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Thread: Low Cost Dynamic Tire Balancing with Airsoft Pellets

  1. #21
    Drove it today, ran errands. Never over 45 mph but truck felt fine!
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  2. #22
    Drove about 140 miles today through high speed freeway, medium speed highway, slow speed twisty roads, and everything in between. Here are my observations:

    It's good about 75% of the time.

    Freeway (60+) is OK, but sometimes isn't. Every so often, it get out of rhythm and the truck shakes pretty good. Definitely a wheel out of balance sort of shake. Then you hit a bump, and it gets better.

    Highway (45-60) is less OK. I get some bad vibes, and then it goes away, much like the freeway, but more often and for longer periods.

    under 45 and you notice basically nothing.

    So here are my thoughts:
    I need a little bit more than 8 ounces. Probably more like 9.

    The slow speed stuff (under 45) never causes enough of a vibration to notice the imbalance in the tires.

    at 60+, the wheel is spinning fast enough to keep the .12g pellets on the outside of the tire. Sometimes they move to the wrong spot, but will move back quickly enough, seems par for the course for these things.

    At the 45-60 range, I think what is happening is the centrifugal force is not quite enough to keep all the pellets where they need to be. Any bump and they move substantially.

    I predict my solution will be to go to heavier pellets, but I really need to look into that to make sure that is what needs to happen.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  3. #23
    Interesting findings. This is the first detailed account of what happens that I've seen.

  4. #24
    I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  5. #25
    get it all sorted out lol! Jmoney and I are eyeballing some steel bead locks and using airsoft for the balance like you are. without balancing I'd never have to go to the tire store again.

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Seanz0rz View Post
    I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.
    Commercial applications include heavier tires, so I thought the airsoft idea was a good one for consumer use.

  7. #27
    Even for passenger car tires, they use a very dense ceramic bead.

    I don't have the cash and time and energy and desire to go pull mine out and replace with something that is twice as dense. I MIGHT add an ounce to each tire of the heavier stuff, see if that works. Really, I am content with what I have for the time being. As I drive more, I may change my mind.

    Sucks being the guinea pig sometimes.

    I also managed to shear off the winch rope bolt today (not sure how the hell I did that...) so that is a higher priority to fix.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  8. #28
    Why does your 4Runner vibrate so much? Are you sure it's at the wheels?

    My last vehicle was a full sized truck with steel rims and 285 BFG AT's. I went through two sets of those tires on the truck and I never had a problem with balancing and/or vibration. I cracked a stock aluminum rim jumping the truck so I had the mock-lock style rim with a reinforced ring at the outside of the rim. This prevented any weights from being mounted to the outside and still it rode really smooth.

    I'm not sure if these guys, http://centramatic.com/Home.aspx, have something that will fit our vehicles but it might be something to look into. I think it's on Expo where some pickup guys are running these with great results.

    I know you replace a lot of front end parts a few years ago but what about other components of your truck? Joints? Steering rack, etc?

  9. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Seanz0rz View Post
    I couldn't find any either. In my research, I found the commercially available products are very dense, so I think the airsoft beads are too light.
    I'm sure you've seen it in your research but I've seen racquet and golf balls used.

  10. #30
    I thought it was tie rod ends, but I replaced those with no change in vibration. Ball joints and bushings are 5 or so years old now, and appear to be in good condition. Shocks are ok, but it was going on when they were new too. I've always suspected the wheels of being bent or something, but tire shops have never said anything.

    When I rebuilt my half shafts, I forgot to mark the tripods, so they might be out of balance now, but again, this was happening long before that.

    I've heard of the golf balls being used, but to me they would make far too much noise.

    I know hard core rock crawlers will put water in their tires to lower their CG. I wonder how it would work for balancing? I wouldn't do it with my steel wheels, but maybe with some aluminum wheels.
    Last edited by Seanz0rz; 02-19-2014 at 03:10 PM.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

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