I am getting ready for a little trip and my rear dunlop American elite looked a little thin so I bought a new one and dropped my wheel off to have it put on today.
I was told it would be done by 3pm. I showed up and it wasn't done. The fun starts! They said they would get on it right away. I said I would wait. A few minutes later a kid comes back and says that I have balancing beads in the tire. I told him I knew that and to just use a stick on weight that the last tire a had balanced with stick ons took less than and an ounce.
Over an hour later I stick my head in the tire room and the kid was on the phone with his mgr asking what to do. He had four ounces on my wheel around the rubber valve stem( I was sold a 90 degree metal stem. He didn't have the stem on the light spot exactly but close, I have silver and black weights all over. The kid swears the inside of the tire looks fine it must be the wheel, Told him to spin it up, wheel runs true. I have never had a wheel take that much weight to balance before. I think I may take it by another shop and have try to re-balance it.

 

It is not uncommon to get a wheel/tire asking for 4+oz of weight. The first thing we do is rotate the tire 180 degrees on the wheel so the balance dot is 180 out from the valve stem, then try to rebalance it. A lot of the time the number will drop to 2oz or less and it is good to go. If this does not work we try a second tire and then deal with the distributor or tire manufacturer for a solution...

 

I have a similar issue with balancing. I have a 15 Streetglide special which I powder coated the front wheel. I had a new tire put on it and I was asked if I wanted to go with beads for an extra $10. I told them yes. With beads, I notice a 70 mph or higher shake/wobble. I removed the powder coated wheel with the new tire and installed a stock wheel and tire, walla! no more shake/wobble. I'm not sure how the beads work to balance. I think that perhaps, with the powder coating to a stock wheel, it changes the weight of the wheel? Is there a predetermined amount of beads that correlate with factory wheels? Puzzled !! I feel I may be better off with removing beads and going with stick on weights. Any thoughts??

 

Don’t think either would be enough weight to cause any real issues...I have powder coated many wheels and never had an issue, my guess is it’s not the beads it’s your wheel bearings, tire pressure or just plain tire itself....

 

With tubeless tires I rotate the tire around the wheel on a static balancer until I find the spot with the least out of balance, before I seat the bead, of course. Doesn't work with a tube, grabs the tire too hard to rotate without stretching or moving the tube. I've never had a new tube with a balance dot, but I only use Avons and Bridgestones.

DynaBeads has a chart on line with how many ounces for a given size tire. I think the negative reports on the beads comes from not using enough, occasionally you get a tire that needs more than the chart. I do my own tires, and before any beads, static balance the wheel with taped on weights to get an idea of what it actually needs. Usually a fair amount less than recommended, but not always. If it shakes with beads, try another ounce.