Steel Stems and Balance of Mission Tires

[oppositelock]

Although it's not my favorite time of year to crawl around on the Montana ground, I just finished getting my last tire back on the trailer. I removed one at a time and took them to the local tire shop for balancing and new valve stems (steel, I saw the warning on this forum and thought it be a good safety item). I'm aware of the amount of love for the Asian tires, but I've got 7700 miles on these and their condition is still looking good. And since a set of new G612s is $800 plus, I'll try to get some more miles out of the Missions.
I figured that getting the tires static balanced may lessen some self-induced deterioration and possibly avoid any disasters. It's interesting that 3 of the 4 tires took only 1.75 OZ each. Which I figure is pretty good for the size tires that come on these trailers. The fourth tire took 6 OZ. which looks like 8 inches of lead tacked onto the inside of the wheel. It's also this fourth tire with all the weight that has shown the most wear. It also has excessive wear on the inside thread that sounds like an axle/alignment problem.
I hope between tire rotation, balancing, steel valve stems, and keeping the pressure at 80 psi, I can get some more safe miles out of these Missions.

Jim

 

[Bob&Patty]

Jim, I would have the alignment checked when you can. The steel valve stems is a good idea. BTW, did you get snowed in around Christmas like the daughter did?? Jim, this is Pat and I at the daughters wedding in September, last year in Big Timber Montana. Bob

 

[JohnDar]

You might talk to your dealer about a road force balance (not the static bubble balance) if you're getting vibration or strange wear on a tire. Had a problem some time ago with my truck and new tires that "balanced" OK, but rattled my teeth. Getting the road force balance testing on the tires showed the tires were defective. Got Sears to replace them based on the dealership's test results. Goodyear's they were.

 

[oppositelock]

J & D
Thanks for the info. I'm assuming the Road Force balance is what a tire shop calls a Spin Balance. I'm not sure if the trailer does have a vibration problem since I can't talk DW into sitting in the trailer while I get it up to road speed.

Has anyone ever observed a really out-of-round tire bouncing along the road. I've seen it on cars, but not a 6 ton trailer.?

Thanks, Jim

 

[cfulton]

I had a balance issue with my Bridgestone Revos on my Dodge 2500 some 40,000 miles back. The tire dealer put Contact Balance Beads in all 4 and no balance issue since! They rebalance each time you drive.
Just bought a new Big Horn (which we dearly love) and had the same treatment done to it's tires at a big truck tire place. Thats what they use to balance balance the big rig tires. There are 3 types of beads (I am told). They put the "Equal" brand in my trailer tires.
Am looking forward to the same forever in balance as experiencing on our truck.

 

[truknutt]

Thanks for supplying the actual name of those beads Innovative Dyna Beads. I was able to find some for sale here a little cheaper than on the factory page: knowwhere2jeep.com .

There is a chart indicating how much product is required for different sized tires.

 

[pickuphunt]

balance tires

On our 2008 trip to Texas from Minnesota we notice on arrival that the nuts on the bolts holding the seat on the toilet were loose, in fact, one was off, the other about half off. Also, the counter extension brackets, one had the screws worked out, the other was starting to loosen. I was puzzled, but I tightened the nuts. When we got back I noticed one of the nuts was half off again. I figured the only reasonable explanation had to be excess vibration - tires out of balance. So, one by one I took the tires to my local tire dealer. The tires required 10 -12 oz on each tire balance. My dealer indicated that 4 - 6 oz should be max. Through my dealer and finally through the tire supplier I got 5 new tires. I immediately traded the 'china bombs' for 5 Good Year. I must add, I never felt the vibration in the pickup. Of course I had the tires balanced. (2-4 oz per tire) This year our trip to Texas, everything went just fine. Moral of the story, take the time to have your tires balanced.

 

[Nabo]

We also have our tires rotated and balanced yearly at our local tire dealer. Never thought about changing the stems out to steel but will definately talked with the dealer about it. We run nitrogen in both the truck and 5th'r for the past five seasons and have noticed that the tires run cooler. Since changing to nitrogen, we don't have to continuely add air. I have ask the dealer about tracking and alignment but he doesn't think it's a issue by the way the tires are wearing.

