Wheel balancing

Has anyone ever been told that it was very difficult to balance your wheels because they had an a/t tread. I am at firestone, and was told they would have to put a ton of weights on my wheels to get them balanced because of my a/t tread and i had 285/75/16's. Anyone have any input on this?

 

I used to work at a tire shop. One of things we used to do when this would happen is turn the tire 180 degrees on the rim. Both tires and rims and light and heavy spots in them. If you get two heavy spots, it would create a situation of too much weight on the opposite side. Some newby tire guys don't know that trick.

 

Cool, i tried to tell him that and he said he tried it before on a a/t tire and it didnt help...:/

 

Unless your tire or rim saw a dent / chip out of it, it'll definitely work. Are you putting new tires on, or are these existing ones you're having rebalanced? If they're existing than I'm surprised all of a sudden they're having trouble with them, would think maybe you have a bent rim. If they're new it'll definitely work. I had to do it when I installed my BFG A/T's on my '99.

 

what kind of tires do you have on. that makes a HUGE difference. cheap tires usually suck to balance, bfg T/A suck bad to for some reason, M/T tires..... enough said

 

I have same exact issue. I put new 285/75/16 A/T tires on my new 16 inch Pro Comps and I'm convinced that my tires aren't balanced correctly. I'm going to try to move the tires to the rear of the truck and see if the wobble I get through the steering wheel changes. I installed a 3 inch lift the same time I put the new wheels on and have had an alignment. The vibration I get is through the steering wheel, not the seat, which makes me think it's the balancing on the tires.

 

That is the exact tire I am using. They were already on the truck. I had noticed a lot of shake in the wheel so I decided to get an alignment and was told it was fine. Then i choose to balance. This is the obvious problem. They said there were already a lot of weigt on the wheel prior to them checking them. They removed all the weight and started fresh. I did however get the wheels off the forum about a year ago used. I very well may have a bent rim :/ I have the lifetime alignment so about a month ago I rotated then had an alignment. This is when I noticed it. May just put them at the right pattern to notice it!

 

Yup! I did the same thing with 7089's. Also make sure your wheel is centered on your lugs. These trucks are lug centric, if they are not centered then you will def get the wobble...

 

this^^^^

usally means balance or front end problem

you can try to have them road force balanced

 

I've had the same problem with getting my wheels balanced as well. I have IS TRD wheels with BFG AT T/A KO's. I had them mounted and balanced at the dealer when I bought them and there was a horrible wobble from the front end. I took them back and had them re-done which made them quite a bit better, but I still feel a slight wobble from the right front and the passenger seat shakes like crazy on the freeway, just enough to drive you nuts and avoid long road trips.

I put the stock wheels and tires back on and I was going to have the TRD wheels re-balanced, but after reading this thread I think I might look for some better road tires. The freaking T/A KO's are heavy as sh@% too. Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

 

Personally, I eventually had problems with any kind of tire using the stock TRD Off-Road wheels. These trucks just don't work well with the stock wheels being hub centric. I think either the hubs aren't completely centered or the center hole on the wheels aren't centered. I had this problem with the Dunflops, Rugged Fails, and after the tires wore then I had the same problem with the AT KOs (these were actually the easiest to balance when they were new but then I had balancing issues after a year or roughly 20K miles). I got tired of it and got new wheels that were lug centric. End of problems.

 

Nothing particular about the tread. A/T tires are much heavier than OEM tires, so they will need more weights to correct out-of-balance conditions. According to the TireRack web site, the BFG A/T KO in 285/75-16 weighs 59 lb. The BFG Rugged Trail in 285/70-17 (closest one available) weighs 44 lb.

 

Get them road force balanced and make sure they use the adapter that uses the lug nut holes to mount the wheel on the balancer. The road force balancer puts 1200lbs of down force on the tire using a roller to imitate the tire being on the road. It can find high spots in the tire and in the wheel. It usually cost more to have it done (cost me $80), but it is well worth it.

 

I put BFG's on my truck after one season with the stock tires. Picked up a ton of vibration at around 60 mph. Funny thing though, it was intermittent. Thought I might have had a weak steering pump or something. Went to the dealer. The tech went for a drive with me and immediately noticed the vibration even at lower speeds. Turn the wheel just a bit either way and slight vibration occurred. He diagnosed the out of balance condition and when we got back to the shop he noted the stock aluminum wheels on my Sport should have had wheel weights either on both inside and outside of the wheels or taped to the middle of the wheel. Had weights only on the inside only.
Went back and spoke with Tire shop noting the vibration. Also, noted what the tech said. They immediately rebalanced the wheels with weights on both sides. Whew, what a difference.

 

Crazy enough, when I went in to have them re-balanced today the tech at the shop said he had the exact same problem with these BFG's. Anyhow, I had them re-done we'll see how it goes. I did notice that there were about freaking 10 weights on each wheel both tape-on and rim weights. They took them all off and started over...we'll see.

They also recommended Goodyear Fortera Silent Armor's...anybody have any reviews on these?

Thanks for the feedback, great discussion guys.

 

The thought had crossed my mind...but I already have a spare set of stockers sitting in the garage.

Who knows? maybe I'll get froggie

 

With that much rubber on the road the balance don't have to be perfect. You won't feel all that much vibration from the balance being a little off. Turning the tire on the rim helps a little and takes some trial and error to get it right. My suggestion is to find someone that will give a damn and tip em' good. You will come out good. Had a friend that was a shop manager and he let me balance my own and took me 2 hrs to get my 285 16's as close to perfect as possible. Good luck.

 

Yeah for sure, I think you're right. They found one that wheel seemed to have a heavy spot, they turned the tire on the rim but it only helped a little. I think that was my culprit anyway, I throw it on the right rear just to make sure. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again for the feed back.

 

those BFG a/t t/o are garbage tires for the road, they are BA for dirt and offroading. 8/10 people that complain about vibs at my shop run those BFG. GARBAGE!!!!!

 

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