Balancing super swampers

Nissan11

Nissan11

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Location
Marston, NC
Before I get yelled at, I did a search and read many, many threads on the different methods of balancing tires. I got a lot of good info from those threads but I still have a few questions.

I just bought a set of 34x10.5x15 super swamper TSL radials on alluminum wheels. I want to keep the wheels for a long time, but I just want to run the tires until they wear down completely so I can switch back to an A/T type tire for road driving.
In the mean time, I want to try to reduce the shaking of these unbalanced tires. They dont shake REAL bad, but up at about 40-45mph they shake pretty good and it is very annoying. I have to hold the wheel with both hands. Faster than about 50mph and its not too bad but still noticable.
Out of all the balancing options I have read about, the two Im stuck on are using antifreeze and airsoft rubber bb's. Will either of these damage my wheels in any way? My number 1 goal is not to damage the wheels, but I dont want the truck to shake for the 1-2 months I will probably be riding on these tires. Ive read that about 8-10oz would be a good amount to start with per tire, is that right?

Also, after I put 10oz in the valve stems and air the tires back up, am I stuck with it if the tires still shake, or shake worse? Is there a possibility that using either of those methods will make the wobble worse? Thanks!
 
Nissan11 said:
I just bought a set of 34x10.5x15 super swamper TSL radials on alluminum wheels.
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First off lets address this. Radial TSLs come in 33x10.50x15, they don't make a 34x10.50 TSL Radial. So either you have 33x10.50 TSL Radials or you have 34x10.50x15 Bias Ply LTBs. LTBs do have TSL on the sidewall, but they aren't Radials.

This makes a couple differences.

A.)If you actually have the 33x10.5x15 TSL Radials they should balance fairly easily since they aren't bias ply. Seeing they are on aluminum rims will make this go even smoother. So regular spin balancing from a shop would be plenty.

B.)If you have the Bias Ply 34x10.5x15 LTBs then you will have some vibration no matter what. And because they are on aluminum rims there is a chance you can get them balanced fairly well using regular spin balancing.

Other wise you are on track with the BBs or antifreeze. If you put too much in you can always dismount the tires and remove the excess. Easiest way to do it is put in a little less than the recommended amount, test it out, and add more if needed. Its a lot easier to add than it is to remove.
 
Nissan11 said:
Thanks, they are the bias ply because they are 34x10.5x15. Im going to get some airsoft bb's from walmart today.
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If I saw this saturday I could've given you an assload, was cleaning out some things and found about 6-8k of them. Gave them to my niebor who will probably use them to shoot the other niebors dogs.
 
I just bought some plastic airsoft bbs. im going to put them in today. 8oz per tire is what the chart says so I am going to start with 6oz.
 
The bb's I bought are .20 grams. Since there are 28.35 grams per ounce...I need 1,134 bb.'s per tire for 8oz. Damn, I dont think I want to count those out by hand. I guess I will try to find someone with a scale today.



<EDIT> The BB's wont fit through the valve stem...Im not sure how you guys all do it...I guess I will return the BB's and use antifreeze. The whole reason for buying airsoft BB's was so that I wont have to break the tire off the wheel...
 
Nissan11 said:
<EDIT> The BB's wont fit through the valve stem...Im not sure how you guys all do it...I guess I will return the BB's and use antifreeze. The whole reason for buying airsoft BB's was so that I wont have to break the tire off the wheel...
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:rolleyes: Either break the bead on 1 side of the rim or return the BBs...

Use the AF/H2O instead... super simple to get inside as long as you have access to a compressed air source to air them all back up when you're done

:popcorn:
 
Caver Dave said:
:rolleyes: Either break the bead on 1 side of the rim or return the BBs...
Use the AF/H2O instead... super simple to get inside as long as you have access to a compressed air source to air them all back up when you're done
:popcorn:
Click to expand...

I am ready to accept my slap in the face with a trout.

I did not know how easy it was to break the bead off the rim. I put about 8 oz in each tire (1,134 BB's @ .20 grams each with 28.35 grams = 1 oz)


Its raining right now, I will report back this afternoon how they ride.

ai130.photobucket.com_albums_p275_nissan11_Muddin_DSCN0453.jpg




Amount per tire...



ai130.photobucket.com_albums_p275_nissan11_Muddin_DSCN0454.jpg
 
I took a drive up the road and noticed no difference in the ride. It shook as much as it did before. I wonder if I need to add a couple more ounces of BB's? since it shakes just as bad, can 2 more ounces even make a difference? Shouldnt 8oz have at least gotten it close?

Both front and rear tires are still unbalanced because I can see the bed shaking and the steering wheel still shakes back and forth.
 
What kind of vehicle are you putting theses on? Any preexisting problem you have with the suspension or steering will be multiplied by putting on larger tires, weather they are balanced or not.
 
The vehicle is a 02 nissan frontier crew cab v6. Ive been running 33x12.5x15 goodyear wranglers for about 2 years and they drove perfect with no shaking whatsoever, but they were balanced by a shop with rim weights. Those had steel wheels which were bent up and had chunks missing, too. These tires actually seem to be shorter than the wranglers, but Im also running a lower air pressure in these. Ive got 20psi in the front and 15psi in the rear. I used some chalk and layed sown the tire print and about 15-18psi leaves a pretty even print on them, and even at this low pressure there is absolutely no evidence of the tires bowing out near the ground, as if to suggest low air pressure. Do these tires have a stiffer sidewall than the goodyear wranglers? Should I put more air in them even though they appear to have plenty of air in them? The max psi on the side of the tire says 45psi, but I think anywhere near that would be too high.
Oh, and there is no problem with the steering or suspension that I am aware of. The front suspension is just re-indexed torsion bars and I have an aftermarket centerlink for steering. I keep the idler arm bushings fresh every 6k miles and check the other steeering components regularly. Rear suspension is a 3 piece add-a-leaf kit. I dont mind the truck shaking, but the steering wheel shaking from 35-50 mph is a problem.
 
Odds are, that many airsoft bbs don't weigh enough. My buddy used an 8 oz coffee cup full of antifreeze on his super swamper bias plys. (36's I think) with no problems.
 
For whatever its worth i just put antifreeze and water mix, about 3/4 of a 16oz bottle in each of my 37x12.50x16.5 goodyear mt oz hummer take offs. it seems to come and go some time it rides smooth and somtimes it will shake nothing bad just enough to annoy me. The truck is a 2004 superduty im ready to take em to Galloways and have em pad balanced? You wouldnt think they would be that hard to get to ride smooth but they just dont. so good luck with the bbs hope this helps in some way.
 
My previous tires were pad balanced 39 tsls bias had no wheel weights on rims, it rode smooth as glass. I know what your thinking but they were smooth my buddy has a set of pad balanced 44 boggers and they are smooth both sets done by Galloways, is there anybody in the Winston area that pad balances?
 
OK I guess I will put 4 more oz of airsoft BB's in every tire, if it gets even worse I know I put too much in to begin with, right?
 
After trying more bb's, make sure you drive around for a good while. Your bias tires flat spot from sitting with the vehicle weight on them. Driving for several miles will "round" them back out. If you already knew this, call me a dumbass and disregard this post.
 
I didnt know that, but I have driven the truck to and from work which is 20 miles both ways on the highway and it doesnt get any better. This is very frustrating.
 
The thing about dynamic balancing is that it is easy to have too little, but hard to have too much.

Any extra beads will disperse themselves and balance out. This is why you can run an equal weight in all tires, where in traditional balancing each wheel needs it's own very specific amount of weight.
 
I run 10 ounces of airsoft in my 35s and they are perfect, but these are also radial tires.
 
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