my Cooper Discoverer ATP's are noisy and shaky.

very good, if it gets so bad, i am actually willing to drive to Oceanside to see this guy Brandon (dpxman) personally.

this forum rocks!

will advise results,

 

UPDATE:

even though America's tire was very busy, i had an appointment, and i was out of there in under an hour. those guys really hustle!

the sales guy said my tires should be smooth, no shaking, and only a little extra noise compared to stock, partially because the tires & rims are 1" wider. that was assuring.

i asked to speak with the guy that did my work, and the tech said one of the wheels could have been balanced better. the previous technician put all the weights in one place, they have now been split up and now there are weights on two sides.

they didn't have a machine for forced balancing at this location.

then back to the sales guy, he told me to drive it around and see how it feels. i told him "what if i still hate the tires?" he said don't worry about pro-rating, after only 12 days they will take the tires back at full credit, i will of course pay the difference in other tires, and i will need to pay for a TPS rebuild kit again. other than that, everything transfers as far as the warranty, lifetime balancing, etc., no charge for remounting, etc.

i drove up and down the freeway by my house, but unfortunately, there is no stretch of highway within 10 miles of my house that is smooth. the roads are that typical "white" SoCal asphalt and kind of bumpy. not a fair test.

but so far it seems better... the steering wheel was vibrating, but it seemed to be following along with the grooves and vibration in the road, and not the tires.

i'm driving to the O.C. tomorrow, there is a stretch of highway that is super-smooth there, and that will be the true test.

will advise, and thank you so far!

p.s. i just loaded up my tires with chalk to do the PSI test.

 

Ha, I know exactly what you mean about that "white" asphalt, it stretches all the way up to seattle on I-5... I Remember passing through so-cal on my way up to Washington and thinking "man these roads really suck"

 

They don't have a ride match balancer in Chino? Ouch. Keep us posted, I'm interested to see how the tires pan out.

 

dxpsman: it's actually the Chino Hills location, i live in Chino but i am on the border of Chino Hills.

UPDATE: okay, so far so good. driving to work, i found a relatively smooth section of freeway and i'd say 90% of the shaking is gone.

the road i was on isn't as new as the freeway i'll be on in the O.C. later today, but it was encouraging.

there seems to be a small noise though, it's definitely a "vibrating" noise. too bad we can't do sound effects here when typing, but with an aggressive tread, there should be a "white noise" - a smooth, consistent sound of the tires on the pavement. there still remains a bit of "vibrating" noise.

i am going to see what happens when i hit a super-smooth stretch of road.

by the way, on Christmas, i went for a drive in Simi Valley and i found a dead-end road that was hard, packed, dry dirt. i did a few 'burnouts', three with the traction control off, three with the traction control on. these tires really did bite into the dirt very well, there was a little spin, but after that, the tires grabbed right away. i've done this same thing in the same place with the stock Bridgestones, and the Discoverer ATP's made a HUGE difference in traction.

i therefore would like to keep these tires, the question is can i live with a bit of noise 20,000 highway miles a year for the few times a year i do some mild off-roading or drive to Big Bear in the snow?

worst case, i will find an America's Tire location that has the ride match balancer and that will be when i make my final decision.

i will give more feedback after i find some super-smooth pavement.

 

The road force match is going to put your wheel and tire on the balancer. LT tires have about 40lbs before they are out of spec. The machine will rotate the tire at proper pressure and apply pressure as it is rotating sensing any out of round in the tire vs that of the rim. It will then balance and if within spec it will best match the tire out of round with the wheel it is mounted to. As a tech it is a pain in the ass to do, but as a driver it helps. You have to also understand these are Light Truck tires, it is not going to ride like a car. So expect some vibration to occur.

 

UPDATE:

i drove the truck on some smooth highway roads for reasonable distances. when the road is smooth, the tires are 'pretty smooth'.

i can therefore conclude that definitely the tires don't absorb imperfect roads like touring tires do. you feel every bump. i expected a bit more road noise and feel, but i had no idea it would be this harsh.

so the questions that still remain for me is:

• can i or should i live with these tires for another 4 years?
• The FJ Cruiser comes with 265/70/17 as stock, sometimes with a similar tread. does every FJ out there, supplied this way from the factory, really ride like my Tacoma? i can't imagine so.

still not 100% sure what to do, i've looked at touring tires like the BF Goodrich Long Trail Tour, but i really, really, really, like the look of my Cooper's.

but i'm not a form over function guy. i have another car, a Shelby Cobra, and this car is supposed to be my smooth, comfy, daily driver.

still torn! i'll give it another few days.

too bad i can't ask the guys at America's Tire to put a set of BFG's on, and if there is little difference, to put back the Coopers!

