Centramatic Dynamic Wheel Balancers

[pappawheely]

I put a coat of gold paint on my Centramatic Dynamic Wheel balancers today. I wanted a color that would stand out so people would ask me about them. I am super happy with the way they perform and would like to pass on my experience with others. I run 37” Falken Wildpeaks with Trailready true beadlocks. My thinking was that if I get a flat in the boonies and need to patch a tire the true beadlocks would come in handy.
The problem would be having the tire out of balance after the repair. I sometimes have long stretches of hiway between places where I can get service done. I did not want to ruin a tire driving with an out of balance situation. Well, that situation came up recently when one of my valve stems developed a leak. I had a spare tire mounted but figured I would do a dry run on my theory. The first thing I determined is that tire irons are a good investment, lol. I replaced the stem and put the wheel and tire back together. Since I do not have any wheel weights on the rim it did not matter how the tire went back on, the dynamic balancers did their job. I am getting great tread life and I have one less thing to worry about while on the road!

 

[pugslyyy]

Nice. If they made them for my truck/lug pattern I would have them.

 

[pappawheely]

Nice. If they made them for my truck/lug pattern I would have them.

What bolt pattern do you use?

 

[pugslyyy]

What bolt pattern do you use?

Fuso - 6 on 6"

 

[redthies]

Airstream has sworn by centramatics for years. I run beads in my tires which is the same idea, minus the convenience factor of having them encased in the "donut". I'm sold on beads vs machine weights.

 

[1stDeuce]

Airstream has sworn by centramatics for years. I run beads in my tires which is the same idea, minus the convenience factor of having them encased in the "donut". I'm sold on beads vs machine weights.

Redthies, are you running real (expensive) tire balancing beads, or airsoft or regular BB's? I'm about to try heavy airsoft BB's in my tires just for fun. Balance is good w/o weights, but I do get just a little shake at 65mph.
I like the idea of centramatics, but I'm too cheap to buy them.

 

[pappawheely]

I'm cheap too, especially when it comes to buying $300 dollar tires! I hate burning up a tire due to imbalance. We got some tires balanced at a tire store last week with conventional wheel weights. The amount of weights used was insane. I think most of the tires balanced at tire stores are done incorrectly. If it needs that much weight on one side you should turn the tire 180 degrees.

 

[Wainiha]

This is interesting. I was going to run BBs in the tires next time around. I always wanted beadlocks, and the point about remounting tires and still being balanced is a good one.

 

[pugslyyy]

I'm cheap too, especially when it comes to buying $300 dollar tires! I hate burning up a tire due to imbalance. We got some tires balanced at a tire store last week with conventional wheel weights. The amount of weights used was insane. I think most of the tires balanced at tire stores are done incorrectly. If it needs that much weight on one side you should turn the tire 180 degrees.

I think that correctly balanced tires are the way to go - but agree that not a lot of folks really know how to do it. If you are in North Carolina, the guys at Piedmont Truck Tire in Graham, NC know what they are doing and have the right equipment to balance big truck tires.

I had them balance mine recently, and am also trying 10 ounces of Counteract beads per tire.

 

[Mark Harley]

I watched the demo video and I must say it is a great produce. The 8 bolt set of 4 for $200.00 is not a bad deal either.
I have ocd when it comes to vibrations from an off balanced wheel and nothing looks worse than a load of weights on my nice factory chrome rims.
I am going to try a set when funds are available.

 

[Regcabguy]

I met a guy last week who swears by Centramatics. He's only running 265 Michelin's,but has never balanced them.
The shop I use just puts a couple of scoops of Home Depot sand in the big tires. Customers love it.
Nitto and Toyo products seem to take less weight generally than some out there.

 

[pugslyyy]

I figure with big lug tires, even if I start out balanced as soon as I start tearing up lugs, etc the balance is going to be off. So I like the concept of some sort of dynamic balancing, and the Centramatics seem a little better concept than tossing stuff inside my tire.

 

[Mark Harley]

I just had tires mounted and the shop charged $7.99 each to balance them with tax that is close to $35.00
as they wear down they will need checked for balance and anouther $35.00 due. The dynamic balancers would pay for themselves fast.

 

[pugslyyy]

I just had tires mounted and the shop charged $7.99 each to balance them with tax that is close to $35.00
as they wear down they will need checked for balance and anouther $35.00 due. The dynamic balancers would pay for themselves fast.

Truck tires are more like $20-35 each, which is the Centramatics main market, so you can see why folks would give them a try.

 

[1stDeuce]

Hmmm. One of the downsides to centramatics or beads is that it's really only accomplishing a "static" balance. Most modern tire machines are capable of doing a dynamic balance, which is the one that results in weights on both sides of the rim... On Jeeps or even some Dodge trucks that are prone to Death Wobble, a static balance is often not good enough, and the harmonic inputs resulting from tires that "wobble" a little can light it off... Still, I think a static balance is good enough for most people out there, since most shops default to static anyway so they don't have to put weights on the outside of the tire...

I think these rings make a lot of sense with beadlocks, or on big trucks where a roadside tire change is more likely, and not going to be balanced.

Curious about one thing though... I see them marketed as "front" and "rear" for at least some applications... What's the difference??