Wheel or tire balancing alone is not the answer.  The rest of the wheel assembly:  the brake drums, hubs, bearings, studs, and nuts also have to be balanced as one piece to save billions in fuel and tire life.  This has been proven by two separate fuel economy fuel tests with different methodologies and different conclusions.  One was performed by Bridgestone Firestone and one was performed by Auburn University.  The Bridgestone Firestone test was performed on an 18 wheeler by balancing only the tires/wheels and rims on a balancing machine.  The conclusion of this test stated, “Balancing of tire/wheel assemblies has no measurable effect on fuel consumption"; however, there are several misleading points in this Bridgestone Firestone test and it was positive within the margin of error. 

The first is in the background of the statement where it states, “Tire/wheel assembly, or axle end total rotating mass balance/ uniformity has been identified to…” and states all the advantages including – “significantly improve vehicle fuel economy”.  This could mislead the reader to believe that the complete wheel assembly (the axle end) was balanced in this Bridgestone Firestone test and that is not the case.  

Under conclusion of this test it states “Balancing of tire/wheel assemblies has no measurable effect on fuel consumption,” only tire and wheel/rim assemblies were balanced not the complete axle end.  The second discrepancy in this Bridgestone Firestone test is that the average speed was run at only 43.6 MPH.  

The Auburn University test was run at an average speed of 57.4 MPH.  The Auburn University Type II S.A.E/TMC test was performed using Counteract Balancing Beads on an 18 wheeler by balancing the complete wheel assembly:  tires, rims, brake drums, hubs, bearings, nuts and studs as one single unit, the complete “axle end”.  The results were very different; an improvement of 2.2% was calculated at that time, that’s close to a 2 billion dollar reduction in fuel consumption yearly!  

Other benefits include reduced heat buildup in tires which was proven by a federal university study in Brazil showing a considerable increase in tire and casing life expectancy.  The advanced technology behind this product has had a trouble-free customer satisfaction record in balancing truck tires and complete wheel assemblies that could be considered absolute perfection since its introduction thirteen years ago. To date, over 10 million axle ends have been balanced with this product. 

Why is the truck and bus industry not balancing with this product already?  
We live and operate in a very competitive environment and when a new technology such as this one is introduced to the market it threatens other products or companies so they react to protect their sales and companies with every method available. If you have received verbal advice such as “It is not necessary to balance all complete wheel assemblies (the axle end)”, try to get it in writing or try to find it in writing.  Make sure to get where it states “the complete axle end”, not just the tire/wheel assembly.

The world is now trying to reduce its carbon footprint. Over the last ten years the trucking industry could have saved approximately 100 billion dollars in fuel and tire wear, not including the damage it has done to the environment. These dollar figures should serve as a warning to what is involved to anybody or any company that is verbally suggesting or misleading the industry when saying that it is not necessary to balance all complete wheel assemblies or the complete Axle end on highway trucks. If that is not enough to send heads rolling there is also the damage caused by unbalanced wheel assemblies to the infrastructure that until now has been accepted as “the norm”.
In fairness I must add that not all tire manufacturers have taken the same approach.  Goodyear recommends balancing complete wheel/axle end assemblies in their service manual and has endorsed our product in writing.  Also, after testing our product an engineer from Continental Tire has suggested that all bus and truck tires should be balanced with Counteract.  I’m not aware of any of the other manufacturers having done tests on our product.  

The bottom line:  Believe the Auburn test and the Brazilian test; they were independent and unbiased.  Bridgestone did NOT test the product, or do an apple-to-apples comparison.  The point of their test was to discredit a product that must be installed in their product to work.  If everyone used Counteract in Bridgestone tires it would cost them millions of dollars in sales.  Ask yourself if Bridgestone is as independent and unbiased as the universities?