I have had a vibration in my F250 that I'm trying to track down. I believe its a balance issue in one of the rear tires. It rides smooth until about 60 mph, 70 is the worst of it with an up/down vibration throughout the truck, felt more in the seat than steering wheel (no vibration in the brake pedal). By 75, its beginning to smooth out again. 80 is smooth. Warm weather (80+)is better, cool weather (anything less than 80) and rain worse.

Tires are Firestone Transforce 265/70R17E in very good condition. They were on the truck when I bought it 15k miles ago and were brand new then, but looked as if the truck sat a lot. When I test drove it, it had clear flat spots in the tires. In the first week the spots got better, but the high speed vibration won't go away. No there is plenty of tread (~75%), no abnormal wear. Alignment is in good shape as checked by my home alignment tools (ie Toe is within spec, caster and camber "look" fine). The wheels have weights on them so they were balanced in the past, and do not look as if they threw a weight.

The tire stores around here just want to sell tires, so getting them re-balanced has been difficult. I was just about the make an appointment with a shop nearby that has a Road Force machine, when I stumbled up Centramatics through a thread here. Is this a good option? They are more expensive than the repair shop but not by much. Thoughts?

 

I had the same issue a few years ago with some Yokahama tires that was driving me nuts, after talking to a friend of mine that owned a tire shop, he told me that Yokahamas were notorious for getting out of round thus causing the vibration, I’ve since gone with BF Goodrich AT’s with no issues at all. Let us know what you find out with yours.

 

If the tires are still flat-spotted you may need to bite the bullet and just get new tires.

My dad had a tire flat-spot on his suburban years ago. Getting it balanced helped, but the fix was to replace the tire, because we couldn't drive more than 65 in it.

 

Took the wife to Walmart last night (Hot Date! ) and I notice it at low speed a little too. At very low speed (5-10 mph) it feels like the tire is egg shaped. Loping like a cam. I was going to rotate them but, not now. I definitely don't want that on the frontend. I might try rotating my spare onto the right rear position first and see if anything changes. Then left.

I've had Firestones do this in the past, but they were stock tires on an F150 and they went out-of-round towards the end of their life. Never had issues with anything this new. Will keep you guys in the loop.

 

My 2002 F250 does this hop - hop -hop thing only on one particular section of highway here in Colorado Springs. For about 10 miles in sort of bounces and seems to be rotating in the hop in an elliptical movement front to back. The surface material is that concrete mix; super new, smooth.

 

Update.

I checked the balance of the rear tires on one of those home-balance rigs (it literally balances the tire, wheel, and flange on a needle point). They pass the "balance" test, but probably not road force. Next I spun them individually and watched for out-of-round. Both are out of round. The rear left is by more that 1/4", the right rear is a little less. The tires are uniformly worn, so it was pretty easy to see the egg shape in the tires but I'm not sure what the tolerance is. I didn't spend a lot of time measuring the difference, because the tires are clearly the problem.

I ordered the Centramatics before I checked the tires. They were expensive, but less than the cost of one tire and I figured I could return them is they didn't work or made things worse. Installed them yesterday. First impressions:
- Install wasn't difficult, but you have to figure out which ones fit the front and rear axles yourself. They come with an A and B model. Instructions tell you to install the front axle first and try each one for fit. Me being me, I did the rear first. The "A"s fit on the rear hub with a little force, the "B"s wouldn't at all. So they went to the front. Everything cleared correctly and didn't need the spacers that they give you (also a "try it and see" application).
- Clearly visible through the stock steel wheels and affect the look. I think I'll paint them black.
- The swishing noise below 20 mph is LOUD! Really gets your attention.
- All of that is pretty minor considering that they freaking WORK! The truck simply feels smoother at all speeds and all road conditions. The instructions state that the balancers will not fix an out-of-round tire, and they don't. I still get a little lope at low speed, and at 70 the vibration is there, but its significantly better. At 65, smooth.

I imagine that with good tires that this truck will ride like a Cadillac. I'm planning on running these tires until worn out now. The Centramatics basically saved me about $1000.

 

Personally, I hate tire vibrations, and a band-aid fix would just drive me nuts, yes tires are expensive, I'm fixin to rplc the 6 on my 02 F350 4x, but... I prefer piece of mind, I've changed more than my share of tires on the side of a hwy... (drove a tow truck when I first got out of the Marines in 92) and I'd rather not do it, especially nowadays, seems like there's more n more people not payin attn to the road as they are driving along surfing the interwebs...

Also, I went to beads a long time ago in all my tires, been super pleased with them, had new tires on one of my trucks, beads in all of them, still had an annoying vibration/shake, took truck back, we pulled all 4 and spun, he rplc'd the one that was effed up, you could see it in the tread, just a bit out of round. Granted those were new tires, but maybe just rplc the bad one..

 

I was definitely skeptical. But they work similar to tire beads, just in a sealed ring. Normally I'd replace the tires, its just it feels like a waste. If they get any worse or after year of wear, I probably will ditch them. I really dislike Firestones anyway.

But the Centramatics are staying on the truck. Thinking about ordering them for the 450 too.