Your description matches what I’m experiencing to the T. I’ll definitely do a road balancing test. I might shop around and see who else does it, as I’ve had a bad experience with Discount Tires. There should be a few other shops in town (I live in Fresno) capable of doing this.

Thanks!

That narrows it down to something in the front end causing the vibration. Like others have said I recommend road balancing your tires. Tires can balance out just fine, but road balance off.

Road force balancing...

Ask the shop if possible to provide the 'road force numbers'.

Ideally we're looking for a number (lower the better) somewhere between 3 - 7.

Your gonna get a reply that an acceptable road force spec for your tire size is up to 11 maybe 13 to 15.

Nope. Lower the better 3 - 5 ideal. Single digits way prefered.

Yes it's possible to break down the tire rotate 1/4 turn, re-inflate, rebalance and repeat for a lower road force number.

This process takes time and a good tech who understands what's happening.

The higher the road force number the more likely the tire is moving into what is called 'out of round' condition.

Be courteous to the shop too. Customer walks in off the street asking for a road force balance and even if they're charging $50+ for the service there's not a lot of money on the table if the tech spends the required time to do the road force "correctly", breaking the tire down and dialing in the road force.

Usually a small out of balance issue would appear within a 5 - 10 mph window. One of the previous posts indicated a 20mph window. Leads me to believe yes there's a balance issue but once the balance issue is felt its being complicated and/or exacerbated by something else in the suspension.

Find a good shop that will take the time to do the road force balance correctly. Tell them your concerns with all the information you've gather. Let them know you want them to break down the tire and "dial" in the road force.

Talk to the tech if at all possible doing the job.

If you get the classic 'deer in headlights' look... Well, politely pushon to the next shop.

Go after the balance issue first and take that out of the equation. Then go after the rest.

Hope this helps,
Cahil

Appreciate the pointer, Cahil. I'm always courteous to whoever provides a service for me. Never treat anyone rudely, because that person can decide how your day is going to go. I will ask them and be insistent on those numbers. $50 isn't a big deal at all if I can take care of this annoying problem.

As a technician that does road force balancing, most tires that road balance enough for a vibration will not be able to road force down to 7lbs or less.

I don't know why you say it's "possible". That's literally how road force balancing is done. Put the tire on the balancer, spin it with road force option on, the machine will give you current road force amount/predicted road force amount/where to mark the rim and tire. Then you break the bead, line up the marks, reinflate and retest.

Update: I took it to my local Les Schwab and asked them to do a road force balance on all four wheels. As it turns out, when I got tires at Pep Boys, they didn’t put ANY weight on any of the wheels. I got the tires there because they were on sale, but I’m reluctant to go back there again.

The tech said he was able to get very close to 0 for all four wheels, and all wheels were off before, way off. After I left, I took a drive for about 20 miles on the freeway, doing around 70-75. No wobbling whatsoever. Smooth as butter. The truck feels great now, all thanks to you guys’ suggestion.

Really appreciate the help from you all!

Hate to be that guy, but we told you. Wheel balancing was the fix. But, glad your wobble-free now.

Dang!!! Close to 'zero' is impressive considering the tire size.

Balanced like a sports car(truck) now.

Congrats!

Well, I didn’t see it in writing, but the result speaks volumes. The truck does not wobble anymore.

Wow, that's crazy. Was Pep Boys in a rush and just forgot to balance tires?
I agree "very close to zero" is very impressive. Congrads on your fix!

Who knows. I’m just glad it’s fixed. I shopped between Les Schwab and Pep Boys when I got my tires, and the price difference was about $270, so I went with Peo Boys instead.