We use it and they do work. There are several other kinds besides the Dynabeads. The kind we use is in tear-away bags. You just drop the entire bag into the tire during mounting, and as soon as the tire starts rolling, the bag disintegrates, and allows the balancing compound to roll around.
Now, a warning. Moisture is your enemy. It will make the balancing beads/compounds clump up like a brick.
You need to make sure the tire is dry before installation. Use any bead lube sparingly, as to not let it get inside the tire during mounting. You also want to make sure any time you add air, that it has a water filter/separator on it, to not allow water to be inserted into the tire. NEVER, and I mean NEVER use a fix-a-flat product if you have this form of balancing compounds inside your tire.
The jury is still out on using these if you have a tire pressure monitoring system (and a corresponding sensor inside on your wheel). Some of the manufacturers say their product will work with these sensors without clogging them, but we get notices all the time warning us not to use them with the sensors. To err on the side of caution, I wouldn't use them right now if you have a TPMS sensor INSIDE the tire.
FYI: ALL lead weights are being fazed out due to environmental regs. They are making the weights out of steel, tin, and/or using these kind of balancing compounds.
Expect to see the cost of balancing your tires nudge up a little.
These bags of balancing compounds that we use in dually tires cost me $6 per bag. You use one bag per tire. It costs me more in material cost per tire than using lead weights.....but I do save on labor costs, since I don't have to take the time to put the tire on a spin balancer to balance it.
On one other note: Dynabeads are loved by the motorcycle community, especially as hard as it is to find a place that can balance motorbike tires. My brother swears by them, as he has put them in about all of his 12 bikes.
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