Curious now, golf balls & balance?

Now …… now I am curious.

A buddy of mine and I were talking today and this very subject came up, he said he throws the same 5 golf balls in his GL's tires every time he mounts up a new one. I know some truck operators do it, off roaders too, but I never heard of it being done with a MC tire. If the Air-Soft BBs (that I use) ... & those "balance beads" (that some of you use) … can find balance, I wonder then … why can't 5 golf balls find balance too? My grandpa used to fill the big tractor's tires with liquid, it always road pretty smooth on the black top in high gear with throttle up, and it was flying. Even clothing in a our dryer will try to balance the drum, but they often aren't free to moved so freely. I might even try it myself. First though, I'll need to go to the store and get some cheap golf balls. 8 or 10 should do the rear tires of the trike, 4 or 5 in each at next tire change. I'd try it in the trike's front tire except it's near new Avon radial trike tire, and I'm gonna need 2 rear P215/70-15 tires sooner (already shopping around for the right look) anyway.

As it is with any round object put in any tire all need speed, as in centrifical force, to seek the balance. So below that speed the tire is out of blance. The objects then settle in the low spot when the tire is at rest.

I am a doubter that gold balls, given their size, would work in motorcycle tires. Maybe semi tires......

Don't understand, unless one has the Honda unsealed TPMS sensors, why would evreyone not use RideOn and get the benefit puncture protecetion as well as tire balance?

I would think in a small tire like a Trikes rear and especially a motorcycle/trike front would be too small a volume and the golf balls would probably be too big to seriously adjust the balance on the trike tires except at very high speeds ... like highway.

I believe and I could be wrong (it happens all the time), that at slower speeds, like your dryer when the clothes get out of balance, you may "see" some weird thumping or wobble at lower speeds. If your friend is doing that and it's working, them I'm probably wrong, but, why not use a product that's been researched and designed for just that purpose. Dyna Beads, Ride On, etc. come to mind. I have not used any of the bead products, but, I did have Ride On in a Gold Wing's Tires for a short time and liked it and will do it when I put new tires on the Tri in the spring.

I know there are lots of people that do lots of things I consider weird ... like putting a car tire on the rear of a Gold Wing two wheeler, and I've never heard of anything bad happening ... but ... And you can take this for what it's worth, there are lots of engineers that test, design, research, etc. to put the safest products on their factory bikes/trikes ... and I don't know of any of them that have golf balls in the tires.

It's kind of like what my dad told me one day while golfing. I was that guy that could hit the ball well, but, I couldn't putt to save my b$tt. Several pros (teaching pros) told me if I could get good at putting, I could be a pro. Anyway, I tried every putter that came out, looking for the putter that would make me better. Dad once told me after I purchased a particularly weird putter, "If that putter was so good, don't you think at least one Pro would be using it?". My point is, if putting golf balls in bike tires was a great thing, all the manufacturers would do it.

I suspect golf balls in bike tires, like the weird putter that had a grip molded to my hands and more lines to align it than I knew what to do with, is simply a gimmick. Good news ... fairly inexpensive gimmick so if you want to do it ... go for it ... I'll be looking for your report.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything ... not making fun of anyone ... and I am not in anyway connected now or at anytime with any company that makes any bike/trike products ... LOL ... I'm not associated with any company .. totally retired.

CrystalPistol said:

Now …… now I am curious.

A buddy of mine and I were talking today and this very subject came up, he said he throws the same 5 golf balls in his GL's tires every time he mounts up a new one. I know some truck operators do it, off roaders too, but I never heard of it being done with a MC tire. If the Air-Soft BBs (that I use) ... & those "balance beads" (that some of you use) … can find balance, I wonder then … why can't 5 golf balls find balance too? My grandpa used to fill the big tractor's tires with liquid, it always road pretty smooth on the black top in high gear with throttle up, and it was flying. Even clothing in a our dryer will try to balance the drum, but they often aren't free to moved so freely. I might even try it myself. First though, I'll need to go to the store and get some cheap golf balls. 8 or 10 should do the rear tires of the trike, 4 or 5 in each at next tire change. I'd try it in the trike's front tire except it's near new Avon radial trike tire, and I'm gonna need 2 rear P215/70-15 tires sooner (already shopping around for the right look) anyway.

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I don’t know anything about golf balls in tires But the liquid in tractor tires is calcium chloride it’s used for weight not balance....I have it in my camps tractor/ loader tires ...

tfdeputydawg said:

As it is with any round object put in any tire all need speed, as in centrifical force, to seek the balance. So below that speed the tire is out of blance. The objects then settle in the low spot when the tire is at rest.

I am a doubter that gold balls, given their size, would work in motorcycle tires. Maybe semi tires......

Don't understand, unless one has the Honda unsealed TPMS sensors, why would evreyone not use RideOn and get the benefit puncture protecetion as well as tire balance?

Click to expand...

I don't have TPMS in our trike, and I've cleaned up after Ride-On before, threw some out unopened after it masked a deteriorated near new valve stem, what a mess that was.

