Centramatic Balancers / Tire Vibration

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

THE VERDICT:

Everything's subjective of course (I didn't have any sort of vibration-measuring test equipment before/after), but I think these have very significantly smoothed out the ride on the freeway. I'm gonna definitely keep 'em on there and run 'em for a good while!

The van just somehow feels more "solid" and "together" when running at speed on the freeway. It's not entirely vibration free (I don't think it ever will be, nor is any other car I own....) but it has (to my observation) gotten darn smooth. [/B]

I still have interest in your project, thought it was a cool way to offset any road debris that may cling to the wheels/tires after a tour off-pavement. Now that you have had these on for a while, do you still feel you have a noticeable improvement from before? Any issues?
Thanks

[MountainBikeRoamer]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

I still have interest in your project, thought it was a cool way to offset any road debris that may cling to the wheels/tires after a tour off-pavement. Now that you have had these on for a while, do you still feel you have a noticeable improvement from before? Any issues?
Thanks

My somewhat complicated answer to your question at this point is....
....I'm not sure?

The van has definitely been running as smooth as it ever has. No complaints with highway vibration. BUT....

1) Despite what some people's opinions are, I have continued to feel that it's worth having the tire properly balanced to begin with. And I have lifetime free rotation/balance on this set of BFG KO2's....and just recently (about three days after I posted last about the Centramatics), I had the tire shop do their rotate/balance thing....since it had been 5,000 miles since the last rotation/balancing. And it's running super smooth. But are the Centramatics doing very much at this point to create that smoothness? I don't know....my gut says "yes," but without spending several hours to pull them all out, drive it, and then put them back in....it's a conclusion severely lacking in data.

2) I live in SoCal....so it's pretty dry....all the time....mostly just encounter dust and rocks off road here. So I haven't had the tires "load up" with mud to test the Centramatics' ability to compensate for a suddebly-unevenly-weighted tire. Not sure if/when that's ever gonna happen for me.

Does this help you at all? I doubt it.
Truthfully.....I'm still very much at the stage of evaluating and trying to determine what effect they are truly having.

I can say this, conclusively: I can't hear them making any noise while driving slowly, counter to what has been reported by other users of these balancers. I have a 5.8L engine that makes way more noise than these swishy balancers could hope to. If someone has a 6.0 or 7.3, all the more so.

For $200 it hasn't been an expensive experiment, at least! And I do feel like these Centramatics are at least a nice "insurance policy" at all times against imbalance.

[Twoxentrix]

Response was just what I was looking for - expected and received an educated "opinion". I appreciate the followup. Still not sure if I'm going to pursue, but the concept of the balancers is still intriguing.
Discovered unusual wear in my last set of Toyo MT's (seems every other tread block was worn down about 1/16 to 1/8" more than the one next to it, and I was told that "pattern" was a byproduct of balancing issues.). I never felt any vibration, so was kind of surprised by it.

[Teutonics]

Interesting thread and write up, thanks for sharing. I'm in a similar situation with driveline vibration. Running stock wheels and stock sized (245/75-16) Michelin LTX tires. I've had the tires balanced seven(!) times in 20k miles with minimal improvement (if at all).

I've never had a problem with LTXs on other vehicles, so I'm assuming it's either a defective tire(s) or problem with hub/disc out of balance. Tires are out of replacement warranty so I'm stuck until they wear out. I wasn't aware of these and they may help...

[deserteagle56]

I had an issue with constantly having to rebalance the tires on my rig so I invested in a set of these, only mine were made by a company called Balance Masters. Look and work the same, just a different brand. Installed mine in 2010 and I suppose they are doing the job because I don't remember having the tires rebalanced since (I put only about 3,000 miles a year on my rig). All I do is rotate the tires and its all good.