Equal Tire Balancer

[fexlboi]

Equal is a dry polymer that can be injected into tires directly through the valve stem or placed into the tire cavity before the tire is mounted. Once inside the tire cavity, centrifugal force moves the Equal across the tread width and around the circumference of the tire, responding to force variations caused by irregularities within the tire, the road, and even the load. As the tires and wheels spin, Equal constantly repositions inside the tire as the load and speed change to maintain a stable footprint without vibrations.

The improvement over lead weights will be obvious the first time you get behind the wheel. You'll feel less shimmy, bouncing, and vibration. The ride with Equal balancing your tires is smooth, comfortable, and stable. Even more important than a better ride is a better bottom line. Equal will save you money. Even wear means thousands of extra miles on each and every tire. Less shimmy means fewer alignments and fewer component and maintenance problems caused by vibration. And a one-time installation of Equal means you'll never have to pay to re-balance the tire again. Ever. Still not convinced? Try it. Drive it for a day and you'll immediately feel how well Equal works. Drive Equal for a while and you will see how dramatically Equal reduces tire wear. Just try Equal and you will never mount another tire without it.

Anybody out there who has used this kind of tire balancing method? It it worth to do it?

http://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/

[Green1]

I haven't used this exact compound, however it seems to work on a principle similar to some tech I was involved in a few years back, dynamic balancing for rotating systems. In the tech I was working with ball-bearings were used inside circular races, often with a dampening fluid. The same technology is actually used very frequently these days in things like computer CD and DVD drives.

It's an interesting idea, however not without it's own drawbacks. Every time you stop the rotation of the system, the dynamic weights settle in a particular spot (in the case of a wheel, the bottom) and when you start up the system you have all the weight in that one spot until sufficient speeds are reached to "set up" the system. The "set up" process is anything but smooth, in fact it tends to produce a pretty violent shake (after which everything becomes incredibly smooth)

What I would expect with a system like this would be a perceived decrease in power when starting from every stop as the weight has settled in the bottom of the tire, and possibly increased wear at the "set up" point as you get up to speed each time, I also suspect that at slow speeds the system may never "set up" properly and cause a lumpy feel to the driving (like driving with severely unbalanced tires) Once the system "sets up" however it will have all the advertised benefits...

End result: likely very good for long haul driving, but could do more harm than good in start and stop traffic.

[Golf Cart]

I'm kinda partial to Sugar-Twin

[Manitoba deli]

I use a similar product, not sure what the tire shop calls it, but it is tiny plastic beads that are dumped in the tire when it is mounted. I was a skeptic of it until I was offered a free try, the tire shop put it in the tires on one side of my old Jeep with 31's. they said if I didn't notice a difference, there would be no charge. If I wanted the other side done, I would pay for all four. The difference was extreemely noticeable between sides, and I got the other side done quickly. I also got 12000km more out of the same tires as I had on the Jeep before. It is really nice for me in the winter, as snow builds up and falls off the wheels, they are always balanced. The 31's were discarded at 100000km, and there were no signs of inside tire wear. I parked the Jeep 8 years ago, but I continue to use this method of balancing, it works well for me.

Jason

[pajerry]

Can you purchase this, remove the valvestem and then throw them in that way?

[Manitoba deli]

I'm not sure if the stuff I use would fit through the valve stem, if it did, I think it would take a while to funnel it in, there is about 2 cups of the beads in a 31" tire, you might need a bit more for 33's. I'll try and find out a brand name from the tire shop and pass it on if you want to try it.

Jason

[pajerry]

Might as well. It sounds cheap and cheerful, and there are a load of external weights on these rims and they're just bound to start ripping off on the rocks. I think I have already torn one or more off in the past month.

[fexlboi]

Thanks for the info guys. I called a few 4x4 shops and most of them heard about or use this kind of balancing as well. They said it's a good idea for 33" and upwards, but not really worth to do it on smaller tires.
Manitoba deli, do you remember how much it was?

[Meanman]

I use a similar product, not sure what the tire shop calls it, but it is tiny plastic beads that are dumped in the tire when it is mounted. I was a skeptic of it until I was offered a free try, the tire shop put it in the tires on one side of my old Jeep with 31's. they said if I didn't notice a difference, there would be no charge. If I wanted the other side done, I would pay for all four. The difference was extreemely noticeable between sides, and I got the other side done quickly. I also got 12000km more out of the same tires as I had on the Jeep before. It is really nice for me in the winter, as snow builds up and falls off the wheels, they are always balanced. The 31's were discarded at 100000km, and there were no signs of inside tire wear. I parked the Jeep 8 years ago, but I continue to use this method of balancing, it works well for me.

Jason

This sounds like DYNA BEADS check out http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

[EnviroImports.com]

Equal is Great stuff, but useless on a regular sizetire, Ive run it for years on 44" bogger tires in my old blazer, and I heard about it when working in the oil patch as a winch bed truck driver, great stuff. and you dont actually need the injector for it , just use a funnel and a straw to let it flow into the valve of the tire , then fill as normal. you get alot better life from your tires .
but unless your going to about a 35" tire or higher, save your money and get nitrogen gas to fill the tire and a quality ballance job with weights.

[Manitoba deli]

I haven't talked to the tire shop yet, but I think it is the product meanman posted a link to. It cost less than $10 per tire for my 235/75R15 snow tires on my delica, but I think on my 31's it was about $15 per tire, but that is a one time fee, and apparently you can add it through the valve stem. I like it and use it in all my tires. My car stays vibe free and smooth from 0-215 kph. For me it is money well spent.

Jason

[Erebus]

I tried similar stuff about 20 years ago on my Subaru, it was a viscous liquid. Green1 is right, every time you start moving from stop (even a long red light), it shook like crazy for a couple of minutes until it balanced out. After about 2 weeks, I had the shop remove it.

Might be good if you do only long distance highway driving, but useless in city driving.