2007 Expedition with 265/70/17 tires (stock Continental ContiTrac). Rotated every 5,000 miles - now at 57,000 miles. I have never had them balanced.

Although they still have really good tread I'm wondering if it is time for new tires? Just recently in the last few weeks I am getting a slight steering wheel wobble at around 70-75 mph. It isn't all of the time, just at certain spots on the same interstate. On other stretches of road the steering is pretty much smooth with no wobble.

I'm wondering if it could be a balancing issue or just the age & mileage of the tires? We've always had a tight steering wheel at the same speeds so the little bit of wobble is pretty noticeable. Here's my thought - if I need to get them balanced and spend $40-50 (discount tire price) I might as well go ahead and get a new set of tires and use the $40-50 toward those. The guy as discount tire was pretty surprised I got 57,000 miles out of my stock tires. We are considering & comparing the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor, Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo, and the Michelin LTX M/S 2. It sounds like the Michelins are pretty popular on this size of truck.

Any feedback on tires and the steering wheel wobble issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

Unless you're doing "off-roading" avoid the A/T (all terrain) tires, they make too much noise for me on the road.

I a set of Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza tires on both my daughters Explorer and my Expedition and couldn't be happier. These are "all season" (M+S) tires and ride well with good traction winter and summer. I have no fears about her driving home from college in Central Pennsylvania to NE Ohio in the winter. They tow my camper well too.

I took a new set of Goodyear Wranglers off her first SUV a couple of years ago (before she got my Explorer via trickle down). They were so bad I considered them unsafe for her to drive.

--Chuck

 

I replaced my Conti's at 45K because of the same thing. Nibble and they feathered bad. I rotated them every 5K. The feathering caused a loud wah-wah-wah noise on the freeways with barriers next to the fast lane-just bugged me. I got BF Goodrich Rugged Trail. I have had them balanced 2x and road force balanced 1x and I still have a nibble that comes and goes at 70mph and up. I think I have the dreaded problem that plagued the 04+ F150's. I am taking it back again for another road force balance and will see if that helps. These tires seem stiffer than the Conti's. I can feel more of the road imperfection-bumps, etc.(this is below 70mph before the nibble starts) Rides like a 10ply. Maybe the sidewalls are stiffer than the Conti's. I wouldn't recommend them.

I wouldn't spend anything on balancing the old tires at this point unless you plan to keep them another year at least. Otherwise get some new tires when you feel the time is right. Also, make sure wherever you get them they have a road force or 'ride match' as some places call it balancer that they will use if your not happy with the standard balance. These damn fords are picky about tire balance.

 

Went ahead and got a new set of Michelin LTX M/S 2 tires and the steering wheel shake is gone now. I thought it was the old tires, or at least hoped that was all it was. The Michelins seem real tight & smooth. For all the reviews and hype I read about them I hope these end up being everything they are supposed to be.

 

Those are some nice tires. I will prob. get those next go around. Congrats on your shaking being cured.

 

Thanks. My wife said the shaking seemed to be getting worse yesterday and today so instead of risking something happening with the old tires I decided to pull the trigger and get 2 things done at the same time. I hope the shakes stay away now.

 

Well I took my tires -Bf Goodrich Long Trail-back to Discount for the wobble. They road forced them again. One tire 38 pounds of force-replaced with new, the other 27 pounds, were able to move it on the rim and get it down to 14 pounds. Nibble is gone.

 

I don't know anything about the road force balancing, except for what I've read on this website, but I am now considering asking Discount about it on a new set of Silent Armor tires I had put on my F350. I now have new shakes/vibration with the new tires at 65-70 mph, which I didn't have with the worn BFG's I replaced. So, although my wife's expedition seems to have been cured with the new tires I ran into the same sort of problem on my super duty. Sounds like the road force is a lot more precise way to go. They installed my Goodyears the other day so fast I suspect they might not have taken enough time to balance them right, but who knows. Thanks for the update on yours.

 

I would for sure have them road force them. Call the manager and they should do it for free. Also, I dropped mine off before for them to be road forced but it didn't do anything-I suspect they did a reg. balance, which on my tires, shows up ok. This time, the manager was really cool and said I will personally watch them do it and gave me a report after each tire. It did take a while-1 hour. Two of the tires were 7 pounds of force, the 38 and other 27.

He said anything over 25 pounds is grounds for a new tire and can be felt in the wheel. If your vibration is speed related, I am 99% sure it's the balance. Fords are sensitive to this.

 

Just talked to discount, they are going to road force as soon as I can get down there. I'll update once that is done hopefully later today.

 

I hope it works out. And any tire that can't be brought under 25 pounds or so should be replaced.

 

They said they would road force balance my new setup but I noticed it looked like it was on the same machines they do all the balancing with - a 9600 Hunter. I don't know if there are different "road force" machines that give the readouts and other things I've read about, it looks like they have a 9700 Hunter balancing machine too. Do you know which one they used for yours?

All the tire tech said is that 3 of them were "pretty good" and on the other one "he had to twist the tire on the wheel a little", which I am assuming from watching a Hunter youtube video means he lined up the wheel and tire to make it rotate in a circle. I did notice that 3 of the wheels had 3 large weights on them and one of the rears has 4 large weights. My old BFG's were balanced with 1 small weight per wheel so I'm not sure if it is standard to have to weight the wheels as much as they have to get it balanced. I also noticed before I left the shop that a few of the weights were cracked where they wrap around the rim . I also double checked the tire pressure, they were supposed to be 65 psi front 75 psi rear. They had the fronts at 62 and 69 and the rears both at 79. It doesn't seem to me that it should be that hard to get the pressure at least within 1 psi or so.

To make a long post a little longer.....it didn't feel much different in town about 35-40 mph. It seemed to feel a bit smoother once I got on the interstate and was up to 70-75 mph. A few miles down the road (I have about 15 miles each way between Discount and home) it seemed like the vibrations picked up again, and by the time I'd been on the interstate a few miles it was a similar constant vibration. Once I got home I looked at the front left rim that had 3 weights on it when I left the shop (2 of which were cracked as I mentioned above) and only 1 of them made it 15 miles - the other 2 were thrown off somewhere (I am assuming it was on the interstate when I went from relatively smooth back to vibration). I called the same sales guy I've been dealing with and he apologized, but I'm getting pretty frustrated that I'm further behind than where I was earlier and I've spent a lot of time down there this week. He told me to come in early next week and he or one of the assistant managers would personally balance the wheels for me, but I'm not sure I want to keep running down this path. If it is that hard to balance these tires that it takes a ton of weights that won't stay attached and if the tires are out of round (or have a similar defect) I might switch to another tire - I was considering the duratrac. Any other thoughts you might have would be appreciated.