Thank you for the detailed explanation of the circumstances surrounding your situation. This helps others, because one or more aspects of what you are dealing with, others will be dealing with also.

HD3 tires are a poor choice for the steer axle. Ford even warns customers and dealers about this in the Order Guide (for chassis cabs). Why Ford then goes ahead and equips F-450 pickups with the HD3 on the steer axle is a mystery to me, but the HD3 tires consistently do exactly what you reported they did, when mounted on the steer axle.

On the other hand, the Continental HS3 runs smoothly and wears evenly on the steer axle. The chassis cabs I order have HS3 in all tire positions.

On my personal F-550 4x4, I run Michelin XDS2 on the drive axle, and NEVER rotate them. I run Continental HSR on the steer axle (the predecessor tire to the HS3, the HS3 is better), and rotate the steer tire with the spare. So seven total tires, on a 3 tire rotation, where only the steer axle tires get rotated, and rarely, as they wear very evenly, and minimally. As previously stated, all of my tires age out before they wear out.

I think you can have better balance of all around performance, in a variety of driving conditions, even in the snow, even with 4WD, by running closed shouldered steer tires on the front axle, and 3PMSF open shoulder drive tires on the rear axle. Once you select a good set of four drive tires, leave them be on the drive axle. You will be dollars ahead, without playing musical tires.

The trick will be to select a couple of good steer axle tires that offer the directional stability of steer tires, and that have a rib like tread pattern, or at the very least a zig zagging pattern where there is a gradual transition from one tread block to the next, instead of the transverse horizontal block breaks of the HD3 tire. The HD3 tread pattern is prone to up and down wear on every other tread block. And, those HD3 tread blocks are known to chunk out altogether. Why Ford still mounts those things on their halo $110,000 brand ambassador truck is mystifying.

Another option you have is to keep your 245s, but sell your stock wheels with your stock tires, and buy replacement 6.75" wheels, from either Ford (in all steel, cover with stainless steel skins if desired) or from the aftermarket. If you buy them from Ford, the F-600 and the F-53/F-59 will have 10x225 19.5x6.75 with the correct hub bore diameter. I'd use the F-600 as the pattern for absolute assurance of hub bore center, if specifications for the wheel are in doubt. Ford uses different rear axles on the stripped chassis now (in years past, Ford used the same rear axles for the lighter F-53 as the F-550).

There are a couple of aftermarket wheel suppliers that offer the correct bolt and bore pattern in a 6.75" wide wheel. Yes, new wheels adds some expense, but it also removes some concern. Not just Toyo, but every tire manufacturer throughout the world will have the same wheel width requirements for the 245, including Continental, Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Hercules, etc, etc..

 

Thank you for the information. Other than the tire manufacturers requirement, I am not clear on what the concern is running 245's on 6" wheels. Probably does not mean anything, but the tire shop was fine installing them; I will ask the question on Tuesday when I take the truck in. Anyone else running this combination? Are you experiencing any problems? I think this is my only issue at this point.

And, what will be the unintended consequences of picking up a set of 6.75-7.50 wide wheels? Are the disc thicknesses going to be too much to run the Centramatic's? Is my bolt pattern 225mm?

 

Yes, your bolt circle diameter is 225 mm (10x225 means 10 studs in a bolt circle diameter of 225 mm).

If you run all steel wheels, there will certainly be enough hub land to include the sheetmetal thin disc of the Centramatic.

I run all steel wheels, and run twin Centramatics in my rear dually pairs, back to back, and still have enough machined diameter hub land to support the outer dually steel wheel fully.

Photo below is of siamesed Centramatics installed on top of the inner dually. The sheet metal discs will flatten out when the outer dually wheel is mounted.



I would be reticent to select 7.50 wheels, and would follow Ford's example and go with 6.75" wheels for the Super Duty platform. Ford's use of 6.75" wheels on the same axle hubs that you already have helps answer the concerns about unintended consequences. Ford doesn't mount 7.50" 19.5" wheels on the F-450/550/600. Just like Ford doesn't mount 245's on 6.00" wheels. Sometimes, it is easiest to observe what the OEMs do, since they have done all the vetting, and just follow the pattern that they have established.

The advantage that OEM's (including OEM suppliers) have over the anecdotal personal experience of individuals is a compendium of data from many individuals amassed over many years.

