[Copperhead]

Not sure if many folks outside of commercial trucking have heard of this great tire balancing product, Counteract Balancing Beads. Unlike products like Equal and other powder stuff that can gum up when in contact with moisture, especially in the valve stem, Counteract is like little glass beads that have a negative charge and they cling to the areas o the tire where they are needed. They are large enough that they will not get stuck in valve cores. I have used this product in my commercial vehicles and it is great. And it is reusable from tire to tire. Might be worth taking a look at by some here. Throw in a bag when mounting a tire on a rim and never have to spin up a balancing machine then or ever. On my present semi, I have gotten almost 200,000 miles on a set of steer tires, and they still are good for more miles. I am using wide based singles on the drives, and based on tire wear, they will hit 400,000 before needing changed out. That is not quite an apples to apples comparison to tires we put on our pickups, but it shows the product does a great job.

http://www.counteractbalancing.com/counteract/

 

[jimnfor]

They are cool. Balance beads have been used on motorcycles for years with no ill effects.

 

[tobyhd02]

I use the heavy Airsoft beads in my Jeep rock crawler tires. 35/12.50 BFG Mud terrains, and I never have a problem on the highway. about 2 cups in each tire.

 

[Onlyina_Chevy]

I have just barely heard about these, I may have to check them out. I feel good that I have gotten 50k out of my Duratracs with about 5k left on them (maybe a tad bit more), but if it could significantly add more life to the tire, I would be more than willing to give them a try.

Out of curiosity...How many miles do you normally get out of a set of steer and drive tires?

 

[Copperhead]

On my semi, I have gotten about 30-40% longer tire life on steers using the Counteract. With drives, maybe around 20% better using wide based rubber. My pickup, it is difficult to tell, simply because of a lot of gravel road use and off road use. The key with deciding to use the Counteract in the pickup was to avoid having to balance the wheel/tire for the life of the tire. No risk of a wheel weight coming off either. And if the wheel gets a high amount of mud and gravel that stick to it when road conditions are less than Ideal, the counteract will compensate the balance with I hit the highway. The same can be said for ice that is clinging onto wheels in the winter months until they warm up enough to dislodge it.

 

[Welcher774]

I've used equal before with 22 and 24" wheels. I would balance the wheels and add a 3 oz bag of equal, would smooth right out. I agree the counteract is better than equal as it doesn't clump up.

 

[TooTall999]

Can any of these be used with the TPMS?

 

[Copperhead]

Counteract is designed to work with TPMS.

 

[ricka182]

This is new to me, albeit 14 years old as I read on their website...very interesting.

So does this replace the need to machine balance a tire? Could I remove the stupidly large wheel weights on my truck now, add these in, and have it work the same?

 

[AZ Rider]

My curiosity has been struck with this product. They sell the kits on Amazon. Kinda pricey, but if they do what they claim, I would be willing to pay the money! Kind of freaked out about pulling off the tire weights and dumping in a bunch of glass balls.:-?

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[grim jeeper]

call a shop close to me and they told me 27.00 a tire (27.00 x 4 =108.00 + 14.04 tax = 122.04) and they can't guarantee it will work on a pickup tire.

 

[AZ Rider]

Are you going to add them? I thought that all you had to do is take out the valve stem assembly and add the glass balls into the tire.

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[Copperhead]

When a tire gets mounted on a rim, you just throw a bag of the right amount (chart of amount at Counteract website... usually about 4 oz for a standard light truck tire) inside the tire when putting it on the rim, then air it up, put it on the vehicle and go about your way. I have used the Counteract on dozens of commercial truck tires myself, and know of many others using it as well. No need for any initial spin balancing after mounting on a rim. In fact, Counteract prefers you DON'T spin balance the tire. Their claim is that you have two weight compensating devices competing with each other. Counteract is designed to not only balance the tire, but the entire wheel and hub assembly. It will compensate for variances in drums/rotors and other parts of the hub along with handling the tire and wheel. That is something the spin up and traditional wheel weights can't do.

I know it all sounds bizarre to throw in a bag of glass beads in the tire. But if they can handle 80.000 lb trucks beating up tires on roads that beat suspensions to death and never damage a tire or turn to powder, they can handle the smaller vehicles quite easily. I picked up a bolt in one of my wide based ( 445/50R22.5 ) tires a while back. When we took it off the rim, the tech just scooped up the beads, repaired the tire, and dumped them back in, inflated, and mounted the wheel and tire back on the truck. That was after the tire had over 150,000 miles on it.

My pickup is so new (just turned 5400 miles), that I haven't thrown them in my pickup tires yet. The next time I rotate, I will have the weights removed, break down the tire, and throw in the Counteract, and remount.

 

[silverado9306]

Interesting idea, may have to check this out because I'll be buying a new set of treads in couple of weeks...

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