Do you balance your trailer tires?

shelby27604

shelby27604

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Location
Efland NC
Just bought new rims and tires for my trailer, dropped the rims off at Mavis Tire to get the new tires mounted, they charged me for mounting and balancing, but when I got home, half my valve stem caps had walked away, the inside of all 5 rims looked like someone had used the rims as a dinner bell with a pipe wrench, and there wasn't a single weight on any of the wheels.

I called the shop up and asked what the deal was, and they said they don't normally balance trailer tires....These tires are 14ply, weigh 60lbs, and are 31" tall....wheel and tire has got to be over 100lbs+.

Pretty sure every trailer tire I have ever used has had a balance weight on it.
 
If it touches the pavement, I balance them.

In trailers I'll use liquid balance or equal since it's dynamic and they scrub a lot and may wear oddly.
 
Balance beads in trailers for me. Even our semi trailers at work get them. On our commercial stuff t makes a huge difference when the trailers are unloaded given the suspension is so stiff.
 
I have never had my trailer tires balanced, never bothered me but I cant compare, maybe ignorance is bliss for me in this case
 
shelby27604 said:
Just bought new rims and tires for my trailer, dropped the rims off at Mavis Tire to get the new tires mounted, they charged me for mounting and balancing, but when I got home, half my valve stem caps had walked away, the inside of all 5 rims looked like someone had used the rims as a dinner bell with a pipe wrench, and there wasn't a single weight on any of the wheels.

I called the shop up and asked what the deal was, and they said they don't normally balance trailer tires....These tires are 14ply, weigh 60lbs, and are 31" tall....wheel and tire has got to be over 100lbs+.

Pretty sure every trailer tire I have ever used has had a balance weight on it.
Click to expand...
I don’t, but I’d be pissed if they charged me for it and then didn’t do it.
 
Always balance. Aside from aforementioned bearing wear a shaking tire will eventually wear unevenly which will exacerbate the issue and require premature replacement of the tires. Not to mention shaking the crap out of everything every mile you drive them. Any shop that says you do not need to should think hard about whether they should continue being a tire shop.
 
OnlyOneDR said:
Always balance. Aside from aforementioned bearing wear a shaking tire will eventually wear unevenly which will exacerbate the issue and require premature replacement of the tires. Not to mention shaking the crap out of everything every mile you drive them. Any shop that says you do not need to should think hard about whether they should continue being a tire shop.
Click to expand...
When we acquired this Ford Ranger, it had this mysterious vibration even with the new tires. Took it to the shop for the mounting of the new ion wheels and brake job and had it balanced and the vibration disappeared. Been using balance since then even for trailers.
 
Well, I took the tires back to Mavis tire to get balanced....had a 20 min. argument with the manager about whether the tires needed to be balanced, he was of the opinion that tires only need to be balanced to smooth out the ride, and since no one rides on a trailer, they don't get balanced....he finally agreed to balance the tires. I can't tell if the people that work at this shop are 100% inept or if this was out of spite.

All the pictures are with the valve stem at 12 o'clock....almost every tire has weights on the back side of the tire that are 180 degrees from the weights on the front of the tire, every wheel has at least 6 weights on it, and when I was unloading them, a weight fell out of the stack.

This is my second time trying to get this shop to do the right thing, at this point, I am going to have to go with balance beads and leave a nasty review. They have already lost most of my metal valve caps and scratched the hell out of brand new wheels (yes they are relatively inexpensive steel wheels, but that isn't the point).
PXL_20250102_221647918 (1).jpg
PXL_20250102_221702639 (1).jpg
PXL_20250102_221414409.jpg
 
Last edited:
that is either the worst out of balanced tire I have ever seen or a moron balanced it. Why go with stick on AND hammer on weights??
 
shelby27604 said:
Well, I took the tires back to Mavis tire to get balanced....had a 20 min. argument with the manager about whether the tires needed to be balanced, he was of the opinion that tires only need to be balanced to smooth out the ride, and since no one rides on a trailer, they don't get balanced....he finally agreed to balance the tires. I can't tell if the people that work at this shop are 100% inept or if this was out of spite.

All the pictures are with the valve stem at 12 o'clock....almost every tire has weights on the back side of the tire that are 180 degrees from the weights on the front of the tire, every wheel has at least 6 weights on it, and when I was unloading them, a weight fell out of the stack.

