Tire disaster.. need opinions

Great offer, I'm sure you can figure this out. It seems like a tire issue. Good luck OP.

 

@North705 I hope you get your issue resolved soon.

 

That is absolutely 100% not true. First of all the machine was just being introduced when Firestone was having issues on broncos and no one in the industry respected Hunter's equipment aside from their alignment machines. You just didn't see Hunter tire equipment in shops. Second, and more importantly, you don't see a belt separation in advance so it isn't like you could have put tire on a machine and been able to see that something bad was coming. When a belt separates it either totally disintegrates or it is so painfully obvious that even a blind man can see. You assertion that Ford required this machine is false. Could there have been some Ford dealers that bought this machine? Absolutely. There is no doubt that savvy Hunter sales guys pushed the tool as a solution, but as we know, dealership shops are not exactly the most knowledgeable tire experts.

 

I agree.

LT tires ride like a dump truck and have piss poor stopping distance, wet traction, and gas milage when compared against an equivalent SL.

There are plenty of all-terrains in P-Metric. Stick to those if all you are doing is highway miles.

 

Maveric set me in the right direction for sure. I'll be marching into the tire place later today after I pack a bag and start the pretty scary drive on this tire .. I'm halfway considering putting the spare on the truck to make the drive .. as it is 4 hours of wobble wobble wobble .. the dealership told me which one is most likely the issue .. and I'll actually be asking for a new set.. although the tire place on the phone only wants to warranty the one tire.. if they will switch the entire set I'll go for those falken wildpeak at4w

I'll also hit up the suggested shop in toronto to do a 4 tire balance with someone who seems to care about putting on tires right!! At this point I just need the freaking things to drive and nit rattle all my bones into dust!! Lol!!

 

GM also requires them to be used today.

Approved & recommended by multiple OEM partners
24 OEMs have welcomed the Road Force® Elite into their equipment programs.
75+ OEM Technical Service Bulletins mention the Road Force® balancer by name.

• Many OEMs require it to be used in their facilities.
• Ease-of-use & quality control make the Road Force® Elite the most widely recommended balancer.

When I 1st got out of college (1999) my first job (Snap On tools) was garage equipment repair and Hunter was our main competitor. Our sales reps were always complaining that Hunter was selling those machines like hotcakes and showed me the service bulletins. While I may have been mistaken about saying it was required, it was specifically mentioned in their SB because I read them at the time. The unit did work to find bad tires, which no other machine at the time could.

 

Haaa, more Hunter marketing. Which is exactly my point of what they do. When you can show me where GM or any manufacturer specifies the use of this machine, I'll apologize. Hunter has done this for years. It's like saying that Budweiser is the king of beers. No knock on their Alignment machines which are the best in the business, but these gimmick balancers are nothing special.

What I love most about this marketing is that they have somehow convinced the dopey public into thinking they need this miracle machine. The public goes into the shop not knowing any better because some dipshit like Gadget put information on his website because he was too stupid to know any better and that created opportunity. Hunter tells the shop that they can sell the service for double the price and if there is one thing I know about a service manager that the opportunity to increase margin is a huge motivator. They buy the overpriced machine and the people keep coming. That is capitalism at it's finest!

 

OP check out the Toyo Open Country AT3s. I have had a few sets of the older AT2s and they were great. Now I have set of of the AT3s on my Tacoma, my Son's Tacoma and on my 3rd gen 4Runner. The Toyos are light, easy to balance, great warranty and the ride is great, perfect in the sand and rain. Can't give opinions on snow or deep mud. All my tires and my vehicles I use Discount tire as I get free rotation, balancing which is a huge help. Never had one single issue or vibration and they were road forced. I run 285/70/17s and no rubbing or issue and a recalibration of the speedometer is recommended. You need a completely new set .

 

you seem to have some type of vendetta against Hunter Balancers...are you ok dude?

Just like any decent quality tool, Balancers are only as good as the tech using them. Can a skilled/experienced and attentive tech balance a tire properly with an older hand spin balancer? yes. But as you pointed out, most dealerships and tire shops aren't employing good techs to mount/balance tires, so they incorrectly use more advanced tools as a crutch to make up for that. A road force balancer CAN do a lot more to balance a set of tires than a basic static/dynamic spin balancer, but only if the tech using it knows what they are doing and takes the time and care to do it right.

If a tech uses a road force balancer but doesn't use the straight track feature, force matching, or any of the additional features then yes, there isn't a benefit.

But if you take a tech who is experienced and trained on a spin balancer and a road force balancer, they would definitely get the customer a better ride quality using the Road Force balancer.

The point of a road force balancer is not to increase profits on wheel balancing, it is to improve the results and reduce comebacks. If you are using it to it's full potential, the process of road force balancing is much more labor intensive and time consuming than a standard mount/balance procedure.

 

as others have stated, the Yokohama geolandar G015 AT are an awesome tire, I had a set on my last vehicle, just burnt up a set with my tacoma, and am planning to buy a 3rd set once I wear down the duratracs I am currently driving on. I am also eyeing the new GO18 version of the Geolandar

 

no kidding

 

Where did you go @Sungod ?
@TacoSupremo19 provided you what you were looking for.

 

Tire disaster.. need opinions
Absolutely no way in hell this happens, but I'll wait

 

I am going with ULURU
Go with Michelin Defender LTX M/S... I love mine. Great all-around tire. Factory size. Whatever is in the door jab.

 

Without going through all the posts on this thread, I’ll reference my comment on your first post. Go back to your original tire size with a highway all season tire. Don’t get lost in the weeds with looks. If your pounding trails and rough terrain, that’s another story. I ve been in you situation, don’t over think it.

 

The Defenders are the most underrated tire out there. My AWD Chevy van would go through snow with these like no other tire. People don’t like them because they don’t look cool.

 

Those are heavy ass truck tires for REAL light duty trucks...

My F250 is a Light duty truck. The tacoma is a Toy, LoL.

Go to simpletire.com or whatever website you use and find tires that are recommended for the little Taco. Plenty of options.

 

@Sungod where you at tire expert?

 

he is at the metrology lab helping them calibrate the CMM with his naked eye.