Hi Everyone! Long time since I posted anything on FTE, but I've got a problem that I'm not quite sure how to handle. Long, long frustrating story short, I had to put new tires on my 2012 F250 4X4 (regular cab in case it matters). The stock tires were BF Goodrich Rugged Trail and I had no problems with them at all. I decided to go with Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac. I plow snow, so I wanted a tire with a more aggressive tread than the stock tires. Had them before on another truck and I had no problems with them. I don't care too much for BF Goodrich because they wear out quickly and tend to dry rot even quicker. Anyway, on the highway about 60 mph, the truck started to vibrate violently with the new Duratracs. Tire shop started giving me the run around about how the tires are too knobby and need to be road force balance and they can't do it because they don't have one, and yada-yada-yada. Took the truck to the local Ford dealer and they road forced the tires about six times, checked the whole truck out for mechanical issues, and determined it was the tires causing it. Goodyear agreed to swap the tires out for a different set. Went with the Wrangler Adventure series. To my surprise, truck still vibrates. Not as bad, but still not good.

Has anyone else had this issue? Should I have stayed with the stock BF Goodrich tires? Goodyear is not on the Ford recommended tire list for the 2012's. Am I not supposed to put tires on the truck that Ford doesn't recommend? All seems really strange to me and I'm not sure what to do. Don't want to drive the truck with it hoping all over the road, but I don't really feel like eating the $1,400 it cost to put the Goodyears on the truck. Anyone have any suggestions?? Thanks!

 

I've got a set of 33x12.50x15 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs on my 88' Suburban and it is smotth as glass all the way up to 80mph.

If you have the ability to get all 4 tires off the ground and put it in 1st gear and you can usually spot the egg shaped tire just by watching them spin. If you can video it that will give some more fight against where ever you got the tires.

 

Good idea. Never thought of that. Thanks!

 

I had the opposite problem. My old tires vibrated like crazy, even after having them all re-balanced. I put a new set of DuraTracs on last month and they've been great. The fact that you have the problem with two different sets of tires is strange.

 

X2 on looking for a hop in one of the tires OR rims. No amount of any kind of balancing procedures will smooth out a defective tire hop. A good tire tech will see this. Bring it back to the original place and tell them you want them to spin them up and look for the hop or run-out. Thats the tire(s) they should replace under warranty. I fought with a set of Mastercrafts (Cooppers). Still have them. I will not buy another set. Michelin's are the only way to go. Yes more dollars but well worth the lack of a headache, they wear better and exhibit better wet traction. The Masters have zero traction in snow, zero. Next season Im looking for replacement aggressive Mud n Snows. I hope Michelin offers something?
The back story is that the masters were fine until about 20K when I had them rotated by my garage, (I rotated them every 5 or 6K up to this point myself). Just the act of rotating produced a vibration. The head technician agreed it was there. They re-balanced theses wheels several times and finally got them OK, just ok. Last summer I put on a set of new 18" chrome take offs with factory Michelin's. I was tired of dealing with the vibe. Truck rides like glass with the Michelin's. Great tires! Took it in, in the fall for warranty work at same garage. Had them put the master winter tires/rims on. They re-balanced them but I didn't ask them to do this. Strangely the truck rides 100% better with the same wheels that rode like crap when removed in the spring??? Im at a loss as to why. Theories are; they may have re-calibrated the spin balancer, bought a new one or something about the tires sitting stacked on their side walls all summer in a hot shed did something??? Who knows. One thing to look at is the rim to hub interface. It must be clean and rust/scale free. If not the wheel will wobble. I always clean both surfaces with a scotch brite wheel on a die grinder and apply a light coating of silver anti-seize then torque to spec.

 

Droldsmorland, just rotating caused vibration?? Good grief! Maybe I should try just rotating the darn things. I don't know if Michelin makes a mud and snow tire. BF Goodrich does, and Michelin owns them. Stupid question, but you mentioned that no amount of balancing will smooth out a defective tire hop. I thought road force balancing was supposed to? Do I have my info wrong? And, is it possible to have a bent rim and have that not show up when the tires are balanced?

 

Road force balancing won't fix a bent wheel, or a defect in your suspension components.

 

Several years ago, I had a Jeep Cherokee that I put a new set of wranglers on. Those tires made that Cherokee death wobble. I had to take them off and put on a different tire. I could never figure that one out...
Is the violent vibration generating from the front or the rear?

 

Droldsmorland, just rotating caused vibration?? In my case yes. That's the only parameter that was changed.

Stupid question, but you mentioned that no amount of balancing will smooth out a defective tire hop. Correct.

I thought road force balancing was supposed to? Do I have my info wrong?
Not familiar enough with the road force procedure to comment. From what I understand the tire is spun either on the vehicle with its weight on it or on a machine which simulates the vehicle weight?

And, is it possible to have a bent rim and have that not show up when the tires are balanced? Yes. Especially if the deflection is in the X axis versus the Y. In other words a wobble, not an up-down movement. A seasoned tire tech will look for this. A green tire jockey making min wage will not,(likely). You can stand there and watch for it if they allow you in the shop. A bad tire or rim is blatantly obvious when spun.

You can jack the truck up yourself and spin the tires (with the truck running in gear) and see the wobble or hop. Do it safely with jack stands and someone at the wheel; keeping all appendages clear of all rotating hazards.

 

Pshicker, vibration comes from everywhere. Sometimes front, sometimes the back, and sometimes feels like it's coming from both. I checked out all the suspension parts, driveshaft, and made sure the motor and transmission mounts were tight. Everything checked out. Had the Ford dealer look it over just to make sure I didn't miss anything, and they couldn't find anything either.

Droldsmorland, thanks for the info on the rims. I had always assumed that a bent rim would show up during balancing. I'll try jacking up the truck and spinning the tires as you suggest this weekend and seeing if I can see anything.

 

OK. So I tried jacking it up and spinning all four tires as a few have suggested. Tires look fine. No wobble. No hop. I'm going to try to rotate them, but won't be able to get to that for a few days. Could it just be the truck doesn't like Goodyear tires?

 

Does your truck have a carrier bearing on the rear drive shaft? Check it. Ive heard that sometimes the carrier can need shimming or shim removal to adjust the pinion to carrier angle.
My next move would be to remove the front and rear drive shafts and feel the ujoints for bind. A ujoint can be bad and not exhibit movement by grabbing the shaft and wiggling to look for joint cup play. What happens is the joint rust up tight. This one frozen cup will bind up the joint and vibrate and give the illusion of an out of balance shaft.
Check the emergency brake shoes behind the rear rotors. Quite common for the shoe anchor pins to rot through the backing plate. Now the shoes and the hardware are just floating around behind the rotor chewing up everything. A shoe could be riding on the rotor giving a similar effect as a frozen caliper which will present itself as a vibration.
I have witnessed a rotor so far out of balance that it vibrated at certain speeds. Not common but plausible.

 

I don't have a carrier bearing on the rear drive shaft. I've eliminated the front drive shaft as the cause. My truck has manual locking hubs and it vibrates whether the hubs are locked or not. I'll check the drive shaft u-joints and the emergency brake shoes. Never thought of the emergency brake. I'll check the rotors out as well.