KO2 E Rated Vibrations

Have them road force them.

 

I did. Didn't work for me, I dont know about OP.

 

I have and had the same model of tires and the KO’s for years on all my other Toyota trucks with no issues. Sounds like it’s a mechanical issue like perhaps a wearing out front bearing? Good luck narrowing it down.

 

I swapped my rear tires to the front and vibrations didn’t move to the steering wheel, all vibrations are from the rear end and none in the steering wheel no matter where tires are placed, so I don’t think it is a wheel balance issue. I also saw the most weight they have on a wheel is just 3oz, for these heavy tires I think that’s pretty good so I don’t think it’s a bad tire either. I may go to a shop with a road force balancer just go shits at some point but I’m not in a hurry for that anymore.
I dropped the pressure down 5psi from 36 to 31. That helped cut the vibes in half, I know I’m probably just masking the problem at this point, but I’m thinking it’s either that I’m not used to E rated tires, or I’ve got an issue unrelated to the tires.
95% or more of my driving is 60mph and below so most of the time I won’t feel vibrations anyway, no matter what the pressure it’s pretty smooth up to about 70mph.
It does seem to vibrate more when coasting and less when accelerating, not sure if that means anything.

 

KO2s are garbage. I got under 20k out of mine before they were cupped to hell with uneven wear. They were loud and vibrated, even after getting them balanced a second time. Discount Tire ended up prorating them under warranty.

When I first had them, they were smooth up to around 65, but would vibrate and handle really bad past that. By the time I ditched them, it was like driving on rumble strips.

 

I had the same tires when i had stock wheels and had no issues. I ran about 38-40 psi at the time. I did about 300 miles a week of just interstate highway driving in that same 75-85 range and no issues.

I now have the 265/70/17 E rated KO2 running at 44 psi and still no issues.

Both sets were road force balanced at Discount Tire and i did noticed both sets of tires took a ton of weights to balance.

 

Mine are as quiet now as my stock Goodyear’s were, my multiple sets of KOs never got loud, I went with the KO2s because the KOs were as quiet and smooth as they were for an aggressive AT.

Maybe I’ll go get them road force balanced anyway and see if that helps out. I was surprised how little weight mine took, but maybe that’s my issue, they need more weight.

 

As little as I’m on the dirt, I’m running Michelin LTX AT2’s. I’ll have to make a decision soon for the 4Runner. I might do the same thing with it.

 

Had similar issues with my KO2's for 50,000kms. Had them rotated and balanced 4 times in 1 year.
Could not get them to stop vibrating and wear and noise were also very nasty.
Could not be happier with new B/S Revo 3's -- GL OP

 

Love that photo OP. Looks like your truck to too big to fit in the garage...

 

Have you checked the bearings?

Shouldn't be an issue on a 16 but the issues you are describing almost perfectly match what happened to mine this spring and it was a bad wheel bearing.

 

I have the exact same tires on my truck, same size and rating, and I have no vibrations at any speed. With the help of someone more knowledgeable doing the math, I settled on 37 psi cold (~70 degrees ambient) as the equivalent pressure to the recommended stock tires, and it seems to be about right.

The installer did take their time mounting and balancing, and I kind of expected a rougher ride and possible vibrations, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd think your balance may be slightly off.

 

I’ve never had a bad rear bearing, but front bearings always caused vibrations in the steering wheel for me so I wasn’t thinking bearings. Unless it’s rear.


I’m going to try to bring it in for road force balancing tomorrow. I think the shop I went to probably did a good but not great job balancing, maybe as good as they could without road force which is why it’s smooth until 70ish

 

Raise the wheel off the ground and try to shake the wheel by pressing on opposite sides (3 and 9 o'clock). It will be obvious if its the bearings. Mine moved about an inch both directions on each side.... But my bearing was pretty much destroyed so.....

 

Since the vibes stayed in the rear after rotating the tires, I would suspect it could be a driveline issue. Check that carrier bearing and all U-joints.

 

Looks like my carrier bearing may be out of alignment, everything else seems right.
Out by 1cm or so cause a problem? Or does everyone’s look like this?

 

My bounce moves from front to rear as I rotate and try to balance my tires. All bearings tight and up to snuff on my rig. I know it's the damn bfg KO2'S. I can't wait to jettison these pos.


Edit: Mine do not vibrate the bounce no matter how they are balanced.

 

Do you grease your u-joints?
Looks kind of dry and there's no grease slung up on the underbody.

 

When was your last alignment?

 

I’m 2wd, no grease zerks.


I’ve put a few more miles on the tires today and vibrations seem to be smoothing out possibly or I’m getting used to them. I straightened out the carrier bearing, I could see the marks from where the bolt slipped, but from doing some reading, it doesn’t look like that should make much difference. Bumped pressure back up to 35psi. I’m going to go in next week and have the balance check with a place that has a road force balancer, I’m also thinking I’ll get the alignment checked since my factory tires were basically done at just 21,500 miles.