Dyna Beads are tiny, high density ceramic spheres that roll freely around the inside of the tire. As the tire spins these beads roll to a position exactly opposite the tire’s heavy points, thereby eliminating any out-of-balance motion.

The result is a smoother ride and a better look – Dyna Beads eliminate the need for ugly lead crimped-on spoke or stick-on wheel weights on your rims. Dyna Beads aren’t like messy liquid balancing medias which can thicken or harden over time. When you need to repair a tire puncture they don’t interfere with plugs or patches.

Dyna Beads dynamically balance tires as they spin, resulting in a smooth ride. Your tire will remain perfectly balanced until it needs to be replaced. Every time the tire starts a spinning cycle, the tire rebalances.

By contrast, a tire balanced “the old fashioned way” with lead weights can become unbalanced in as little as a thousand miles. You’ll know when that happens because the handlebars start to buzz. If you can safely look at the front tire (while it’s spinning on the road) you’ll see it vibrating. As the rubber wears, the wheel gradually becomes unbalanced. You probably don’t realize this is happening because the degradation is gradual, but you can feel it in the handle bars or the seat of your pants. Theoretically you could take the tires off and re-balance them with lead weights every few thousand miles, but that’s time consuming and expensive. An easier solution is to use a balancing method that lasts the life of the tire – Dyna Beads.

What causes tire imbalance?

Some tire/wheel assemblies arrive from the factory perfectly round, perfectly smooth, naturally balanced, and free of any imperfections. It’s rare, but when it does happen it does there’s no need for lead weights or Dyna Beads. But almost all tires DO require balancing.

Tire/wheel assemblies ALMOST ALWAYS have a combination of imperfections which result in an unbalanced condition. As the tire spins, this imbalance imparts an elliptical motion (oscillation) to the axle because the wheel is literally “loping” down the road, like an egg rolling end-over-end. The axle transmits the oscillation to the suspension, and you feel it as vibration. An unbalanced tire bounces up and down because the suspension is storing and releasing energy thru the axle, to the suspension every time the tire spins through a complete rotation. It’s a complicated ballet between the various components, with the heaviest point of the wheel pulling the axle off-center. Tread life is shortened, handling is compromised, and riding comfort is diminished.

So how do Dyna Beads work?

Thinking in linear terms, Dyna Beads act as harmonic mass dampers. (Wikipedia) As the axle goes up, the beads at the bottom of the tire resist the upward movement (Physics 101 – a body at rest remains at rest until acted upon by some other force). As the axle goes down, the beads at the top of the tire resist the downward movement. Now put that into rotational terms, inside a spinning wheel. Each up/down movement of the tire is met with a small amount of nulling mass, and each rotation distributes the beads, increasing the amount of nulling mass at the point opposite the “heavy point of the tire”, until a state of equilibrium is reached. The tire comes into balance and the oscillation of the axle is eliminated.

Here’s some images to help you understand the process. (Courtesy of Innovative Balancing)

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