 

This is your first set of non stock tires. Were your old tires on the factory rims or your new shiney rims? Changing rims can lead to these kinds of shaking issues, since they may not be seated the same as factory rims (Hub vs lug centric).

 

you are correct,

my old set was stock wheels and stock 265/65/17 Bridgestone.

i understand the "BOOM" when the right rear bumps down the curb when pulling too short out of a parking lot. bigger wheel = bigger noise.

basically, the Tacoma turned from a "Truck that drives like a car" to a "Truck that drives like a truck."

I like "Trucks" but still, i didn't know the ride would be so different. this is my daily driver, vacation car, date car, etc.

your comment is encouraging, if it's gonna be this way with pretty much any tire on this size rim, i'll keep the Cooper's.

i overall love my new wheels!

.

 

Eddie, I'm going to be blunt with you here. As I dealt with this issue a lot with G wagon, GL, and ML drivers when working at Mercedes. You bought a truck expecting it to be comfy, quite, and plush like a car. Not gonna happen cuz a truck aint a car. You then added heavier OFF-ROAD tires. What did you think was going to happen man? Do you know if you got the 9 ply or 10 ply versions? This will affect sidewall stiffness.

Now like many of us have suggested you can make it possibly better by getting them forced match and asking for all printouts for each tire as they can do so for you when force matching, sell the tires and put stocks back, or sell the truck and get a car to meet your bottom line wants.

 

ok. I was not referencing noise in my comments, only vibrations/shaking. The size of rim(width not height) could make a difference in how it tracks on the road though.

I also have Cooper ATPs and love their function and looks. I think they are pretty quiet but I have never had anything on this truck other than Cooper and Mastercraft. I feel there is a lot of noise coming into the cab but that is not my tires fault, i.e. Rain/water splashing, engine etc..

 

Width of rim will also affect wear, as for noise that is due to tread pattern. Coopers are a full A/T so they should be pretty damn quiet.

 

you are correct again, i just didn't expect SO MUCH more noise and BOOMing due to the wider tires and rims.

the tires are marketed as "smooth and quiet ride" but i guess that means compared to super-off road tires. i didn't get the Nitto Terra Grapplers, i would totally expect that would be harsh. these ATP's seemed to be in the middle. but i guess i was wrong.

i'll find an America's Tire that does the forced match, it certainly could not hurt.

i tried to find the specs of 7-ply vs. 9-ply, can you find that for me and explain it?

 

My friend, you need to call me. I'm off today, but you're more than welcome to call my store tomorrow - (760) 305-0340. If you'd like, you can call my cell - pm for that number. There's a conversation that needs to be had that will answer all of your questions with less grief.

 

I have the same tires on a 4runner and a taco and they sing a little on smooth roads (the Michelin and general ht tires I had on these vehicles before were quieter) but for a more aggressive looking at tire, I think they are very smooth and reasonably quiet considering. We love them. Both sets are P265-75-16. 4 plys from DTD.

 

This is wrong, the weights should NOT be separated. All weights should be in the same place, it was done correctly the first time.

I would take it back and get it re-balanced again, I can't believe that happened at a Discount/America's store.

Edit: You could have weights on the inside and outside of the barrel, maybe that's what you mean by them being split up? If so, disregard my statement.

 

I have the same tire and dont have any issues. I did get the P metric those and am glad I did

just did a 1200 mile trip with them and no issues

 

They had it static balanced, changed to dynamic. At least, that's how I read it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3AWEYM_QA4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Is this really normal?

i am away from home, and away from my truck actually, and doing this from my phone, i hope this works.

I can get to the other comments later on.

i will double check the two-weight thing, i am pretty sure that's what the guy said, but i could be wrong.

 

my pass seat wiggled before i put covers on em. did you make that vid with your window open?