Centramatic vs. Balancing Beads

[Il Commandante]

Dear fellow Jeepers,

I live in Germany. Here, going slow on the Autobahn means 70mph. I love my Jeep, but again, being German, I’m not satisfied if it doesn’t ride like a BMW on the road.

I run BFG KO2 in 37x12.5R17 on-road. While 37s seem to be the average size here on the forum, for Germany they are considered quite big, with our crazy version of DOT and all.

First, we used conventional stick-on weights, up to 500 grams were needed for some tires. The balance was ok, but not perfect.

Then, we filled in balancing beads. They made it perfect sometimes. And sometimes they made it worse. What I figured is, when I accelerate moderately they will spread as needed and balance the whole wheel, tire and brake assembly perfect. If I accelerate fast - as often needed on the autobahn entry ramps - they will not spread right, and make things even worse. After coming to a stop or nearly stop, they will fall down with gravity and then spread again with the next acceleration.

My compressor has a water separator, so humidity should not be the problem.
I use valve stems with a filter on them, they work fine. When testing airing down with the valve stem removed, I had no beads blown out of the tire so far.
TPMS is fine, as well.

The Centramatic tire balancers were my last resort. And they work really well, not a single failure so far (1000km). Probably because the steel balls used for balancing are suspended in oil/fluid and therefore able to shift at speed, when significant centrifugal forces are acting.

I run Wilwood front brakes, so I needed 30mm spacers for the centramatics to clear the calipers. And still I only have 2mm clearance, so not sure if I will leave them on when going off-road.

Does anyone of you have experience with Centramatic vs. beads?

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[SargeDiesel]

I don't use either, but have read up on both. The Centramatic tire balancers seem to be superior IMO, but you also pay for it.

I am now looking at purchasing the Centramatic tire balancers for mine... I just need to do a little more research.

The way I see it, if you are rotating your tires every 5k or so, you really should be reballancing them too... so the Centramatic tire balancers would pay for themselves around 10k miles... and save you $$$ every rotation after that.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

There is one other thing you can try. Take your Jeep to a shop that trues tires for big rigs. They will have a machine that will shave the high spots off the tires. I've heard it works very well. You will lose some tread depth, but the tires will wear better in the long run, so it evens out.

 

[Il Commandante]

There is one other thing you can try. Take your Jeep to a shop that trues tires for big rigs. They will have a machine that will shave the high spots off the tires. I've heard it works very well. You will lose some tread depth, but the tires will wear better in the long run, so it evens out.

That sounds interesting. I‘m happy with the Centramatics now, but always good to have another ace up my sleve!

 

[MOOG5050]

I plan to go Centramatic on next set. Running 37s and no one around here will road force balance (“stick on weights will fall off etc.) and the beads works pretty good but degrade as weather gets cooler - thinking they stick together and don’t spread as well. The Centramatic es make logical sense, but I have seen very few jeeper reviews. Appreciate it!

 

[wingnut60]

No experience with my Jeep, but first new set of tires will put the Cs on. I had used them on previous 3 450s, never failing to get 80k+ out of oem tires. Put them on my Tiffin MH when bought used and after saw a weight fly off a steer wheel. 20k now and no lead weights.
Try them, someone will buy them if you don’t keep them.

 

[ASSFROW]

Has anyone run these on their JL? Cenrtramatic says Jeeps need a 2 inch spacer. Wondering if that is true.

 

[C.Sco]

First, we used conventional stick-on weights, up to 500 grams were needed for some tires. The balance was ok, but not perfect.

Question: Why couldn't they just add more weights until the balance was actually perfect, why did they stop short of that and decide that "ok but not perfect" was good enough?

It's pretty common to need a lot of stick-on weights to balance large offroad tires. When I had my 37" Ridge Grapplers installed on ProComp wheels, I think all 5 of them needed over a pound of lead. But @Discount Tire was able to slap all that lead on my wheels, in just the right amounts and right places, to get the balance perfect.

 

[Il Commandante]

Has anyone run these on their JL? Cenrtramatic says Jeeps need a 2 inch spacer. Wondering if that is true.

I run them for nearly a year and 30.000km now. Very satisfied, especially with the Maxxis Trepador that I run off-road and on the way to the trails.
To clear my Willwood brake calipers I am ok with 30mm spacers.

 

[Il Commandante]

Question: Why couldn't they just add more weights until the balance was actually perfect, why did they stop short of that and decide that "ok but not perfect" was good enough?

It's pretty common to need a lot of stick-on weights to balance large offroad tires. When I had my 37" Ridge Grapplers installed on ProComp wheels, I think all 5 of them needed over a pound of lead. But @Discount Tire was able to slap all that lead on my wheels, in just the right amounts and right places, to get the balance perfect.

It was perfect according to the balancing machine, but not when driving on the Autobahn.
Maybe we could have re-done it, but I keep loosing weights, especially when off-road, so I will keep running the Centramatics.

 

[Old Dogger]

I am a huge follower of torque specs. For my TJ I have a complete factory service manual. I have not been able to find the same for my 2023 JL. It looks like what you posted came from some sort of comprehensive list. Is that something you can point me towards online?

Question: Why couldn't they just add more weights until the balance was actually perfect, why did they stop short of that and decide that "ok but not perfect" was good enough?

It's pretty common to need a lot of stick-on weights to balance large offroad tires. When I had my 37" Ridge Grapplers installed on ProComp wheels, I think all 5 of them needed over a pound of lead. But @Discount Tire was able to slap all that lead on my wheels, in just the right amounts and right places, to get the balance perfect.

That may have been Road Force Balancing. That along with tire truing, is the only way to get tires accurately in balance.

 

[ASSFROW]

I run them for nearly a year and 30.000km now. Very satisfied, especially with the Maxxis Trepador that I run off-road and on the way to the trails.
To clear my Willwood brake calipers I am ok with 30mm spacers.

Thanks

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