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From time to time I have had a landing gear (tri-gear) shimmy on landing. Usually, I find the tire out-of-round and just buy new tires even though there is lots of tread on them. Does anyone have any experience with the ceramic beads process for tire balancing on their planes?
Bob Sonex 550

Hi bob,
Yes we put the beads in the tires. you have to let all the air out, take out valve then put beads in, valve back in, and pump
up tire. we run 50 psi, i know the rim says 35psi. but the tire and tube could slip around the wheel , and that will shear off the valve stem. this could happen during initial tire spin up, or heavy braking.
we also bought the wood strip fairings from fly boy accessories, for the gear legs, and wrapped in fiberglass.
this helps with vibration and any shimmy.
the beads are easy to install, and balance out the tires. give it a try.

WaiexN143NM
Michael

I had similar experience using the stock tires. I have had a wonderful experience with Aero Classic tire 11-400-5 8PLY from aircraft spruce. They are more costly and have similar soft compound as the stock tire.

In tubed tires? So fill like the description in the product - but into the tube? What do they weight?

TIA

Thanks Michael, I'll give it a try. Yes, I have also had a low tire pressure problem too. Luckily on taxi back.
Bob

For those of you that have installed the balance beads, how many ounces per wheel did/should you put in?

Murray Parr wrote:For those of you that have installed the balance beads, how many ounces per wheel did/should you put in?

I have beads in my 29" bushwheels. I know not exactly apples to apples. But, here is how I determined how much weight to use. Borrowed an aircraft tire balancer and started taping weight to the outside of the tire until it was balanced. Since I was adding weight to the 'outside' of the tire, which is maybe 1/4" from the inside where the beads will reside, I used a simple ARM/MOM math to determine how much weight I really needed. Then added a few grams for good measure.