 

[VixPix]

Thanks for supplying the actual name of those beads Innovative Dyna Beads. I was able to find some for sale here a little cheaper than on the factory page: knowwhere2jeep.com .

There is a chart indicating how much product is required for different sized tires.

TrukNutt, have you ever experienced these beads just flying off of your wheels? Two weeks ago I was getting my F450/Dually's wheels rotated and balanced. The dealer couldn't get it done right the first time, so I had them do it over and they used these type of bead weights on my rear wheels. Unfortunately, I was in Florida and had to return home. It was bad because I was enjoying Florida, and bad because after my first tank of fuel I checked the wheels and they were completely clean of any beads or signs of residual adhesive. Now I'm going to have to get them rebalanced and I don't want any beads put back on them. Appreciate any advice on these.

Victor

 

[jmgratz]

Has anyone ever heard of putting a golf ball inside the tire to keep it in balance. I just heard about this and the guy swears by it. He said he heard about it from a trucker.

 

[truknutt]

TrukNutt, have you ever experienced these beads just flying off of your wheels? Victor

Victor,

The plastic beads we speak of go inside the tire; centrifugal force forces them out from center to the area of the tire requiring extra weight to balance it out. I personally have not experienced the "stick on" weights that you reference; my 450, 350, & 250 all have the standard "clip on" style weights.

Sorry I'm of no help,
Dave

 

[Larryheadhunter]

Ok guys,
Question. When I get my new Goodyears or Michelin's tires, do I not have the tires balanced at all, but instead buy on the outside these dyna beads, bring them with me and have them installed while mounting and balancing or does that take the place of that procedure, or do I do both? The steel stems have to be installed on both truck and trailer valve stems in order to utilize the Pressure Pros. Sorry for exact answers but all this is Greek to me, and I wanna do it right the first time. Then I never have to rebalance the tires again or should that be done every so many miles? Do I have to still rotate the tires regularly? I need step by step instructions to get this right. Thanks in advance. It's kind of like the do it right the first time attitude.

 

[SmokeyBare]

Not sure I'd try that with out knowing how bad the tire is out of balance first. I'm sure you've seen tires with as little as 1/4 ounce weight on them... as well as over 3 ounces of weight... how could one know if the golf ball would be the correct weight to do the job?.... In my opinion...

Marv

 

[Bob&Patty]

Lar, yes to rotating the tires at a fixed mileage. On a car/truck should be done every 6k miles. Would not hurt to do the trailer tires at that time. As an extra precaution you should walk around the coach and look for an uneven wear pattern or the tread starting to look choppy. As for the balancing issue, thats you choice. When I change my tires, I will try the stick on weights. That is the most used on cars and trucks with custom wheels and tires. But a side note to that. If they cant get the tires to balance with a reasonable amount of weights. Then you will have to try something different. Good tires should always balance with a minimal amount of weights. Just remember that you are balancing the wheels and tires as an assembly. Wheels can be out of balance also. There have times when the heavy part of the tire and the wheel end up in the same spot. A good tire installer will move (rotate) the tire to a different spot on the wheel so it will balance with less weight. Confused yet, when you have the new tires mounted, take them to a good tire shop. Not Jiffy-lube and tune. Lar, get the goodyears, your coach is heavy. We will talk at the end of the month. Bob

 

[JohnDar]

Balancing Tires

You might need to look into having this done on your tires. Some time ago, I bought a new set of Goodyear's for my Avalanche at Sears. They were balanced and had weights on them, but vibrated my fillings loose on the freeway. Thought I had some major problem, so I went to my servicing GM dealer. They ran this test on the tires and found two of the four were out of round and could not be balanced. It's actually a defect during the molding process. Sears replaced the two no charge based on their report.


http://www.hunter.com/pub/company/news/press/archive/prGSP9700.htm

On the topic of steel stems, it appears my 3670 came with them, along with the Freestar tires.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Larry and John, this is the balance machine we use at our dealer. We have to deal with the large tires that people have on there trucks, SUV's and cars. Works real well. Bob