This data comes from being sued by accident victims, being investigated by NHTSA (and equivalent authoritative bodies worldwide), having to satisfy professional standards imposed by industry and insurance, having the professional licenses and careers of involved engineers at stake... but mostly... access to the data in the research, design, test, validation, and field reports over the years from millions of trucks on the road, multiplied by 4, 6, 10, or however many tires are on the vehicle, multiplied by the number of tire sets the vehicle has consumed during it's lifetime. That is a lot of tires. All of the warranty claims for replacement tires are part of that data set.

As a tire buyer, I don't have access to any of that data, and even if I did, there isn't enough time in several lifetimes to read it all, much less synthesize it into a conclusion. The OEMs, and the tire and wheel industry does all that work for us, motivated by fear of liability for neglecting to, and funded by the high cost of tires that they pass on to us. I figure since I am funding their research, collection, and resolution of all that data with the cost of the tires, I might as well take advantage of all the homework that I paid them to do.

 

Looking at some old threads, I realized I never posted the final solution to my tire issue. After all the time everyone spent helping me, you deserve the rest of the story.

I made two trips to the tire shop where they made multiple attempts to balance the Toyo’s. One of the managers came with me on each test drive and agreed there was a still a problem. They finally asked me if I would be willing to drive two hours to one of their other stores that has new equipment including a road force machine. I agreed to do it. They guys at the “new” store put all the wheels on their road force machine and concluded “these tires will never balance”. I had the numbers but have since misplaced them. I made sure these guys called the original store and reported their findings.

Back to the original shop; they said “what do you want to do?". My response; "what are you going to do?". We ended up pulling the Toyo’s off and returning them. I bought a set of six Roadmaster RM257 tires (in the correct size 225/70R19.5 G) for $1500 less than the seven Toyo’s (one of my Continentals back on the spare). These mounted and balanced much better than the Toyo’s.

I still had a slight hop above 75mph, but, since I seldom drive that fast, something I was willing to live with, especially after spending four days in a tire store. I was almost convinced I had a drive shaft out-of-balance.

I have run the Roadmasters for 18 months (including a trip to Yukon) and I’m happy with them.

In Sept, 2024 I was at a good brake & alignment shop to have the 5th wheel aligned. They seemed to be quite competent so I asked about the high-speed hop. After a test drive, they used their on-vehicle balancing machine to spin up each front tire and found the problem; the right side started hopping when it came up to speed; not quite round. This shop still has the equipment and expertise to true tires (not many shops can true tires these days). They trued the right front tire and solved the hopping at high speed.

And that’s the rest of the story.

 

Thank you for your follow up @scottz99 .

As you can see from the high number of Likes to your most recent update, made more than a year and a half after your original post, quite a few FTE members really appreciated your follow up also.

Should the title of this thread be changed to "Toyo M655 tires not perfect", or "Toyo M655 tires not perfectly round" ?

What is interesting is that in 2023, the same year when you purchased your former M655's that caused all the grief with balancing, Toyo had just announced their newly introduced expansion of the M671A tire, with "Nano Balance Technology", into the 19.5" tire size.

" Toyo M671A : A uniform compound developed with Nano Balance Technology results in exceptional fuel efficiency and resistance to irregular wear. Its advanced e-Balance design maintains the tread profile while reducing strain at the bead area and belt edge."

This expansion of Toyo's offerings in the 19.5 tire size, with their latest M671A emphasizing "balance," makes one wonder if you were not the only Toyo customer experiencing as manufactured tire balance issues with the M655.

 

Interesting Toyo news. However, I think when I wear out the Roadmasters I will look into the Michelin Agilis HD Grip on the rear and Michelin Agilis HD Z on the front.

I tried to change the thread name to "Toyo M655 balancing problem" but it appears I don't have those permissions.

 

I can change the thread title name to what you tried, as quoted immediately above, for you.

Your proposed next time around recipe of Michelin Agilis HD Grip (same drive tire that Michelin used to call XDS2) on the rear drive axle, and Michelin Agilis HD Z (same all position steer tire that Michelin used to call XZE in the 19.5 size) on the front axle and spare is a solid choice, providing optimized tread function for each axle application.

I have 4WD, but with XDS2 tires on the rear axle only, I have never needed to lock the front hubs, even though I have needed to put the truck into 4-Low quite a few times.

