Wheel Woes

[X-NRCan_IDI]

Ok, nothing really serious actually; just thought that'd be a good name for a thread.
Last night I called up a local guy who posted up an ad on Kijiji for some 16x8 American Racing Outlaw II rims that he had on a '95 F350. Picked them up this morning for $400. To buy them new off tirerack for me would be over $700. Here's pics
overall, great shape

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some imperfections though.. some rust on the caps and the clearcoat has marks in it.

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gauging how it'll look on the truck and double checking fitment...

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So, they fit GREAT and will look AWESOME with the 285/75r16 Goodyear Duratracs I plan to put on it... except for the fact that I can't use the lead-strip-inside-the-rim method of balancing! The weights that were left on the rim will NOT clear the lower part of the front brake caliper... I haven't tried the rear yet but I'd assume they'd fit with more clearance...

That leaves me pretty much with only one option as far as I can see it... and that would be to try bead balancing. No way I wanna put those ugly lead weights along the lip of my new rims!!!

Any suggestions, tips, advice? Not sure the shop I'm buying the tires/mounting them from would do bead balancing... maybe stick them in myself?


Oh, another thing too real quickly while I'm on the subject of tires... when I pulled off the front wheel I noticed this cracking around most of the inner part of the tire. How serious/dangerous/bad is this?

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thanks a whole lot in advance to everyone!

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

a lot of guys have good things to say about the balance beads.

these wheels fit that close to the caliper? WOW.

how deep is that crack in the tire?

What is the DOT number on that tire. last four digits will tell you what year it is. if it is more than 10 years old then DO NOT touch the tire. don't put air in it.

is that tire a "goodforayear"?

 

[X-NRCan_IDI]

Yea, unfortunately they are that close... would make things a little more comforting if they weren't! lol
As far as I can tell the crack isn't too deep... the tires are USA Sport XTD
DOT # (if I got the right one) is PJ0R E3V_ 049 ( _ meaning I forget the character) It said DOT immediately before these characters. The only other number I saw that might make sense as far as indicating year was '98.

Google search doesn't turn up anything for these tires that I can see.

Any recommendations for beads to use? I've heard people use airsoft BBs, but I don't want to completey cheap-out unless it makes little to no difference...

 

[towcat]

Oh, another thing too real quickly while I'm on the subject of tires... when I pulled off the front wheel I noticed this cracking around most of the inner part of the tire. How serious/dangerous/bad is this?

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look at the two pics. that is what will happen to the tire you posted in the pic. btw, the casing was still at 80 psi. mime "was" ****** rubber. that truck was forbidden to run caps due to CHP contract.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

check out this link for info on reading the DOT number on the sidewall.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoSidewall.dos

 

[X-NRCan_IDI]

look at the two pics. that is what will happen to the tire you posted in the pic.

Thats what I was afraid of... looks like I got a good excuse to get new tires sooner rather than later!

 

[tjsea]

Yeah, my American Racing wheels were really close to the caliper also. The shop just balanced them with lead clip on weights on the inside edge only.

 

[X-NRCan_IDI]

check out this link for info on reading the DOT number on the sidewall.

Tirerack has a 4 digit number on their DOT # mine is only 3... 049. Thats it...


Oh good I'm not just having freakish problems... I'd kinda like to try the beads... see what the fuss is about.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

Tirerack has a 4 digit number on their DOT # mine is only 3... 049. Thats it...

yeah bud, you NEED new tires ASAP. that 9 in you set of numbers means that tire is from 1999. that means the tire is now 13 years old. at work we CAN NOT touch a tire that is 10yrs old or more. that is a DOT rule.

you say about tire racks 4 digit numbers.......an example 2311. that means the tire was produced during the 23 week of the year 2011, hence, 2311.

 

[X-NRCan_IDI]

Yea, I understand how the 4 digit code works, just not how the 3 digit code works on my tires... anyway, if they are that old as you say, it doesn't matter much. Was hoping to run them 'till late fall when the snow starts coming. These things don't have any sipes at all; just solid blocks that can accept #17 studs.
I've got the little Ranger for transportation/work so the F350 is gonna sit until I've got new tires. Not interested in having a blowout/tread seperation on the highway! Thanks for the info! Gonna get on it asap 'cause I like driving that beast.

 

[RLDSL]

Your BETTER tire shops wouldnt even think of pounding clip on weights on the rims of classy looking wheels, in fact those things are completely verboten on many European factory alloy wheels ( although it doesnt seem to stop many 'merican tire shops from pounding the blamed things on anyways ) Search around for a high end tire shop and you should have no trouble finding one that will balance with adhesive stick on weights. This is the way fancy alloy wheels are SUPPOSED to be balanced but rarely are.

THis used to drive me nuts when I still had my shop open and customers would come to me with their VERY expensive European cars, wondering why their tires would constantly go flat on them, and they had been to tire shop after tire shop and all any of them would suggest after a while would be to put tubes in the things..... all they needed was to be sent to a proper tire shop and have the pounded on weights removed and have the tires rebalanced with stick on weights. Unlike steel., alloy is soft and has a nasty habit of leaking around where those things get knocked in.
A good shop will be able to balance with the stick ons and set them to where they dont interfere with anything. Your truck has WAY more clearance than most of those fancy cars

 

[X-NRCan_IDI]

Your truck has WAY more clearance than most of those fancy cars

I'll have to see if I have time tomorrow after work and I'll slap the new rim on the front and take a pic of it for ya. There really isn't much room at all on the inner side of the rim to tape weights on. The existing weights that were near the inner edge hit the caliper and so you could not turn the wheel one full rotation. As Tjsea said, they are REALLY close to the caliper. Not sure if they can get tape weights close enough to the edge of the rim while clearing the caliper in order to balance it. Going to have a closer look asap. Right now its storming and I don't have a shop to work in.

Sorry in advance if there is some midunderstanding regarding this dilemna... I'm sure it'll get sorted out in a reasonable fashion.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

dynamic balance is the best. that would be a weight on inside and outside lip of the wheel. you can do tack-tack, tack-tape, or tape-tape. when doing tack-tape and tape-tape, you want the tape weight to be as close to the edges of the wheel as possible for best balancing.

on big tires or tires that are being a PITA to balance out, we do static balance. either static tack or static tape. static tack we just put weight on the inside lip of the rim. static tape gets the weight as close to center on the wheel as possible. if you are dead set on tape weights then see if you can get a static tape done on them to clear the caliper.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

I just did the Balance beads, Used Air Soft Pellets from Wallmart.

Here is a thread on it:

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?57741-Balancing-Beads-for-Tires&highlight=balance

Here is a tire chart showing how many ounces to use:

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/chart.htm

 

[Hoss6.9]

I did the air soft beads on my 2000 when I changed to the Lariat wheels just before Darrin did his. I didn't have a chart. So I put 7 oz. in my 315/75/16's and I think it is great. Of course I have been around big trucks doing it for years though. It's cheap and it's easy.... Bought a cheap oz. scale at HF and did it to it.