bfg at ko and balance issues

[wdhigh]

Needed tires few months back and tried to pull the trigger on a set of nittos but nobody had 8 ply only 10 ply in stock. I wanted to try something other than bfg due to ride issues in the past on other vehicles. My 99 limited w/ 16" wheels was new to me in feb 09 with no ride issues.

Had the bfg's installed 265/75/16 in the 16" star type limited wheels and they rode better than any bfg I had had in the past. I was very happy with them. Well last week I took it in for a rotate since I had paid for lifetime rotate and balance when I bought the tires. The guy rotated and re- balanced my tires. Now the darn thing has a very noticeable hop/shake above 60-65 on up.

Took it to a different location, same store name and asked them to check the balance. The tire balanced zero. He then tore the weights off and completely redid one tire. He then breaks the tire down and runs the wheel on the balancer to show me my wheel was not balanced. Guy basicly says i just have to deal with it.

My question is has anyone else had this happen and why would it ride great and now ride like crap?

Thanks, for any light that can be shed on this!!

 

[LINY4Runner]

well if the guy proved to you that it is the wheel that is out of balance and not the tire, I can't really see justification in blaming BFG for the unbalanced assembly.

Really, all you can do is put the wheels on a balancer and grind off a little extra metal on the inside to balance the wheel, or load it up with clip- on weights (which will make it worse) or deal with it.

Check e-bay for some other Toyota Factory wheels, you can get alot of really nice wheels for under 100 bucks a wheel. Or you can look into Cregar or Centerline wheels, they have steelies for around 40-50 each.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

BFGs do seem to have more balancing issues that any other tire since I see more than a few threads about the issue and it's BFGs 99% of the time.

My friend had balancing issues on his last set of BFGs about 5 years ago and switched to Nittos the same time I did since that was his 2nd time having problems with BFGs on his '96 LC.

 

[Stick Figure]

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html you can always give those beads a try, i'm dying to know if they actually work.

Other thing you can do for now if you have a wheel that has a slight tweak to it, is put it on the rear, it won't be as noticeable on the back as on the front. Not a fix, but will give you a little longer to figure out what you want to do.

 

[az4runner02]

I used to be a huge BFG fan until my last set of 35's. It took me another tire store to figure it out but all 4 tires were out of round. Finally got them to take them back and that is when I went with the Tera Grappler's. However I just got the new Wrangler Duratrac's and love them so far.

 

[blk runner00]

i have the same trouble tried to have them balanced and rotated. still have a shake in the wheel. also had them on my 95 4runner and had small shake just learned to live with it.

 

[Charlee78]

You need to be careful here, as far as I remember, I've never seen a wheel that is balanced even with the tire removed from it.
I may be wrong but check that somewhere else to make sure...

 

[DavidAlexander]

I would try to use some dynamic balancing weights. They are ceramic balls you place inside the tire and work great.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

However I just got the new Wrangler Duratrac's and love them so far.

I'm still considering the Duratracs or another set of the Nittos but I like the Duratracs more agressive looks and if they are in breathing distance of the Nitto's out the door price I might switch.

How is road noise with the Duratracs so far?

I still like the Nittos looks but the GYs look good too.

 

[az4runner02]

Hey Ron, as far as road noise they are pretty quite. They do put out a slight hum at higher speeds but nothing you can hear over the A/C. Really happy so far and I think you would be as well.

 

[wdhigh]

Thanks. Well this is truely my last set of bfgs. Everywhere I take them I get the same ole story from the tire shop," bfg's just don't balance well".

Guess this was another $800 mistake.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I think BFG has been resting on their laurels and need to update their A/Ts or even overhaul the design since it seems they've had issues with balancing forever but they sell so many they might be a little slow to change.

I see so many people buying BFGs that don't need that agressive tire,never go off road and are buying them based on looks and popularity and doing no research on them and I think BFG knows this.

 

[Stick Figure]

all i can say is my BFG's are actually balanced perfect. no shimmy no shake, no nothing, and they do pretty well off road as well. i just wish i knew who balanced them and on what machine, i'm actually scared to have them flipped to the white letters in because i'm scared of having a problem lol.