Anyone tried Equal in their tires?

I was reading my Four Wheel Magazine that I still get from when I ordered a tubular bumper from 4 wheel parts wholesale fro my S-10 Blazer. I ran across an article about this stuff called Equal (not the sweetener) that you can put in your tires to balance them instead of using lead weights. It balances your tires by shifting around until the tire is balanced. Apparently it has been used for years in 18 wheelers and they tried it in some off-road mudders with good results.

Since off-road conditions are usually not kind to tires the balancing tends to change with the gouges and such. With equal you don't have to rebalance your tires after each trip. The only disadvantage is that the stuff doesn't like excess moisture so you have to make sure the air you put in the tire is pretty dry. Even if you don't off-road your vehicle then I think it would be worth it just so you could get rid of those ugly weights on your nice wheels.

Any thoughts?

I heard about this stuff from some one the other day. Seems interesting to try. Maybe I can be the guinnee pig.

Sounds a lot like the idea behind the Centramatic wheel balancers, except it's in the tire, not at the wheel.

Brent

I found more info on the product HERE (http://www.imiproducts.com/)

you don't have to rebalance your tires after each trip.

Say what? You're supposed to rebalance them after each trip? If that were true I'd have to buy my own freakin' tire shop! :bloated:

Well, people who do rock crawling are more likely to need rebalancing. But any time you do some serious off-roading you stand a good chance or gouging your tread and changing the balance of the tires.

I wrote to the company to inquire about issues with airing down, here is there response:

I am an avid off-roader, 4x4 trucks, can your product be utilized in a
mannor that would allow me to release air from the tires for off-roading and then refill for on-highway transportation?

When Equal is used in vehicles where you will be airing up and down frequently, there will be no problem. Again, the filtered valve core must be used which keeps the Equal product in the tire and out of the stem.

Please call or email me with any further questions. My phone number is 1-800-233-7086 extension 248.
Ellen

Just thought that I would share.

Interesting.... Ive heard good things about it. Im not sure about gouging tyres but think one of the worst balance problems is that those weights get torn off a lot and can be left behind accidentally or they get moved.

You dont need a rebalance after each run for anything an XTerra can do - every 5 or so oughtta work. If you run daily-duties on mudders then that may pose a problem since running them at speed brings out slight balance issues to a higher degree. Once every 4-6 weeks Id say but it depends on driving and equipment.

Well, I used their web page to ask where I could find an installer in my area (Memphis, TN) yesterday and this morning I get a call at 9:30... Talk about a quick response. Anyway, I think her name was Lori (but don't quote me on that), and she was very nice and helpful, she told me that for the Xterra with stock tires you need 3oz. of Equal per tire. Thats probably enough for the people running 31s too since they only used 4oz. in the article I read and I think those were at least 33's if not 36's...

They also have a light duty product but not alot of their retailers carry it yet. The difference is you leave on the lead weights, its just used for fine balancing...

I wonder if that would work with my bias ply TSL Swampers?

I would think it would actually work better. Some very aggressive tires (which I assume yours are) are very hard to balance very well. Some of that probably comes from balancing at the rim when its the tread that needs balancing. With Equal, the tire will be balanced at the tread level. The local shop I found does the balancing for $18.95-$21.95 a tire depending on the amount of Equal needed.

Richard

Are you planning on having the Equal installed? If so when? I am sure that many of us are interested in the findings.

I almost did, but I am unemployed and have a wedding comming up so I thought better of it... May decide to anyway, but I'm currently having a pulsing problem with the rotors, I took it in and 3.5 hours later they turned the rotors but the pulsing wasn't gone... They accused me of riding the brakes but I don't... Did I just get a bad pair of rotors?

I recently tried EQUAL in a set of bias-ply TSLs. It works best once you get rolling along above 30MPH. I was able to run at +50MPH with almost no vibrations.

You just have the proper size bag thrown into the tire while it's being mounted. The bag breaks apart while flipping around inside the tire and distributes the powder. The bags come with special valve-cores.

If you already have your tires mounted then it's a bit harder; you have to find a shop that has the equipment that blows the material in.

Did you end up with vibration under 30 MPH? What did you experience over 50?

There are some vibrations at lower speeds but, it decrease as wheel speed increases (they are 34" LTBs that are bias-ply so they are going to be vibrations!)

Almost all vibrations stop once driving over 50MPH.