New Tires....Again

[LoriMaury Kimbrough]

Since we bought our ST in 2002, we've had a problem with a vibration. Always been in the back of the truck. About a month ago, we got a new set of Big O tires and it got worse. The tire shop replaced one bad tire and said we were good to go. Still had the vibration. We took the truck to a drive line shop to see if we had a problem with the drive shaft. The drive shaft is within 1/4 ounce of being perfect, which the tech said was great. So we went to Ford, they said that we had a rear axel that was out of round. They fixed that under our extended warranty. We still had a vibration that seemed to be getting worse by the day.



So on Saturday we took the truck to a different Big O and asked them to balance and rotate the tires. After less than 1000 miles 3 of the 4 tires had to be re-balanced. Now when we drove it the bulk of the problem moved from the back to the front. Which told us that we had a bad set of tires.



So we went to a different tire shop and had a set of Bridgeston Revo's put on. These are the tires we wanted originally. I was amazed at the difference. Not only was the vibration gone, but the whole feel of the truck was different. This truck has never riden as well as it does now.



The vibration is not 100% gone, there is still a very slight one (I don't feel it but the hubby does) between 55 and 60. It's not just in the rear or front, it seems to be the whole truck. Any ideas what this could be?



So...the Revo's saved my truck. We had made the decision that if the new tires didn't fix it, then Junior was going to be traded in. Now I get to keep him.

 

[EddieS'04]

sometimes it is hard to get a good (perfect) balance on tires that are ruggedtread and or oversize for the rim they are on...

 

[Deleted deleted]

That's what I was thinking, Fast Eddie. Would have been a lot easier (and a hella lot cheaper) to keep the factory rims/tires on that ride.

 

[LoriMaury Kimbrough]

You are probably right. However, we didn't buy the truck with factory wheels and tires. The previous owner had taken off the 16's and had reaplaced them with 15's and 33x12.50R15 tires. We did go back to 16" wheels and the tires are not too big for the wheel.



Everybody has their own taste. Ours runs toward lifted trucks with big tires which is what attracted us to the truck to begin with. I know that when you do this, you sometimes sacrifice ride. I also know that there are a bunch of people who frequent this site that also have a 3" body lift and are running bigger than stock tires and have no issues at all. So I know that it can be done.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

We've had bad experiences with Big-O and will never to back for tires. They attempted to get work done that did not need to be done.

 

[LoriMaury Kimbrough]

Hey Roger....



We've always had very good luck with Big O here. The owner has always treated us very good, he even loaned us a set of tires that we took to Wyoming when the one that he'd ordered us didn't come in on time. I'm sure if we would have gone back to him, he would have gotten us 4 new tires. But we really wanted the Revo's anyway. We did't buy the Revo's originally because the local dealer wasn't willing to honor the Bridgstone warranty. Since we wanted to stay local, in case of problems, we ended back up at Big O. Of course now I have a brand new (less than 1000 miles) set of P265/75R16 Big O Big Foot AT tires in my garage that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with.

 

[Deleted deleted]

I personally have had great experiences purchasing from Big O. Bought a set of Big O Euro Tour tires for my Toyota Matrix. Much improvement over the Crapyear RS/A's the car came with.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Kimbro, I know this is a stupid question since it's obvious but have you replaced the shocks or had the leafsprings checked? Also have you looked at the Body Mounts on the vehicle? My wifes cousin had a S10 pickup that lost one of the bushings for the bed mount and it would make you feel a "vibration" while driving. Just a thought.

 

[LoriMaury Kimbrough]

We have replaced the shocks, we have Rancho RSX shocks now.



We haven't looked at the bed or body mounts or leafsprings yet. Sounds like the hubby just got something added to the "honey-do" list. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

Also, there are upgraded pads for the leaf springs, and upgraded sway bar end links w/ poly bushings which might help as well. Since your ST is raised you might take it somewhere that is knowledgable with raised trucks, and see if everything is O.K. with the raising as a whole. You've checked everything individually, so why not check to see if everything is working together as far as alignment, etc. Just a thought.

 

[Brad Bottoms]

Are the 16" wheels you have on it now factory wheels or aftermarket?



Aftermarket wheels usually center based on the lugs and nuts. While this is close, it is not perfect. The factory wheels on the other hand shoud center based on the hub/raised portion at the center of the wheel bearings and brake drums. This is a much more precise method and produces a wheel and tire that lines up coencentrically (sp?) with the bearings/hubs/etc.



A fix for this is hub-centric rings. The fit between the hub on the truck and the hole in the center of the wheel tightly to effectivaly make sure that the wheel centers correctly on the axle.