This is my second time trying to get this shop to do the right thing, at this point, I am going to have to go with balance beads and leave a nasty review. They have already lost most of my metal valve caps and scratched the hell out of brand new wheels (yes they are relatively inexpensive steel wheels, but that isn't the point).
View attachment 431317View attachment 431318View attachment 431319
Click to expand...
Those hammer on weights look like ones for aluminum wheels too. No wonder one fell off.
 
justjeepin86 said:
Those hammer on weights look like ones for aluminum wheels too. No wonder one fell off.
Click to expand...
How can you tell the difference? It seems like every single time I have a tire "professionally balanced" they mar up my wheels with the weights, I didn't realize there were aluminum and steel specific hammer on weights.
 
Different coatings, shapes of the clip, and shapes of the weights. There's like 8 different types of weights, usually color coded along with a letter pairing.

Also, Mavis is garbage. National chain...terrible.

Throw some Equal or Liquid Balance in there and carry on.
 
shelby27604 said:
Well, I took the tires back to Mavis tire to get balanced....had a 20 min. argument with the manager about whether the tires needed to be balanced, he was of the opinion that tires only need to be balanced to smooth out the ride, and since no one rides on a trailer, they don't get balanced....he finally agreed to balance the tires. I can't tell if the people that work at this shop are 100% inept or if this was out of spite.

All the pictures are with the valve stem at 12 o'clock....almost every tire has weights on the back side of the tire that are 180 degrees from the weights on the front of the tire, every wheel has at least 6 weights on it, and when I was unloading them, a weight fell out of the stack.

This is my second time trying to get this shop to do the right thing, at this point, I am going to have to go with balance beads and leave a nasty review. They have already lost most of my metal valve caps and scratched the hell out of brand new wheels (yes they are relatively inexpensive steel wheels, but that isn't the point).
View attachment 431317View attachment 431318View attachment 431319
Click to expand...
I stopped going to Mavis a long time ago. It would infuriate me when I went in for tires and they would climb all through the truck looking for other work that needed to be done. The last time I went to one I told them that if I saw the hood go up I was never coming back. Sure enough the idiot in the back opened the hood. I walked out and told him to close it and mount tires and leave everything else alone.

As for your weights, that is pure stupidity.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Different coatings, shapes of the clip, and shapes of the weights. There's like 8 different types of weights, usually color coded along with a letter pairing.

Also, Mavis is garbage. National chain...terrible.

Throw some Equal or Liquid Balance in there and carry on.
Click to expand...
Equal, liquid balance? Can you point me towards where to buy either?

I was going to go with beads, I was also going to ask the group if there is a preferred brand, I used beads to balance my motorcycle tires, but that was years ago, and they went in through the valve stem.
 
shelby27604 said:
Equal, liquid balance? Can you point me towards where to buy either?

I was going to go with beads, I was also going to ask the group if there is a preferred brand, I used beads to balance my motorcycle tires, but that was years ago, and they went in through the valve stem.
Click to expand...
I bought these for my jeep last year. They seem to do a good job.

Counteract 10OZ-B4 Centrifugal Force Tire/Wheel Balancing Beads - Off-Road Vehicles, Light Duty Truck Tires, (4) 10oz Balance Bead Bags, (4) Valve Caps and Cores https://a.co/d/g2x2Eeu
 
You can get Equal or CounterAct or balance beads pretty cheap on Amazon. A local commercial tire store or big rig supply shop should have the liquid balance.

They'll all have a chart on how much to put in vs tire size.

I've also used Air Soft BBs with great results. It all depends on what you want to do.
 
justjeepin86 said:
I bought these for my jeep last year. They seem to do a good job.

Counteract 10OZ-B4 Centrifugal Force Tire/Wheel Balancing Beads - Off-Road Vehicles, Light Duty Truck Tires, (4) 10oz Balance Bead Bags, (4) Valve Caps and Cores https://a.co/d/g2x2Eeu
Click to expand...
The counteract website is absolute garbage! I see you toss the bag in when the tires are dismounted, can you get this bag in by breaking the bead on one side or do these go in through the valve core? They don't say WHY the recommend their valve cores, is it due to the beads clogging standard cores?
 
shelby27604 said:
The counteract website is absolute garbage! I see you toss the bag in when the tires are dismounted, can you get this bag in by breaking the bead on one side or do these go in through the valve core? They don't say WHY the recommend their valve cores, is it due to the beads clogging standard cores?
Click to expand...
Yeah, bust the bead and toss in the bag. I'm not sure why for the valve cores.
 
Chain store quality. I've been doing business for going on 30 years with the same store. I now drive an hour just to do it.
Find a reliable mom and pop and darken their door. Then follow up and repeat if treated fairly and given great service.
 
Back
Top