Any reason NOT to use balance beads?

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moparrob66

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Moparrob
My 172 has an intermittent nosewheel shimmy. My kid over inflated the nosewheel tire which made it way worse. I can fix that easy enough and plan on replacing the shimmy damper, but one problem I've read about is balance. A dynamic balance can be tough to get for these little wheels, and I remember a tire shop used balance beads on my truck years ago to fix tires that wouldnt atay balanced. Why wouldnt they work on airplane wheels? They essentially balance the tire every time they start turning. Does anybody do this? Thanks!
 
How do you get them inside the inner tube? Are they small enough to remove the valve stem and put them in through the valve?
 
Yes. Some kits come with a squeeze bottle and a tube that goes outside the valve stem and they go in like tire slime. It seems like an easy fix for the problem. We dont usually go more than 60 or so on the runway, but thats a pretty high speed for these tiny diameter tires. Even compact car tires are big by comparison, so they turn at a lower rpm than airplane tires at the same speed.
 
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Shimmy isn't usually caused by an out of balance tire; it's more a matter of the steering axis caster angle and damping.
 
Sorry to derail the thread, but I don't understand how balance beads work. Can someone explain the physics?
 
moparrob66 said:
My 172 has an intermittent nosewheel shimmy. My kid over inflated the nosewheel tire which made it way worse. I can fix that easy enough and plan on replacing the shimmy damper, but one problem I've read about is balance. A dynamic balance can be tough to get for these little wheels, and I remember a tire shop used balance beads on my truck years ago to fix tires that wouldnt atay balanced. Why wouldnt they work on airplane wheels? They essentially balance the tire every time they start turning. Does anybody do this? Thanks!
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Why would you put balance beads in a tire for an intermittent issue?

Getting a reasonable tire balance and fixing the shimmy dampener should solve your issue.
 
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