first time swamper question

[old Rusty C10]

I have a 76 K20 and I bought these rims for the thing.. My son picked oput these tires for me Super swampers and I need to get them mounted. Some people are telling me that they should be mounted and balanced regular way others are telling me to order bead bags.. what say you all and if I should use bead bags, how much weight per tire?

[mongocanfly]

They use a formula to determine how much bean to put in...
I have several motorcycle buddies that run them...no issues
I have a friend with a street cars that hates them and had them taken out...
Swampers are hard to balance I've been told..a local tire store will only mount them if you agree to let them shave the tires to true em up and make em round

[Mike C]

I run balancing beads in my Jimmy. But only because the stick on weights would not stay stuck on my chrome rims. Too slick. And the outer shape won't allow hammer on weights.

Your rims should allow hammer on weights and stick ons should stay stuck. No need to run balancing beads, but nothing wrong with it either.

Guys that run REALLY big tires actually use airsoft BB's as balance beads. But if you lose a bead, you lose the balancing media as well. And 16.5's don't have the safety bead that 16's have.

[sweetk30]

brand : counteract chart shows 6 oz bag per tire and if heavy lugs like these add 2 oz extra per tire .

for many years (15+ ) i did tires and i found bias ply balanced out the best and rode the best with a OLD SCHOOL bubble balance job . spin balance didn't do crap for these tires .

so with this info good luck .

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Swampers are hard to balance I've been told..a local tire store will only mount them if you agree to let them shave the tires to true em up and make em round

yep, this....
had 6 or 7 sets of swamps, imo they are a horrible street tire.
square tires every morn, lousy in the rain, notice no siping (even more fun with lockers....) and every set i've owned had the same prob. them big lugs are always vibrating and shaking, you hit a certain speed where all 4 tires are vibrating at the same time in sync and all of a sudden your truck is shimmying and shaking. my buddies have also had this prob. always seemed to happen around the 30 mph range. go a little faster or a little slower and there fine, but hit that one perfect speed...
bout the only way to make a swamp decent on the street is to shave it. i've used dyna beads and weights, but neither has really been effective.
it may not be like this for your tires though, i only have experiance with 38" and bigger swamps. and i have never owned a set of radial swamps yet either
as bad as i've found them on the streets, i just sold a set of 38.5 SX's to finance a set of 42" LTB's...lol
and that's why i also keep a set of radial Toyo's around for driving the street..

nothing looks more kick-a$$ than a set of swampers on a chevy, no matter what the road manners are like
my toyos balance out with a oz or 2, check out one of my 38.5's. even wit all this weight, they needed to be shaved

[sweetk30]

if those are 1/4 0z stick on weights someone needs to buy some half oz also . dam thats a lot . and as a ex tire guy it drives me crazy to see that mess.

[dieseldawg142]

ya, their 1/2 oz'ers
even flipped the tire on the rim to try get more in balance. shaved them down some and they were'nt too bad
i love swampers, but i don't know about their quality control...like i mean how hard is it too make a tire round...

[sweetk30]

if that much weight i would have glued a weight patch on the inside of the tire .

yes the days of decent swampers is gone after denman tire closed shop and didnt make them for interco anymore . now they make there own and the quality is a bit less than it use to be . i got 3 new 500 miles on them swampers from a friend for my woods buggy cause they were warrantyed out for dryrot already . the d.o.t #'s are cut out but there fine for the woods .

[Feel the 'Pane]

IMHO, if you're going to spend the coin on shaving & bags, then get them siped. It's been a while since I had some done, but an extra $6-$7 per tire makes a huge difference in the rain and snow...