KO2 E Rated Vibrations

I had 265/75/16 KO2s installed on my factory off road wheels today. Obviously E rated as that’s all that’s offered by BFG in that size. I’m getting bad vibrations in the truck above 70mph, but smooth as can be expected from an LT under that.

On my 4Runner I ran multiple sets of D rated KOs (not KO2) for years. It wasn’t unusual for those to not balance correctly the first time, but vibrations were always around 55mph, not 75.

My Tacoma with factory tires had some vibration around 80 but not bad. If vibration was around 55 I would have turned around and gone back to the shop for a rebalance, but since Im getting vibration at higher speeds than I was expecting for a balance issue I am wondering if this is balance or just the heavier stiffer tires causing this vibration and it’s what to be expected with E rated tires.
Anyone have any insight? Anyone with E rated tires see this or get vibrations due to a balance issue? I don’t want to go back and ask for a rebalance if this is normal with Es on a Tacoma.

FWIW pressure is currently set at 36psi.

 

Check your pressures for that tire- I believe its on the doorjamb. Pressures seem high. Should be about 29lb.

GH

 

36psi is fine. Who mounted and balanced the tires? I ran 265/70/17 c rated at higher speeds with no problems. Same with 265/65/17 e rated.

 

drop the pressure a few lbs and see if you get any improvement, if the truck vibrated with the car rated stock tires the firmer tire may highlight this problem and it will be blamed on the tires by the dealer, then when proven to be the same on stock tires the dealer will say it is normal.

 

Doorjamb pressures will only be accurate for same size and load tire, I moved up a size and to a LT tire vs the factory P. According to load index charts I should move up to 40-45psi but that seems way too high. I was thinking though of maybe going back to factory 30 and working from there.

Mounted and balanced at Tires Plus. Purchased from tirerack.com

I’m out of warrantee (2016) so no dealer for me, but I was thinking the same thing, which is why I didn’t go straight back tonight to ask for a rebalance.

 

Can't hurt to go back and ask for a rebalance anyway, it is possible that there could be improvement from doing so.

 

No.

 

If I have time tomorrow I’ll swap the rears to the front and see if I get vibrations in the steering wheel (right now steering is smooth) then I guess I should know if it’s a tire balance issue.

 

Chalk test. Then adjust pressure if needed. Then check balance. That's where I'd start

 

That pressure is for stock tires, not the KO2’s. Different tires need different PSI. Only way to be sure of PSI is the chalk test

 

Im not thinking this is a pressure issue though?

Anyone have a tire balance issue that didn’t show until higher than 70mph?

 

36-37 PSI is your new inflation pressure.
When going from P/euro metric to LT metric you derate by 1.1

265/70/16/112 @ 30 psi=2,149 lbs
2,149÷1.1=1,954
LT265/75/16/123 @ 37 psi=1,986 lbs

 

it's not a pressure issue it's a balance issue. higher pressures will exacerbate the problem because you're feeling it transfer more into the cab, whereas lower pressures will make it seem like it's less noticeable because the tire is softer and will absorb more of the vibrations. The underlying issue is still there. My tires developed a balancing issue after a while and when I got them balanced they were all out, even though the weights were all still there. the heavier the tire the harder it will be to balance and be more prone to going out of balance. Some tires will go out of balance faster than others...and also how you drive, what pressure you set them at all the time, where you drive, etc will all impact it

 

So definitely shouldn’t be a pressure issue, either balance, stiffness and weight of E rated, or a different issue with the truck which could be possible with the light vibrations I used to get at 80ish in stock tires.

 

Just some thoughts...

Does the shop maintain their equipment?

Is the tech experienced?

Was it mounted on the balancer using a fitted collet with lug mounting plate or cone collet with clamping hood?

 

I don’t know any of that, and it very well could be a balancing issue, I just never personally had a balance issue that didn’t show closer to 50-55 mph. Now being smooth up to 70-80ish made me wonder if it’s balance or not. I’ve also run plenty of LTs but not E rated, my last few were D rated.

Anyone have a bad balance that didn’t show until 70or higher?

 

Ditch the KO2s.......

 

It's just the tires. I run 285/75/16 ko2 on my 17. Have yet to have them balance well since they were new. I'm trying something different when they wear out. Can't wait for the day to get here. I run 35 psi front and 28 rear. The are E rated tires.

 

Yes. And my first reaction is it’s a tire balance issue. It’s clearly not PSI, so ignore that. But since you seem to be looking for other ideas, AND Considering you had it with your old tires and got worse with new tires, have you considered shocks? Bad shocks can give the exact same feeling as tire balance as they are having a hard time keeping the wheel on the road. Now consider your new tires and a fuck load heavier than your old tires, that shake would also get worse.
But again, first get your balance checked and re-checked. You’d be surprised just how bad some of these tire shops keep their tools and how much that will throw balance off. They simple go by the computer readout on the machine, but that machine can have any numbers of seemingly small things that will make it read incorrectly. So numbnuts tire changer thinks all is fine since his computer readout is zero, but in fact you’ll get a completely different reading on another machine.

 

This was my experience, swapped to ATII tires and didn’t have the same issue