My '99 F150 4x4 just got new tires a few weeks back. For some reason, last week I noticed a slight vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds, (55-70mph). It also fades to the right a little if I let go of the wheel and the vibration goes away. I took it back to Discount for re-balancing a couple days ago. It didn't fix a thing. I had 235/70R16 street tires and went to 285/75R16 BFG all terrain ta/ko's. It also has new brakes all the way around, which those seem to be working fine. I tried reading up on wheel bearings, but couldn't find anything. I'm thinking the alignment may be off. Is there anything else I can check at home? The $$$ is really tight right now, so I want to know what it could be before the shop spends hours of labor searching out the problem.

Thanks,

Bryan

 

Was the problem there with the old tires as well?
To me it sounds like a tire problem.
You can try swapping the front and back tires and see if the vibration changes which would indicate a problem with the tires.
An alignment problem can make it pull but typically wont cause a vibration unless it is so far out of whack that it's peeling off the tires.

 

most big tires cause vibration there's not much you can do about it and ballancing only does so much it's the whole rotating mass thing. make sure the tire pressure is equal all around maybe try lowering the pressure a bit. another possibility is they might've bent a rim. if the r.r. brake was adjusted tighter than the left it could cause a slight pull. if you get an allignment done check all the steering components first they can't do it if you have a bad balljoint or tierod. about all you can check at home is the toe. remember your speedometer if off a bit too.

 

torque the lugnuts thats the first thing.

My tbird has a yellow lugnut, this is supposed to be lined up with the valvestem to avoid vibes. Not sure if the trucks have this, but its worth a shot.

JH

 

Just got back from the shop. They said the alignment was off and they cranked the torsion bars too. The guy at the counter said the vibration would not go away with an alignment. Funny, I took it for a drive at 70 mph, no pulling and no vibration. The torsion bar adjustment leveled the truck out too. Now the front sits as high as the back! They told me they only got an inch higher, but I can notice a visual difference. It looks even better now. Thanks for the replies everyone. All of the other steering components were checked. Everything was in order.

Justin, I have aftermarket wheels, so it doesn't have that lugnut you are referring too. Unless you are talking about the wheel stud itself.

Bryan

 

Well, I spoke too soon. Today on the way to work, it came back. The vibration isn't as bad, the pull is there more during braking. Could I have a bad caliper that is hanging up? The pads and rotors are about a month old. I changed those same day as the new tires went on. I also noticed that someone had put a strip of rubber around the center caps. I guess to keep them snug. Could that be keeping the wheel from mounting squarely? It's definitely not a piece made for them. The caps are plastic and look worn. Can I buy new ones anywhere? They are Eagle Alloy brand wheels.

Racerguy, I never really noticed the vibration before the tire change. The pull was there a little. Discount Tire has balanced the tires twice now without any change. I'll try the tire rotation thing and see what happens.

I knew I was shooting myself in the foot by posting the day I had the alignment done!

 

When I went up from stock wheels to 285s BFG's all terrians ta/ko i ran into the same problem. Im now running 315's the problem persisted I installed a steering stabilizer ,,problem gone! Hope this helps ya!

 

Did you have the pulling problem too? I was wondering about the stabilizer issue as well. I can really feel the wheel being pulled out of my hand over rough terrain or bumps in the road. This is my daily driver and I put about 90 miles a day on it. It's really bugging me.

 

-stepside, I had the same vibration @ 65mph w/ my 285/75/16's, I had swapped tires, front to back and back to front and the vibration went away. I also raised the tire off the ground, spun it and thru my eye across the tread and you can see the slite high low spots. I guess it's just the size of tires,(a lot more meat). Take it off road vibration goes away. Ha Ha Ha Don't have a problem w/ pulling, but my cousin does, when driving hitting rutts or bad road, his tire is 305/70/16, same highth as mine but a little wider, we also mentioned stearing stabalizer would help. Good luck

 

may be a defective tire...but it could just be a coincidance that it started at the same time...is the drive shaft good and all that stuff? the shop name you took it to, "Discount Tire" scares me in itself.

 

Well, I got straight to work when I got home today. I pulled all four tires off first. Then I realized that I had not put any high temp grease on the slide pins in the calipers. My bad. Why do I always learn the hard way? Anyway, I rotated the tires and I pulled those ridiculous homemade rubber things off of the center caps. Whoever put those on must not have liked the little rattle the plastic caps make over bumps. Torqued the wheels to 100 ft lbs, and took it for a 40 mile test drive at 75mph.

The vibration is pretty much gone. I think you folks hit it on the head about the tire having more meat and the more aggresive tread. Steering stabilizer is now on the shopping list. Is that something I can do at home?

But, now it pulls left! I'm not talking sometimes. I don't think it's wind or road shape. I don't have to wrestle it though. It's pretty slight.

Could those rubber "gaskets" on the center caps prevented the tire from mounting squarely on the truck? Would that throw the alignment off? I took it in for the pull to the right, so I imagine it was adjusted left. There is a 90 day warranty on the Labor. No parts were replaced. It's the only thing I could think of that would cause the sudden change. I'll schedule it in for a re-alignment this week.

By the way, Discount Tire Company is a Nationwide chain. I pretty much live in the sticks. I have been buying tires from them for about 15 years now. I have never had any major problems with them. They are much, much better than WalMart or Sears in my opinion and experience. Both of the latter companies have screwed me one too many times with tire issues and oil changes. So I stick with what I know works.

Sorry for the long post. Please try to answer the questions that I have asked. Thanks for all of the replies on this.

Thank you,

Bryan

Edit: As far as I know, the driveshaft is fine. This all started after the new rubber and brakes a month ago.

 

the tires will probably smooth out as they wear...those rubber gaskets would probably have caused a problem. I gotcha on the discount tires, it did not hit me right away that they were the national chain. My initial thought was the guys set up in the parking lot of a flea market or somthin...lol. hopefuly youll get it worked out.

 

I'm glad you got the vibration resolved. If you think one of you calipers are hanging up, you can use a laser temp gauge, to see if there is a drastic temp. difference on the rotors and or calipers after driving around for awhile. I don't know if this will cause the pull that you have????? but it's a shot in the dark. Let us what you find out with the alignment deal. Good luck.