i'm having a heck of a time balancing my wheels. it's important to note that i also just had some front end work done...

new left ball joint
new axle - ball joint broke, wheel fell off while backing out of driveway and pulled axle out of differntial
new upper and lower control arms
new idler arm
new pitman arm

...they said i needed new ball joints on the right side too but since insurance wouldn't touch any of it i did what i could afford at the time. anyways, ever since the work was done to the front end i have had a serious vibration that starts at about 65 mph. prior to the wheel falling off i never had ANY vibrations of any kind at ANY speed. i took it back to the shop that did the front end work after a couple of days and they said it felt like a balancing issue and offered to do it for $40 or so but i opted to get it done at my local tire shop for $20.

i have since balanced all four tires (including one new one) but the vibrations have continued. i have gone back to the tire shop and had them re-check the balance on all four tires and rotated back to front and front to back on one side of the truck. they could only do one side b/c the rear tire had a bad wear pattern (kinda wobbly) and they stated this is probably my problem.

i take it that i need to buy another tire which i plan to do. the only thing i have reservations for is that i just did this b/c they thought it was the other tire in the rear and i replaced it but it didn't help. actually, it has gotten worse if anything.

my question is whether or not ONE tire could cause this kind of vibration - to the point that it feels like one of the tires could come off at any time OR should i be talking with the folks that did the axle work.

thanks in advance for any replies!

 

one tire could cause this kind of prob. I would try that first, but if it dosent work then I would take it to the shop that did the work on the axel. did you repalce the upper and the lower ball joint on the left side. if not you might need to do that as well. gl
scotty

 

hi Scotty,

thanks for the reply.

yes, i had to replace both the upper and lower ball joints and control arms on the left (the side tire fell off) but wasn't able to do the right side though as i had to pay for it all myself after finding out all of it was so-called "wear and tear" parts.

i'm hoping it's just the tire which would help me kill two birds with one $113 stone as it seems i need this tire anyways after watching them spin the tire on the machine it did look worse than the other three. i'll surely post back when i have an answer.

any other input is definitely welcomed since this may not be the answer then, like you mentioned, i'd have to start troubleshooting the front end which could get expensive.

thanks again.

 

when the tire fell off did it bend the rim? that would cause a bad vibration. check the weights on the tires. if there is big weights on them it could be a good indicater of a bent rim. let me know when you get the new tire if it sloves the problem. GL
Scotty

 

it's funny you mentioned a lot of weight as this is exactly what happened to the right rear tire that has the bad tread wear. the guy said it took an abnormal amount of weight to balance it - he couldn't believe how much weight he had to use (his words). it was so wobbly that they advised against rotating it to the front.

the front left tire that came off the truck seemed to be ok although both front tires had something they called "choppiness"? they mentioned something about bad struts or shocks causing this... yet more money in the near future! so the the front left (the one that came off) is now in the rear and the rear left is in the front however the problem continues.

as a side-note... the vibrations are strongest under my feet and in the seat of the car which they attribute to something out of balance in the rear.

any thoughts?

 

yeah I would replace that tire for sure, and I hate to say it but you might need to look into getting a rim if its bent like it sounds. that may solve your prob.
scotty

 

i didn't get a chance to get that done today but i did want to add something to the mix.... now this is very noticable and i just forgot to mention it in the initial post.

ok, when i first got these tires balanced and after the work was done to the front end i noticed the vibration as i stated before. i ALSO noticed that the car would pull to the right - not a hard pull but hard enough for me to wonder whether the front end guys knew what they were doing.

now, as i mentioned earlier i had the tires rotated and watched them balance each one of them this time. NOW, even with the rotation i still have the vibration BUT now the darn thing is pulling even harder to the left[/b]. this is really troubling b/c with the tire they said i need to replace in the rear right and the right front being brand new, it's looking like that front right tire may be bad too huh? or could this rear tire be that bad to cause it to pull like it is?

again, i wasn't able to get this done like i wanted to today and will now have to wait until friday or so before i can do it. it's looking more and more like i'm gonna have to buy three more wheels before i'll know whether this is a wheel or frontend issue

