I worked in the automotive industry for 14 years. For what it's worth, 10 of those were served as a GM certified technician.
I worked on automobiles, I used my knowledge to work on powersports for myself on a personal level. I can tell you from experience that balancing beads are a waste of time and money. I cannot tell you how many I have removed over the years and the customers did not even know someone put them in. They were just frustrated with a shimmy or wobble sensation.
In my own opinion, balancing a wheel does not alter tire longevity. Rotations, alignment, and proper air pressure are key to tire longevity.
UTV tires are a bit more complicated than DOT automotive tires. The rubber compounds used in a UTV tire has no requirements or minimums to meet for safety and can allow manufacturers to create blends that are basically anything. These rubber compounds and thicknesses can make one brand last forever and another brand wear out fast. But proper rotation, alignment, and tire pressure will alter that longevity from one user to the next.
On my own personal Pioneer 1000-5. I have a
There are alot of opinions on this website for which tires are the best. Tires and fluids are probably the most political part of any vehicle.
If you use a good brand name tire, you should be good to go in most cases.
For me personally, I have two sets of wheels. My trail set, and my at home set.
My trail set is Interco Sniper 30x10-14 on Vision beadlock wheels.
My at homes set is Achilles Desert Hawk MT 30x9.50r15 (these are actual LT tires for on road vehicles) on Falcon Ridge Wheels.
My at home set of tires I have them balanced for comfort. I used a method called "static sticky weights". It has worked well for my application. When I take the Pioneer into town I can run five miles one way on blacktop. The Achilles ride like a small truck. The pioneer grips well, has no vibrations, and turns smooth. I have never used them on the trail. I know @Remington did and he had good things to say about them.
On pavement, the best way I could describe the bighorn tires, the SuperATV Intimidator tires, and the Sniper tires; in a turn they feel like the sidewall flexes before the tire grips and then the machine follows my input. The Achilles just does what I tell it to.
For my personal alignment, I have aftermarket control arms that allowed me to adjust toe and camber on the front and rear of my machine. I used the alignment machine I had access to at work.
This is a long winded way of saying most on here get aftermarket wheels so front and rear can match. This allows for tire rotation. Confirm the alignment is correct. The OE machine has toe adjustment. In theory the fox shock can alter camber by adding or removing pre load. On Google you can find images that will guide you on how to look for proper tread wear using air pressure. This can be misleading if your alignment is not correct. Basically center of tire is thinner = too much psi. Outer edges getting thinner = not eboigh psi.
Hopefully that is helpful.
