balance beads

Discussion in 'General VFR Discussions' started by howard, Jul 27, 2021.

  1. howard

    howard New Member

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    I thought I would relate a bad experience, I had a local shop install two new Dunlop q3 tires on my 2003, I was told at the time they used balance beads instead of conventional weights, I was skeptical having never used them. I remounted the wheels and went riding,it was not as smooth as I expected, at 80 plus it was pretty rough. To make a long story short after a month or two chasing other sources of the roughness,I took the wheels to another shop to have the tires taken off and the beads taken out and conventially balanced, surprise, the beads were still in the bags in each wheel,so I had a 3 ounce weight in each wheel placing itself wherever it wanted to be,as an ex aircraft mechanic I find mistakes such as this unexuseable. The shop could not balance my back wheel as they di not have the correct fixture,I ended up making a fixture and balanced it myself. It's a shame we can't count on a shop to do things correctly, some of the shops I talked to have said they don't think beads balance well at 80 plus speeds,I agree
     
  2. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    I have used them a couple times and have no complaints. I thought recently I had a problem with them but it turned out to be another issue which I resolved. But you are right on the money with the incompetence of that shop that put the bag of beads in the tire. That is just so stupid whether the tech understood the concept or not. I would have had a coarse conversation with the owner of that business. I don't like to see anyone loose a job but when it applies to my safety riding my bike, I vote for firing that ass.
     
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  3. KP Martin

    KP Martin New Member

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    Some bead makers say you can leave them in the bag and centrifugal force will burst the bag and disperse the beads. I always pour mine in and never had a problem.
     
  4. howard

    howard New Member

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    Apparently the bags were wet on installation and became stuck to the inside of the tire,all round a bad experience for me,but all is well now,I will be doing my own balancing.i have a question for all out there, what are the first indications of cam chain play or need of adjustment? On start up lately I hear a very slight clack,but only on start and warm up.
     
  5. Derek A Sinclair

    Derek A Sinclair New Member

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    Cam chain tensioner lifter wear is more likely than a stretched chain. The springs wear out. You'll hear a clacking on startup that gradually goes away when the motor is warm. The easiest fix is a manual tensioner to replace the automatic one. Easy as pie to adjust. You can replace the existing one with anew honda automatic one, but a manual one is what most people do. About $30 for a cheap on and about $60 for an expensive one. A few places make them. A cheap one is as good as any. A genuine Honda replacement automatic tensioner would be about $70.
     
  6. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    As another that has done the CCT's, I fitted the Honda versions. That way for another 36k I can forget about them.
     
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