New KO2's, feels bumpy

Hey there,

I had my local Toyota dealership install new 265x70x17 KO2's on my Tacoma yesterday. Today I drove it on the freeway and it feels quite bumpy. I have Duratracs on my FJ which feel smoother. It's my understanding the KO2's are supposed to be more freeway friendly than the Duratracs. While they make less noise, they feel as though they either are not absorbing the small imperfections on the freeway as well or I perhaps have a tire out of balance.

Question.

How does on go about diagnosing whether or not a tire needs to be rebalanced? I know the dealership said they were having a tough time balancing one of the tires, I suspect it's the passenger front as it has a ton of weights on it.

Btw, my ultra scientific diagnosis was using a plastic water bottle. No noise while in cup holder with stock wheels, lots of shaking and movement with KO2's. Normal or not normal?

 

have you ever run load range E rated tires before? they are rougher on bumps than lighter C or SL rated tires. that sounds normal. your vibration, however, does not.

 

I'd start by checking PSI. Too much air pressure will result in a harsh ride.

Then I'd look into getting them balanced again if you doubt the balance job they did.

Then I'd look at what load range your previous tires were and compare to what you have now. Higher load range will ride rougher.

 

Check load range, I had load range C, smooth sailing. Otherwise check your air pressure. If it's not either of those have them road force balanced good luck

 

Call around and find a shop that has a machine called a Hunter road force balancer.

 

Have the dealer replace the tire they're unable to balance. There have been many people with issues balancing KO2s - that's a tire defect. (For what it's worth, my KO2s are fine and super comfortable.)

 

Thanks for the replies. I have to take it in on Saturday to get a few things fixed that were damaged upon receiving vehicle (tail sticker, tint) and I will mention my issue and whether or not they have a Hunter road force balancer. Worst case scenario, discount tire is close by and they have always been good to me.

 

Im also running the same size in the c load. Just got them on a week ago. Mine rides bumpy too. Got mine installed at America's tire. Had to take it in for rebalance because my steering wheel was shaking at 70 mph. Second rebalance did the trick but they do ride bumpy. I also agree that they do absorb a lot of imperfections of the road. I feel every crack it seems. My tires were filled to 35 psi, but when cold it's about 31. I think I'm gonna bump it to 38 to be about 35 when cold and see how that goes. My mpg went down 2 so hoping that a little more air will help. I thought I was just over thinking it so it's good to see I'm not imagining it. I've started to chalk it up to the ko2 just being a AT tire so I'm trying to get used to it. Other than the bounciness, they feel great on the truck.

 

BFG's are hit and miss, I hate installing them, they always feel like crap on the test drive. Most tech's I know dread touching them.

 

Agreed. If they ran as smooth as the Wranglers that came with my Tacoma I'd say they are the best AT tires I've ever owned. Noise level is amazing, hoping the bumpiness is an out of balance tire but we shall see.

 

Any advice on broaching issue with dealership? As far as I know they might be performaning as expected. I don't want to come across as an asshole until it's warranted haha.

 

My wheel shakes from 44-55, but I have flat spots on the rear tires... and that's a different story.
Mine are E load and I feel most every crack in the road. But I don't really mind, they're pretty quiet compared to how aggressive they are.

 

If it as out of balance, you will have some shaking going on. My steering wheel shook pretty bad. When I took it in, they said the machine must have been off. They said the balance was way off. It's good enough now to where I can deal with just a bit of bouncing.

 

Hmmm funny, exact opposite situation for me. I have KO2's on the Tacoma and Duratrac's on the 4Runner, love the KO's and hate the Duratracs. My Duratracs are noisy as shit and I just had them re balanced and rotated, quiet and smooth with the KO's. I had mud terrains that were quieter than these, probably going sell them and replace with KO's.

 

Swap the suspect tire to the rear and see if the vibration follows it to the rear. Easy way to isolate.

Are there yellow and/or red dots on the tire? Yellow dot if present should be aligned with the valve stem. If there's no yellow dot but there's a red dot, the red dot should be aligned with the valve stem.

 

Update on my shaking steering wheel. The second balance was better than the first go. After taking it on the freeway, 70 was smooth but when I I started to cruise at 60, the shaking was there now... Went back to America's tire by my work in Fullerton, Ca. and Eric my advisor was shocked to see me back. I told him what was going on and he said that he was gonna do the balance himself. Long story short, he figured out the right configuration of how the tires were to be mounted. Rebalanced them and now they are running like my stock setup. Now they are not as bumpy and no shakinging at all... He says after riding a bit that they will round out more evenly and it should be even smoother. I was worried that I might have to go with another tire but it worked out. By the way, I did bump the tire pressure to 38 psi and got an extra mpg back driving home last night and into work this morning.

So I guess from this little adventure I learned that it takes someone with a little bit of experience to get things right. OP, if you are local I'd go talk to Eric and have him set you up.

 

No reason for E rated tires on these little trucks

 

I have KO2s and they took some getting used to. Not as smooth as the stock Toyos, but thats to be expected. I had a realignment with the install, no issues.