FYI, a tire doesn't "stay" in balance, even if it was a so called "perfect tire" when mounted to a good rim that was concentric and in balance itself. Tires wear unevenly-regardless of other factors and even if in balance with rim weights in the beginning of their life. You can not use beads & rebalance with rim weights or spin new tires for best balance spot but fact remains they can & do go out of balance from uneven wear. I use the beads and have stuck with the 2oz rear/10z front as advised by the seller. They work for me & keep my tires spinning smoothly over the life of the tire. I don't sell them, have been a pro car & helo & industrial mech that also worked in a tire factory a good bit & life long bike guy. I also reuse them-they tirn a little black as the collect some stuff off the tire liner but still nice little round beads after many revs in there. FWIW,The new Michelin Pilot Road 2's I just bought did not have balance spots on them. Years ago when I worked on the balance machines in a Goodyear tire plant the machine dropped a colored wax dot of various colors based on what spec it met, not based on the light spot, it was about if that car tire met an auto mfg's spec for being a OEM new car tire or it also indicated that the tire was unsuitable for any use. There were other checks such as human visual inspection prior to balance check & force variation check after the balance check. I wish we could get a realsitic view from someone that works in MC tire place but they all seem to be foreign these days-all we get is superficial info from mags r.e., MC tires as they are paid advertisers in the mag so is "light info" & somewhat biased too.
So now you have me wondering if the dot on MC tires means anything or is of any real concern. As I said earlier, I have never lined up any "dot" (didn't even know they existed) on any of the 12-14 tires I've mounted. No problems what so ever. I even reversed one of them half way thru it's life, no matching up anything, and it was still a smooth ride for the next 4,000 miles.
The dot is the light side of the tire. It is to be placed at the valve stem. I have a Snap-On computerized balancer at my disposal. I have Dynabeads in the tires. We had a customer buy a set of wheels that were way out of balance to the point they needed 3 1/2 ounces of lead weights. He couildn't bear that ugly stuff on his shiny new wheels. So we got him some Dynabeads and installed them. Worked very well on a very shitty set of wheels. I was sold. And I was quite skeptical prior to that experience but that's changed.
Just to be clear, you didn't try the wheel/tire assembly (with DynaBeads) on the computerized balancer. Correct?
When I got my bike, there were weights on the front wheel. I replaced the tire and removed the weights. I did a spin balance and could not find a heavy spot. I have been running with no weight on the front and everything seems fine.
Ride On product claims that if you use their product it will balance your tires and seal them from punctures. I've had the Ride On product in 3 of my mc tires and it seems to work as advertised. Last year I got a roofing nail in my rear tire. I don't know how long the nail was in my tire as it did not lose air. Mechanic at my stealer saw the nail in the tire during a routine service. I put new tire on and more Ride On - gives me piece of mind on the road.
I think, or would like to think, that tire production has evolved far enough that sometimes, most of the time, all of the time, they are dead nuts balanced when formed in the mold. To be honest about my experience, I have never tried to balance my tires any other way, first. Hell, for all I know, all the tires I have mounted may not have needed balancing at all and I may not have needed the beads. But for less than the cost of one tire balance(You get charged for the service whether your tire needs weights or not) they have more than payed for themselves.
Your statement lacks info such as how many miles on tire at that point in it's life & if it was worn in a way that it was still concentric & also was it worn evenly vs. say scalloped or chicken stripped or worn on one side more than other-all which are common & expected- sorry to say that your scenario doesn't add information as to wheel balance issues. Not a reproach just saying nothing added to the conversation here. FWIW, if the assy was in balance w/o weights it seems likely that after much use the tire would be worn unevenly or maybe the weights caused it to "become" concentric/in balance? You also don't say why the weights were removed?
Even though I worked in a tire plant & fixed the machinery therein I too would like to hear whats changed since my 1960's/70's time there? FWIW, the "G Machine" that tractor fronts were built on was patented when G. Washington was president! Large truck tires were often still built on a similar machine. The car tires were either on a newer or older machine but it was about how the tire builder got the ply stock to the build drum and had zero to do with the actual tire itself-WHICH WAS HANDMADE! Every layer of material had hands on!!! involvement in the ply & tread application & splice quality to a large extent. Variations were hidden within the tire parts prior to curing & after. I was a green tire inspector for awhile after a military stint put my apprenticeship classes out of sync. You can place a crappily built tire in the mold and it may well come out looking perfect. Human & machine inspections after curing attempt to remove the bad ones but they are handmade still as far as I know??? All I ever read in MC mags is superficial info on tires & the tire ads are sameo.
Uh, maybe to have a "fresh" start on his "new-to-him" bike? Just like changing oil, cleaning the air filter, checking the tires, tire pressure, grease zrek fittings, checking the chain and all the other items folks usually check, tweak, when they buy a bike, car, whatever. I fI was putting a new tire on a rim, I'd sure start from scratch instead of with a bunch of weights on the rim, wouldn't you? Funny how one misused word sets people off. OK, I should have said "made" instead of "formed in the mold". Better? Using industry specific terms doesn't add anything to the conversation. Just sayin... Hand made, machine made, don't know, don't really care as long as they are usable when I buy them.
No, I was not "set off" with your choice of terms and could care less as to made in a mold,etc.. My point was pretty clear that tires -in my experience were handmade and having never read anything to the contrary since that time they really are the same other than the ply fiber materials having evolved some and tread compounds are at least "said" to be magical in there ability to keep us upright. Modern tires are better in balance? I see weights on rims all the time but only a high volume sales/mounting person can really answer that one. Relax, its a conversation about tires.
Hey experts. 3 sets of tires balanced the old way, zero issues or vibrations. New tires and dynabeads. Major vibration at 70 plus mph? I don't remember how many oz I put in. It was the recommended amount from dynabeads
I don't know why people are defending dynabeads so much. If you ran your wheel without balancing and it's out of balance and then added dynabeads, does it run balanced? If so, go for it. If not, I would get my wheel balanced the old fashioned way.
Ding, ding, winner!!!!!! I love these tire threads. The amount of bullshit being slung around by both sides of the argument is always sooooo much fun to watch. I'm starting to believe that all Dynabead threads should be sent down to CS&M.