I can see where one golf ball would not be able to balance as it's likely too much or not enough by itself, but he uses 5, and if they seek to balance, they'll balance each other out. By 30 or so, they are working. If you can see Ride-On or Balance Beads balancing (I know that both of them work great for balancing), so why not golf balls? Same forces are at work?

FuzzyWuzHe said:

And you can take this for what it's worth, there are lots of engineers that test, design, research, etc. to put the safest products on their factory bikes/trikes ... and I don't know of any of them that have golf balls in the tires.

Click to expand...

But maybe you just can't see them? Just sayin'.

rhino 2 said:

I don’t know anything about golf balls in tires But the liquid in tractor tires is calcium chloride it’s used for weight not balance....I have it in my camps tractor/ loader tires ...

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You are correct that it was for weight (and I even do it in my WH tires), but when that JD was in high gear pulling down the hard top road, it was moving along pretty good, throwing mud clods way out ahead. Something was balancing those tires. Was even a section where extra tire sidewall was bolted in place (bolts & large washers) to repair some stump damage so I know there was imbalance in that tire, sans liquid.

Anyways, I also found it interesting and I was some surprised that my buddy used golf balls in his GL's tires … & liked it.

If I do try it (come Spring when I put new tires on the rear of the trike) I'm sure I'll post results.

Right now, the trike has Air-Soft BBs in all three tires. Only hear them if engine is off and I'm pushing it in basement. I do have a mix of BBs (fine tune the balance was my reason) and wheel weights in/on my older F150's 31/10.50-15 tires.

I already know from experimenting, balancing with BBs or Balance Beads does NOT work so well for low aspect ratio tires (60 or 55 series) with broad flat inner surfaces between the left and right sidewall. They likely balance the tire rotationally, like static bubble balancing, but they don't know if the imbalance is in the left, right, or center, so the tire tries to wobble and you feel it in the steering wheel. Probably would work super in a '54 Chevy Bel Air though, if on stock size rubber.

Sorry folks , but golf balls , dyna beads , green slime , I’ll stick with the old fashion balance beam and sticky weights.

tfdeputydawg said:

"threw some out unopened after it masked a deteriorated near new valve stem, what a mess that was."

Went properly installed and then dispersed per instructions, the product stays on the inside circumference of the tire.

One is to give a shot of air from your compressor in the valve stem to clear it, prior to installing the valve core.

Given these instructions, how could it "mask a deteriorated valve stem"??

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It was put in properly, I did clear the valve stem afterwards, and it doesn't stay just inside the tire's interior, it coats rim and all inside, for 360 degrees.

With the valve stem, it was maybe a year later, I went to move the bike and the rear tire was flat. Valve stem was near new when I installed the Ride On. I tried to air up, the stem was deteriorated (1200s have extremely short tire valve stems) and being held together by the Ride On it seemed. I also found little trails or whisps of Ride On where it had squeezed out between tire & rim bead, I dismounted rear tire & found I had a mess all around the rim & tire insides. I put a metal stem in, but had to scrub tire bead with soap & water & stiff brush to get a surface the tire bead would seat to as there were clum,ps of dried material there creating not smooth conditions.. Then I inspected the front really really close, saw some of the same little whisps of leakage, just not as bad. Broke it down to replace the stem just because I had it ready, had too clean same mess on rim. I had enough Ride On on hand to do another set of tires but I pitched it soon afterwards. I had bought the Ride On at a rally and took it home and had put it in that week following the rally.

It did balance really well, and it sort of plugged a leak I guess.

No arguing, it's just my experience with Ride On. If it does what you want, if you're happy with it, great.

Very interesting post here!

I have never used anything but the old weights and tradisional balancing, BUT "thinking" of trying the beads @ next tire change over...

Ronnie

CrystalPistol said:

Now …… now I am curious.

A buddy of mine and I were talking today and this very subject came up, he said he throws the same 5 golf balls in his GL's tires every time he mounts up a new one. I know some truck operators do it, off roaders too, but I never heard of it being done with a MC tire. If the Air-Soft BBs (that I use) ... & those "balance beads" (that some of you use) … can find balance, I wonder then … why can't 5 golf balls find balance too? My grandpa used to fill the big tractor's tires with liquid, it always road pretty smooth on the black top in high gear with throttle up, and it was flying. Even clothing in a our dryer will try to balance the drum, but they often aren't free to moved so freely. I might even try it myself. First though, I'll need to go to the store and get some cheap golf balls. 8 or 10 should do the rear tires of the trike, 4 or 5 in each at next tire change. I'd try it in the trike's front tire except it's near new Avon radial trike tire, and I'm gonna need 2 rear P215/70-15 tires sooner (already shopping around for the right look) anyway.

Click to expand...

I worked in a truck garage and the company I worked for purchased some used trucks. When we dismounted the steer tires we found golf balls in them. We showed the to the Bridgestone tire rep and he was not happy.He said they damage the inner liner of the tire. They did not recommend putting anything inside of a tire,

For those with TPMS I would be VERY careful as to putting anything like this inside a tire

The monitors do not play well with others