Anyone have balance beads in your tires?

I recently went through my whole truck suspension, and replace everything, with new brakes, rotors and steering rack. I also changed rims and tires. I got everything aligned, but at 55mph to 65mph I get a lot of side to side movement in the steering wheel. But if I'm in a slight turn at the same speed I get nothing. Once I slow down or go faster it goes completely away. I am running 35's atturo hybird tires, so it's AT in the middle and mud on the sides. I am wondering if anyone with balance beads in the tires is having the same problem? I know of one other guy locally that had them and he ended up getting them taken out because he was having problems. Just wanting to know if anyone else has had any problems with them. Let me know your experience with balance beads.

 

I’ve never used them or known anyone who has. You’d think it they worked good then more people would be using them. I don’t think there’s much more you can do other than take them out and balance the old fashioned way.

 

Look at alignment too if wobble wasnt there before alignment. I have found this truck to be really finicky with alignment. Not enough split on the caster and good toe setup it will drift and when I had the drift fixed with a little more caster it re-introduced the 65mph wheel pwobble i had before alignment.

 

I've got another thread on here about a balance issue I'm having. The mechanic is considering using balance beads as well. I've only seen it used in commercial applications before, which makes me think why should it be so difficult to balance a stock size wheel & tire package?

They want to drive it before we go that route, so I'm hoping I can rule out a bad tire or wheel casting/molding before going that route.

 

Completely agree with this. Every time I make any changes, it takes 3 alignments to get it right.

 

So some feedback from a guy on the older side- those beads used to be very popular many (1980s-90s) years ago. Started with commercial applications and then guys running really big tires, bias ply offroad tires or super aggressive large tires that had a lots of problems getting balanced started using them. All the 4wd magazines back in the day like 4wheeler ran articles about them and tried them out on big tired rigs. They are ok for those types of applications but should not be required on a stock or mild tundra running streetable radial tires.

Yes, tundras are picky when it comes to alignment. Even low tire pressure in the fronts can introduce vibration and shimmy at highway speeds. I just experience that last week- cold spell hit and temps dropped 30 degrees. Vibration and such on the highway going to work. Checked at lunch and cold weather had dropped the tire pressure by 8 lbs, enough to cause handling issues.

I did a quick google search on atturo tire balance issues and got lots of hits- Ford, Jeep, Ram forums and more. So, there seems to be some potential balance issues on larger tires for them- 34inch to 37s. All it takes is one tire to be off a bit.

I would recommend that you find a shop that can road balance. If you cant get a good balance with a road balance and a good shop then I would try the beads as a last resort.

 

I do have a complete new front end. Including new ADS coils. I have had this thing aligned twice now, hoping it was just a little off. I have messed with the tire pressure thinking this could change things, and nothing. I can drive around town all day with no vibration, but once I hit the interstate as soon as i hit 55 it shacks and stops after I pass 65. I'm thinking I'm just going to pull out the balance beads. My other rims have the tape weights and no vibrations with them, but I have KO 2's. I was just trying to get some info before I go this route.

 

Some have had issues with KO2s recently. There was a post here where someone couldn’t get his balanced and discount tire got him a refund from BFG. In that thread it seems quite a few people had bad experiences with KO2s recently. Maybe you got a bad tire.

Edit - reread original post. Is the issue with KO2s or other tires? Try rotating the tires?

 

Issue is with the atturo tire's not the KO2's. I just have two sets of rims, so i threw on the old rims (KO2) tires and wanted to see if I still had the issue. With the old rims nothing. With the new rims I get the side to side movement. That's why I'm thinking the balance beads are the problem.