diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
index ab379de7584..22f3acfff95 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/multicast/MulticastZenPing.java
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.network.MulticastChannel;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.network.NetworkService;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -63,6 +65,8 @@ public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implem
 
     private static final byte[] INTERNAL_HEADER = new byte[]{1, 9, 8, 4};
 
+    private static final int PING_SIZE_ESTIMATE = 150;
+
     private final String address;
     private final int port;
     private final String group;
@@ -247,7 +251,7 @@ public class MulticastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implem
 
     private void sendPingRequest(int id) {
         try {
-            BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput();
+            BytesStreamOutput out = new BytesStreamOutput(PING_SIZE_ESTIMATE);
             out.writeBytes(INTERNAL_HEADER);
             // TODO: change to min_required version!
             Version.writeVersion(version, out);