tire question

[old Rusty C10]

I have a 76 K 20 i have the aluminum rims and i bought 31"super swampers for the look.. I am told you cannot balance those tires on a machine, and you need to buy beads to balance them... I need the magic answer of how much beads per tire as Ive never done this before... truck is not going off road its just for the look

[mongocanfly]

On swampers the 1st thing my tire guy does is put them on a tire shaver to true them up after mounting....then he sees how much weight its gonna take to balance...
If you want beads there are formulas out there to determine how much each tire needs...
https://esco.net/resources/balancing-beads-chart/

https://www.counteractbalancing.com/...on-calculator/
Some people like beads some hate them....that's about all they use on motorcycle tires now around here

[sweetk30]

if its not a daily driver or long distance runner skip the balance job .

there bias ply tires and will flat spot when sitting .

as said the only thing i might do is run them get them warm annd true them up on a machine .

when i use to do tires for a job years ago the best way i found to balance bias ply swapers was a good old bubble balance . we tried the same tire/rim combo on the same vehicle . hand down best results we got were the bubble balance only .

and i use to d.d 38x12.50x16.5 swampers on a k30 so i know how they ride .

[Mike C]

I ran balance beads in Goodyear Wrangler II’s that I had on my Jimmy. The 35” 12.5 16.5 Military tire. They looked awesome but were square for the first few miles. My chrome Centerlines lip wouldn’t allow for hammer on weights and the stick on ones wouldn’t stay stuck on the chrome. They made a big difference. The off-road guys balance with Airsoft BB’s. On your 31’s I’d think 8 oz or so would be a good start.

[1976gmc20]

How does that work? Do you put the BBs inside the tire?

Is the theory that the BBs will somehow navigate to the light side of the tire ????

[GSP7]

How much $ did you pay for those outlaw 10" rims? Or did you already have them


.

[mongocanfly]

Gmc20...they do go inside the tire...some how they balance out the tire...very popular with motorcycles...
I've heard some people hate them because in a quite vehicle you can hear them rolling around in the tire at slow speeds....

[Mike C]

The real balancing beads are tiny ceramic things. You can put them in the tire through the valve stem using a DA sander to vibrate the stem and let them flow through faster.

AirSoft BB's work in big tires, but you have to seat the bead with them int the tires. Some wrap them in paper towel and let the towel just disintegrate in the tire.

Do NOT use metal BB's, they will rust. For your 31's, just buy some balancing beads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubyZNqgw40k

[1976gmc20]

Hmmmm …….

Well, we have a heck of a problem out where we live with tires being pretty much always being out of balance because of the mud sticking to the wheels.

I'm wondering if the balancing beads would work in this situation ????

[chevy71super]

I've used both methods. Balancing beads work well but a good balance job by someone who cares is equally effective. An out of round tire will vibrate no matter the balancing method used.

The best route is to have the tires balanced and add beads to fine tune them. They will flat spot after sitting but I would still balance them as the flat spots will work themselves out after a few miles. Doug