 

what size tires are you running? is the truck at the factory highth? still think I would just go with the one tire first, because you know that it is bad. I wouldnt do anything eles to you fix the known problem. as far as the pulling thing. sounds like to me either there is something bent or the guy that did the aligment didnt do it right, because I dont beleave a bad tire like you are talking about would cause a pull like that. dose the sway bar, connecting bar, torsion bar, or anything like that look bent.
scotty

 

i'll take a look at these and see what i find and post back. the only thing that really concerned me about the other tires is that at first it was pulling to the right and when they switched the tires around (nothing else as i watched the whole process from start to finish) it's now pulling to the left - a little harder at that.

prior to getting any of this stuff done i had never had any pulls or vibrations - so frustrating :|

*edit to add... to give an idea of how bad it's now pulling consider this... you know how most streets are made where they kinda peak in the middle and run of on either side of the road so water doesn't collect in the middle of the road... well, i can now drive on the opposite side of the road, remove my hands from the steering wheel and my truck will (about 50% of the time i'd say - depending on the degree of slope) pull back over the right side of the road. keep in mind when i'm driving down the wrong side of the road the road is sloping to the left and w/no hands on the steering wheel it will pull back to the right side

prior to this while driving on the right side of the road if i took my hands off the steering wheel it would pull off the road to the right pretty quickly... *

 

Without reading all the above stuff, remember - finding a buddy with a set of four good running, balance wheels that can be swapped out for yours for a quick run down the highway is priceless.

How do you sell it? Tell him that you'll rotate his tires when they are put back on his truck...hmm...

 

not a bad idea. if it changed the way the truck is pulling just by changing the tires then it has to have something to do with the tires. I would buy a new set (so that you have matching tread wear all the way around), and if you can it might be a good idea to try to see if someone you know will let you use theres for a quick test drive just to make sure it will slove the problem before you go buying new tires. GL
Scotty

 

wow, you guys think of e v e r y t h i n g! excellent idea and i think i know where i can get some loaners!

thanx a million!

yeah, this will be much easier and quicker seeing how i can't spring for a full set (well another three) for another few weeks at least.

thanx a bunch fellas - i'll post back once i get this done!

 

sorry texans, i forgot to mention my tire size. this is one of my biggest problems - these tires are a little taller and skinner than the stock tires i believe or vice versa.

i have...

P265 / 75R 16s

...it seems the regular size tires are the 70R 16s if i remember correctly. i haven't done anything to the suspension either although i need to get some new shocks for it pretty soon since the choppiness they say could be from warn shocks.

will update when i get some different wheels and tires on it.

rtb

 

if you are talking about a newer F150 than your stock tire size is 255/70R 16 I beleave. that is what was on mine, but I put 265/75R16 on it and that is what I put on alot of fords that come into the shop. It is the perfect tire for that truck. fits great and really feels out the fender wells. what kind of tire are you useing? If I may suggest you go with the Bridgestone Duller A/T Revo. In my opion that is the best tire on the market right now. It has excellent handling on and off road, and wears really well. GL
Scotty

 

hey fellas i finally got the vibrations whipped! you'll never guess what the problem was...

not tires, not the rims, not even the front end work... THE PLACE I HAD BEEN GETTING MY TIRES BALANCED AT WAS THE PROBLEM!!!

...yes, after three balancing jobs and 3 different types of rotation configurations i find out earlier today that the guys at that first shop were just totally incompetent!

i finally got four good used tires (GOODYEAR 265/70R16 LE's) for $80 all of which had about 60% tread still on them. i was about to head back over to the same shop but decided to do it at the store where i bought the tires since she gave me a super deal - $25 to dismount, mount, balance and stem all four wheels/tires.

when these guys were taking the weights off they kept commenting on the amount of weight on the wheels. when they got to the last one they called me over to see that it had over a pound of weight on one rim! right then he said he could guarantee that was my problem.

he said the rim would have to be bad or the tire would have to have a broken belt (both of which are immediately noticeable) if that much weight was needed.

sure enough it was't the rim or the tire as it took only a .25 and .50 ounce weight for him to balance the same one. unbelievable! now i'm out of $150 for a new tire and extra balancing b/c they either didn't know what they were doing or they knew exactly what to do to get some more $$$ out of me!

either way i'm really tempted to file a complaint with my credit card company! what would you do?