Truck tire recipes in the 225 stock 19.5" size with high sipe count, open shouldered, wet traction optimized rear drive tires, combined with closed shouldered, solid ribbed, all position rated front steer tires... similar to your Michelin recipe plan outlined above... exist in other major tire brands as well, including Toyo.

Some examples:

- Toyo M920A rear drives, Toyo M143 front steer / spare / all position.

- Bridgestone M729F rear drives, Bridgestone R238 front steer / spare / all position.

- Firestone Transforce AT² Commercial rear drive all position, Firestone FS561 front steer

- Goodyear Fuel Max RTD ULT rear drive, combined with either
- - Goodyear G670 RV front steer / spare / all position / highway
- - Goodyear G647 RSS front steer / spare / all position / drive / high scrub
- - Goodyear Endurance RSA ULT 19.5" front steer / spare / all position (most "HD Z" like)

- Continental Conti HDR 5 rear drive, Continental Conti HSR 5 front steer / spare / all position
- - Note: Continental has discontinued the Conti Hybrid HD3 and Conti Hybrid HS3 in the stock 225 size, but both the Hybrid HD3 and Hybrid HS3 continue to be offered in larger than stock tire sizes.

More traction assertive recipes (at the possible sacrifice of highway steering manners and steer tire longevity), using partially open shouldered All Position rated drive tires on the front steer axle, are as follows:

- Goodyear Fuel Max RTD ULT rear drive, Goodyear Fuel Max RSA ULT front steer / spare / all position (Both the RTD and RSA tires are M+S and 3PMSF rated.)

- Bridgestone M729F rear drive, Bridgestone M704 front steer / spare / all position (Both the M729F and the M704 are 3PMSF rated.)

- Continental Conti Scandinavia HD3 All Season Drive, Continental Hybrid HSR 5 front steer / spare / all position

Take Note:

Similar to how Michelin recently renamed their XDS2 and XZE tires to Agilis HD Grip and Agilis HD Z, Goodyear did not want to miss the blimp in confusing consumers with name changes for essentially the same tire addressing the same market.

Accordingly, Goodyear has been replacing / renaming their Fuel Max ULT series 19.5 tires to RangeMax ULT, and in so doing, Goodyear has slightly altered the otherwise identical 19.5 tires as follows:
- Goodyear Rangemax RTD ULT Drive tire is now made with about 4 oz of Soylent Green, replacing a little under 5 oz of petroleum from the composition of the former Fuel Max RTD ULT drive tire.
No Soylent Green was added to the Rangemax RSA ULT tire. The tread patterns between the Rangemax and Fuel Max tires are otherwise the same within their respective RSA and RTD iterations.


There are also more traction aggressive recipes, which involve a change of rear drive tires to those not repeated above. I won't belabor this post to suggest aggressive off road traction tires recipes, because such tires are not professionally recommended for most real world regional (high scrub from turning on city and suburban streets), metro (frequent curbing and pot hole cliff edges), and highway (heat flexion containment, treadwear resistance, low noise, steering stability) usages of F-450 pickups.

There is also a vast sea of cheaper 19.5" tires made in China, including the Cooper Roadmaster brand, as well as Korea, including the Hankook brand, from which similarly purposeful drive axle / steer axle tread recipes can be derived. It isn't practical to inventory them all, especially when tire companies change the name of existing popular tires for no apparent reason, or change tire designs altogether with a frequency that isn't exactly confidence inspiring, such as Continental has done several times over the years it has been Ford's OEM supplier for the F-450 & F-550. (F-600 tires are supplied by Hankook).

My own recipe not only mixes tire models, but also mixes tire brands, while carefully keeping in mind any influence different tread depths may have on the overall diameter of the tires between tire brands on front and rear axles on 4WD vehicles.

Given comparative characteristics of drive tires available on the market in the USA today in 2025, I would continue with Michelin XDS2 (Agilis HD Grip) on the drive axle... but would be torn between considering several intriguing M+S and 3PMSF rated partially closed shoulder options of all position tires offered by brands other than Michelin for the steer axle.

Now that Continental has incorporated some much needed improvements in the relatively recently introduced Conti HSR 5 and Conti HDR 5 family, I might consider new take offs cast off by those who follow the siren call of bigger tires on their stock wheels. I would not consider the Conti Hybrid HD3 tires that most of the 2017 - 2022 F-450's were originally shoed with, especially not on the steer axle, where Ford also installed them.

 

Thanks for the input and changing the thread title.