I might consider a set for my 3/4 ton truck. $200 wouldn't be a bad price to smooth out the ride.

 

I'm with Gary on this. I see some, maybe even most, rider posts in various forums (here and elsewhere) with good experiences, but then why are so many others not?

My brother turned me on to consider both/either dyna beads or centramatic ring, what I call bead and ring-bead dynamic balancing tech, for my vehicles.

I want to share with you an email I wrote back to him after researching this a bit.
My bottomline on this is, while in some cases it may work for some, I am not going that route (for either the bikes or the Jeeps).

Hope you folks find this helpful....

++++++++++++++
...email to bro...

I read up more on bead and ring-bead (Centramatic) dynamic balancers, and I even reviewed some videos with demonstrations of the principle physics and such.

However, I also kept reading about people who were getting great results along with others who had poor results --which made no sense to me.
The most common remark of non-motorcycle vehicle drivers I saw were "at 45-55 unstoppable wobble", "above 55 it wobbles", it wobbles at 55, then smooths out, then at above 70 it wobbles"... etc.
A couple mentioned wobbling between 35 and 45.
..."tried this and that, went back to normal balancing and no more problems"...
...kinds of things.

In rider forums I see some complaining about inconsistent highspeed and cornering (sudden) performance issues...

I figured, ....it should either work "right" or not! So wtf is up with that?!

A gander at wiki about tire balancing discusses some things about static and dynamic inbalances, reminded me of my question to you about why weighting the inside and the outside of a tire rim is important, and how dynamic bead balancing tech ties into that. Turns out this is a likely relevant concern, but seems to only have to do with some of the aspects of dynamic imbalance affects, as it turns out.

So I figured, aha, there may be a reasonable explanation for why some people do, and some do not, have good experiences with dynamic balancing using either beads or the centramatic ring (I read problems from people using both, and on bikes too)...

...but what is the explanation?

Well I think I found a good lead in for understanding this ...posted by a good fellow "gunderwood" at the BMWMOA forum here.

I think ITS WORTH A GANDER - for sure.

It gets a bit deep, but the gist of it (for me) seems to indicate that dynamic bead, and/or ring-bead, balancers are only able to address certain aspects of static and dynamic inbalance factors, and only under specific limited conditions where forces affected by other various factors do not come into play (velocity changes [on straights and during turns], tire deformation, 'asymmetric mass distribution' inherent in any particular wheel-tire [related to static imbalance, but in a very non-linear respect], as well as some other factors.

The videos you see out there discussing the supposed physics of these bead-tech systems do not represent these other factors either adequately or at all. (And to note, in the fine print Dyna Bead says not to use there product on high-performance vehicles. I know, likely a CYA tactic, but still.)

The thing that struck me the most is, as it turns out, the fact that it is not possible for dynamic bead/ring-bead balancers to address issues having to do with "asymmetric mass distribution", which can have notable affects at specific speed points, usually above about 40+ mph, which is what you see cited by many people asking about their "weird unsolvable balance issues" on the net. And that is not only from what gunderwood posted, but I read about this in a couple places.

I think this limited-scope aspect of bead balancing techniques is why some people simply cannot achieve good results with their attempts with bead balancing applications. In those cases I would be willing to bet one or more of their wheels has greater "asymmetric mass distribution" qualities wherein bead-balancing simply can never be enough.

Then there's the issue of how different this type of tech applies to wheel forces affected in motorcycles.

As well, it was interesting to note that the amount of bead you use in any particular application is actually a little more critical than we are generally lead to believe. Once you get in the neighborhood of "the right amount" for your particular application, without tweaking the weight correctly the affects can be either cancelled out by the beads themselves, or make a problem worse. And there is no guide for this.

I hope you find this information helpful.
I think I am going to stick with classical balancing for now, although, I must admit it is attractive to me to try beads out for the jeeps, because if my wheels do not suffer from overt assymetric inbalance affects, then the benefit in dynamically adjusting wheels balance in response to snow buildup, mud, tire wear, etc.... I mean, who wouldn't want that!

 

Well, I have to bite my tongue. I bought the Centramatic rings for the front tire on my TriGlide. That months SS check was burning a hole in my pocket. I hate getting a little extra money now and again - it makes me spend it on needless things.
After a few months of riding I can honestly say - - I don't feel any difference. Oh well - lesson learned.
Maybe one of the other benifits will apply - like longer milage. Will have to wait and see.

So put me down in the column of "Money waisted"

 

I'm neither for nor against balancer products such as the beads or the ring, but since you don't really notice a difference why not throw an ounce or so of stick on weight on the wheel and try to take it out of balance and see if the ring corrects for it. Simple test...

 

Presently I'm using "Ride-on" in my tires. Balances them and advertised to have the added benefit of automatic puncture repair. Don't know if the stuff works for puncture repair and don't really want to find out. I can say it does balance tires though.

 

Never thought of that - good suggestion. Maybe next summer.

When I first put them on it seemed to smooth it out a little, but lately not so much - maybe the cold temps are effecting the ride somehow.

I just can't say it's worth the money if I don't feel a "noticable" difference.

Someone with sensitive hands, feet and *** may feel some difference though.

 

So....let me see if I've got this right:
Only one person so far has responded that he actually HAS the product ON a Harley (trike) and he notices no difference. Another has used it on his pick-up.
Nearly all the other replies were positive for, or in defense of, DynaBeads.
Got it.
My lead weight spin balance costs me $5 with no downside. I'm going with that.

 

My favorite quote is that the Dyna beads will lessen your tire life. We use Dyna Beads exclusively and would not if there were any known issues. I find that they make my tires last longer than with conventional balancing methods. That is all I am going to say. I'll sit back and read the rest.

 

If I could do it over again, I'd stay with the tried and true lead(?) wheel weights.

 

I believe the Centramatic System would be of more benefit to larger tires, especially lugged tires that would be more subject to changes in original balance.
I will just stay with the weights.