Airsoft BBs didn't work

[coastie124]

Alright, I'm won over to the darkside of tire balancing.

To quote Garth from Wayne's World

"We fear change."

 

[Timber]

How are you guys breaking the tire beads? I don't have special tools for it, and when I tried my Hi Lift on the tire under the rock rails, it didn't look too healthy for the tire's sidewall.

 

[John90XJ]

How are you guys breaking the tire beads? I don't have special tools for it, and when I tried my Hi Lift on the tire under the rock rails, it didn't look too healthy for the tire's sidewall.

I use a tire plier like this:

Look on eBay instead of buying the 4x4 models that are sold to guys like us. I noticed that you could get one on eBay for about $30 versus paying upward of $200 from a 4x4 shop or mail order.

Here's a good link on how they work:

http://www.bc4x4.com/pr/2000/pliers/pliers.cfm

And the learning curve is such that once you have a rhythm you can bang them out in a minute. I did AirSofts in mine, with a bead cleaning on all four wheels in about 60 minutes.

 

[BlueCuda]

Did this to a friends jeep a few weeks back and it worked awsome. He had ripped some wieghts off and had a nasty highway vibration. We pulled all the wieghts and added 1000 of the smaller airsoft bbs to each of his 33x12.50 Baja Claws. Worked awsome.

They sell a a container with 1000 bbs in it, he bought that to use as measuring and then bought a jug of 4 or 5 thousand.

The harbor frieght tire mounter was also on sale that week for $29 worked awsome as well. Ended up with less money in the tire machine and the bbs then he would have spent having all four balanced at a tire shop.

 

[Starscream]

How long were they in?

I just put new tires on after putting mine in 2 years ago and they looked like new.

They were in for less than a year - about 9 months IIRC. I'm willing to say that it was (well, I'm hoping it was) the type that I used. Once I throw a weight off of these, I'll give them another shot.

 

[John90XJ]

They were in for less than a year - about 9 months IIRC. I'm willing to say that it was (well, I'm hoping it was) the type that I used. Once I throw a weight off of these, I'll give them another shot.

FWIW, I used Crosman in the 10,000 BB bucket. They're green and brown and came out green and brown. :dunno:

 

[ColoradoJeepXJ]

Well, BB's sound like something I should try. It also sounds like more fun than getting shot with them. My kids will freak when they find out what I did with all their ammo.

 

[XTurboJ]

I would spend a little extra money, I am actually an airsoft player, and the bbs come in all sorts of different weights from .12g up to .88g. I would pony up the extra 4 bucks and get a higher grade of bbs of ebay or some other online retailer, that way, you are assured that each bbs is the same weight and they are a better quality plastic that is much smoother and more resilient to wear. Also, the heavier you to the more dense the plastic is going to, obviously, but they will also be harder plastic. And because they are a more consistent weight when buying the high grade stuff you can weigh them out by simply counting how many you are using.

 

[philip_g]

Alright, I'm won over to the darkside of tire balancing.

To quote Garth from Wayne's World

I might have to try it too.

 

[Starscream]

FWIW, I used Crosman in the 10,000 BB bucket. They're green and brown and came out green and brown. :dunno:

Mine were also green. They too came out green, just in dust form.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

How are you guys breaking the tire beads? I don't have special tools for it, and when I tried my Hi Lift on the tire under the rock rails, it didn't look too healthy for the tire's sidewall.

harbor freight tire changer.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=34542

$30 (on sale) well spent

it has to be mounted to the floor to work well, though

no more wrestling with tire spoons

 

[John90XJ]

Mine were also green. They too came out green, just in dust form.

Did you lose your beads often? Lot of mud in the tire?

What kind of tires? Size? Wheel type?

 

[banderso]

I am a little confused as to why everyone is saying that the problem is too much mass per tire. My understanding is that using too many BBs is not a problem. I read this article http://4x4trailhunters.com/article.php?id=18, and it says

One of the beauties of this system is its okay if you put more than the recommended amounts. In fact, it’s better to go over than under because the extra material will just find a neutral place inside the tire and will not affect the balance.

The thing that occured to me when I read this post was that maybe each individual BB was too heavy, the same reason golf balls don't work so well. But I don't know what weight BBs people typically use so I could be way off.

 

[Starscream]

Did you lose your beads often? Lot of mud in the tire?

What kind of tires? Size? Wheel type?

I've never lost a bead, never had mud inside of them. 32x11.50 BFG muds on 15x8 street locks.

 

[scorpio_vette]

I am a little confused as to why everyone is saying that the problem is too much mass per tire. My understanding is that using too many BBs is not a problem. I read this article http://4x4trailhunters.com/article.php?id=18, and it says

The thing that occured to me when I read this post was that maybe each individual BB was too heavy, the same reason golf balls don't work so well. But I don't know what weight BBs people typically use so I could be way off.

you are correct to a certain extend. i usually put a little extra in mine to compensate for additional problems such as bent wheels, chunked tires etc.. but i only go over by like 1 or 2 oz. remember there is such a thing as "to much of a good thing".

 

[John90XJ]

I've never lost a bead, never had mud inside of them. 32x11.50 BFG muds on 15x8 street locks.

Weird. My experience has been with BFG MTs in the 33" flavor and same conditions, no complete bead breaks, some crud getting in when they're aired down a lot but nothing serious. Mine have been mounted on d-hole steel wheels the whole time and they looked fine.

 

[selarep]

Golf balls are WAY to big to find the "low" spots on a tire, and they sound like ass, Also because of their weight and size, they will chip away at your rims finnish and may lead to rust. Also they'll melt and just be big globs of crap inside your rim.

When you break the bead with your hi-lift, you're gonna want to place the highlifts foot at the seat of the bead and the fork part is gonna be under your rear/front bumper, make sure you take out the valve stem or else it wont work as well because that valve stem is gonna fight with holding the air in the tire (one way valve) you while trying to pop the bead. With the valve stem out, it'll pop the bead off really fast.

Now all you gotta do is push the tire down a little and let them bad boys go to work!

Here's more on how to do it but I think this guy used way to many BB's, But then again I don't know how big his tires are because he never said so.
http://72.18.199.92/~fullsize/forum/showthread.php?t=43333

 

[IntrepidXJ]

but I think this guy used way to many BB's

i have the same container of 10,000 .12g BB's that this guy used. I need 8oz for each of my 32x11.5 tires. i used a kitchen scale to measure them out, and I ended up using the whole container....so about 2500 BB's each tires....and that equalled out to 8oz each for me........so I don;t think he used too many, since his tires look bigger than 32's....maybe he even used too little

 

[Bored400]

I'm all over the DIY stuff, but why would'nt a guy just mark his tire where the wheel weight goes, pull it off to trail ride and then pop it back into position when he wanted to get back on the highway? I mean sure, it's one less step a guy has to take, but it seems like a big gamble when you are talking about high dollar tires with a bunch of balls rolling around inside of em. No matter how you slice it, you are gonna get wear on the inside of your tires with those bb's! My dad has been a tire man for his whole life, and when I read this thread to him he laughed like a banshee!

 

[BigG]

I just got new 33 -12.5's and asked the tire dude about balancing with bbs/pellets. he told me he would use sand. comes in packages specifically sized for specific tires size. they just throw the plastic package of sand in when mounting the tire and after the first few meters down the road the bags rip open and the sand does its thing. works well for me. I can feel the imbalance at low speeds but it goes away quite quickly

just my .02 btdt

This sounds like you asked a tire shop about it? Do most tire shops offer this option, or is this a warranty voider?