will keep the tire balanced no matter how much stones are picked up,
AS LONG AS, there is sufficient beads in the tire.
this is where folks mess up, the don't use enough.

On my 1800, the first time around, I put in 3 oz in the front tire, and 4 oz in the Michelin car tire.

worked like a charm... and where I live, I have a lot of mud to get through before I can get to the county road. the car tire always came out with mud in the tread, but when I hit the highway, that was never felt at all.... as the mud is slung off, the beads just move around keeping the tire balanced.

Golf Balls? I don't think that will work so good. to much weight in one spot, not fine enough for good balance action. Maybe on a huge big mudder truck?

 

[dingdong]

This topic should be moved to the Fun Forum and hidden from view forever.

 

[CrystalPistol]

Edit: I have read enough stories of damage to the tire's inner surface by golf balls that I can say with certainty I am not going to try golf balls.

I can see the hard heavy golf balls destroying the TPS. I have no evidence other than reasoning on my part.

If they are balancing a rotating tire, stands to reason they stay in certain spots and they'll likely stay against the tire's inner surface, not hitting rims or TPMS or valve stems. I only have TPMS in three 4 wheelers and those in the '07 & '08 mount with bands to the alloy wheel, I'm not sure about the "Wife Unit"s Subaru, but they ride great and are balanced with stick on wgts. I don't know where 1800's mount theirs?

I imagine the golf balls couldn't disperse around the tire if a small amount of balance was needed in a particular spot like smaller beads can. As in if the weight of 1/2 a golf ball was all that was needed how would the others counteract it.

Well, just like all them beads can't get to one spot. If only a few beads were needed, what will the others do? They'll spread out to counter each other I think. When we balanced using clip on weights, we often did not put all the weight in one spot, like say maybe it needed 1.5 oz. at spot A, we found it often better to use two smaller weights spaced out to each side of spot A. Two 1.0 ounce weights spread out a little from A at spots B & C still balanced.

If just one golf ball was in the tire and only half it's weight was needed it couldn't balance the tire. With 5 or so, any imbalance created by the one should be counteracted by the others. If the tire were perfectly balanced and 5 thrown in, I'd expect the 5 to be equally dispersed around the tire.

I've tried BBs in MC tires (great) and in 70 series car tires or narrower (works) but they don't work so well for broader aspect ratio tires like 60 or 55 series. I think it because while they may balance in the rotation, they have problem staying in the center of the tire or over on the side actually out of balance and the tire wants to wobble about it's axis. Go back to skinny tire days, before "wide ovals", when tires were more like 83 series, many times a bubble balancer was used and all weights placed on outside rim and it worked because the tires were so narrow. With 70 series, and often even 60 series, splitting the weights equally between outer & inner bead worked well enough.

Anyway, 'twas just a thought after my buddy said it worked for him. I was pretty surprised he used golf balls in MC tires. I have both clip on weights and BBs (5 or 6 ounces in each) on my older F-150's 31/10.50-15 lugged tires, I added the beads after we balanced using the weights on the rim, as a fine tuning method. At present, that's the only 4 wheeler I have the Air-Soft .22 BBs in. The trike has only the BBs (3 oz.) in it's front Avon as well as the two rear car tires (5 oz. each as I recall). I never hear them in the truck as I don't push it in the basement with engine off, but I can hear those in the trike when I push it, maybe I need to push it faster?

If I try it ...
… I'll do a "Golf Balls --- part two" thread.

 

[redwing52]

I put BBs in the tires of my S10 when I first got it, the tires weren't worth paying to have balanced. They worked just fine but could hear them when rolling slow.

That's funny.Did people look at you funny? Never thought of that.

 

[AZgl1800]

If they are balancing a rotating tire, stands to reason they stay in certain spots and they'll likely stay against the tire's inner surface, not hitting rims or TPMS or valve stems.

Ummmmm, no they won't.
Centrifugal force will force the beads/golf balls (whatever) against the OUTER SURFACE of the tire/wheel assembly.

they will NEVER touch the TPMS except at very slow rolling speeds, and I doubt seriously any harm would occur.

.

 

[DaveO430]

That's funny.Did people look at you funny? Never thought of that.

It wasn't enough noise to be noticed, maybe like a brake dragging. I only heard it when rolling it to position it on the lift or turning the wheels on the lift.

 

[CrystalPistol]

OK … did some further research, seems golf balls can or have been known to have detrimental effects on a tire's inner surface. Maybe my buddy never looked close at his?

So … Not gonna do golf balls!

I'll just stick with my Air Soft Red-Jacket 22cal hard plastic BBs, they work … and I know that they don't tear up the tire's innards.