BFG Vibration and Volume

[OHP]

Before I bought my BFG All terrains I did a ton of research and it is almost impossible to find a dissatisfied owner. I may be the only one. I have had these tires for about 5000 miles. I'm not happy with the noise and the vibration that the tires generate. At about 50 mph and up I have a very high frequency vibration in the steering wheel that was not there before. I also realize that these are not luxury car tires, but the noise level is much higher than I would have expected from all of the comments from everybody on how quiet they are. So do i have tires with issues, am I expecting too much from an aggressive A/T tire, or is this just the norm for the BFG's?
Opinions appreciated.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

You must have a balance issue because mine are as vibration free as the stock tires were. They are noisier but not that bad. This is to be expected from an all terrain tire. If you are not doing any off roading that needs a tough tire you would probably be better off with a street oriented tire. You will get used to the slight hum. It may get better after a few miles and the tread lays more even however mine did get noisier on the last 1/3 of their life.

 

[rebelbowtie]

Are these the T/A KO's? Kind of a pet peeve of mine since BFG makes a few all terrains. My T/A KO's ride way better than my stock Dunlops did, I agree your balance job could be out.

 

[OHP]

They are T/A KO's. I guess I probably need to have them re-balanced and rotated before I consider replacing them. However, I have never felt a vibration like this from a balance issue.

 

[rebelbowtie]

It may not be an issue with the tires at all, it could just be a coincidence that it was noticeable after the tire change/balance

 

[OHP]

I did install the Daystar 2.5/1.5 at the same time. Has anyone ever heard of that causing vibration issues? Could a change in CV angle cause that? I did have it alligned when the shop mounted the tires.

 

[jHenrici]

Not that it really helps, but I pretty much did the same as you. I had my BFG T/A KOs put on when I got my daystar leveling kit. I have had mine for 50,000 miles and have not had any problems (smooth ride without any vibration). If its not the alignment or the balance, then I have no idea. I'm curious what the diagnosis is.

 

[inscarguy]

i have the same setup with all pro wheel spacers added. i have no problems at all. i have them balanced and rotated every 4000 miles.

i did have one problem when they were balanced the second time and it took the tire shop 6 times to get it right. finally they got the "finger" adapter and never had a problem again.

 

[OHP]

Ok folks, I'm reviving a thread I started almost 2 months ago. I finally got around to rotating my tires but I have not had them balanced. I swapped front and back and the same side. The vibration I previously mentioned is exactly the same as it was. Is it possible for four tires to all be balanced wrong exactly the same? Is there another culprit I might need to consider to be the source?

 

[ebg18t]

Take them in and get the rebalanced. If the rotation didn't help, the next step in checking the balance of each tire-wheel.

 

[ridefast]

I did install the Daystar 2.5/1.5 at the same time. Has anyone ever heard of that causing vibration issues? Could a change in CV angle cause that? I did have it alligned when the shop mounted the tires.

Ive never herd that changing the cv angle would cause vibration issues. I bet your tires are out of balance. You will have more noise from the ta ko. Those tires have lots of rubber, have the shop check them again.

On another note did you install a diff drop kit (easy and cheap to do) with your daystar 2.5? Also you will need an alignment asap because you altered your suspension angles with the daystar lift.

 

[OHP]

I did not do a diff drop because all of the info on here says it is not necessary on a 4th gen. I did have it aligned, as I stated in the post you quoted

 

[LTDSC]

I did not do a diff drop because all of the info on here says it is not necessary on a 4th gen. I did have it aligned, as I stated in the post you quoted

You mentioned it being up front, are your tie rod ends possibly worn? Would cause a slight weird vibration. I would try to balance them again first but that may be an option.

 

[ridefast]

well... idk what to say other than there are plenty of guys on this and other forums that needed a diff drop after their lift on 4x4s. Ive installed a few lifts and diff drop kits and the cv angles looked 10x better after the drop kit. The diff drop kit will prevent your cv boots from tearing. Just look at some before and after pics.

 

[NJshadow93]

About the tire noise, what PSI do you have them set at? My Duratracs were much louder than I expected them to be, then I checked the pressure and realized the shop only pumped them up to 32. I pumped them up to about 38 and they quieted down a lot. Worth a shot. About the vibration, are any of the wheels damaged? Even a slight bend can create a lot of vibrations.

 

[sonerick]

There are a lot of potential causes of your problem, considering you changed the suspension geometry with the lift. This has the potential to amplify issues that may have been present but not obvious. A couple of things that come to mind include cv's and u-joints based on your description of a high frequency vibration. Wheel bearings are another potential cause for such a vibration. Other things that could cause vibrations but usually manifest in other ways (clunking, popping, generally sloppy handling etc.) include ball joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushings, etc.

Is the vibration constant? Does it vary with speed? Does it change pitch when turning the wheel? It's tough to diagnose this type of problem over the internet. You might save yourself some headache by just taking it to a shop that has a stethoscope. You might get charged a half hour for the tech's time, but at least you won't be throwing money at the problem without guaranteed results.

Definitely post up your findings if you solve the issue.

 

[stevec5000]

It may not be an issue with the tires at all, it could just be a coincidence that it was noticeable after the tire change/balance

It might just be the road surface in his area. Here in AZ most of the highways are smooth and quite but I just drive through Texas where they seem to use lumps of coal to surface the roads and my tires made an almost unbearable howling noise.

 

[OHP]

About the tire noise, what PSI do you have them set at? My Duratracs were much louder than I expected them to be, then I checked the pressure and realized the shop only pumped them up to 32. I pumped them up to about 38 and they quieted down a lot. Worth a shot. About the vibration, are any of the wheels damaged? Even a slight bend can create a lot of vibrations.

I increased them to around 40 to see if they would quiet down. I didn't notice any difference. I don't think the wheels are damaged. They are used FJ rims and there is no visible damage. I guess one could be slightly bent and not be able to see it? If that were the case I would think the vibration would have changed when I put the fronts on the back.

 

[OHP]

There are a lot of potential causes of your problem, considering you changed the suspension geometry with the lift. This has the potential to amplify issues that may have been present but not obvious. A couple of things that come to mind include cv's and u-joints based on your description of a high frequency vibration. Wheel bearings are another potential cause for such a vibration. Other things that could cause vibrations but usually manifest in other ways (clunking, popping, generally sloppy handling etc.) include ball joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushings, etc.


Is the vibration constant? Does it vary with speed? Does it change pitch when turning the wheel? It's tough to diagnose this type of problem over the internet. You might save yourself some headache by just taking it to a shop that has a stethoscope. You might get charged a half hour for the tech's time, but at least you won't be throwing money at the problem without guaranteed results.

Definitely post up your findings if you solve the issue.

I've definately considered the wheel bearings, but, I have experienced that in a couple of past vehicles and I don't think that is it. In the other vehicles it would get louder in a turn. Bad wheel bearings tend to make a roaring noise. I don't have any roaring sounds. My vibration is VERY constant. Starts at a certain speed and stays constant. Strangely enough, I only feel it in the top of the steering wheel and the gas pedal. I have physically tried to move the other items you mentioned and they seem tight. No play at all in the wheels when they are off the ground.

It might just be the road surface in his area. Here in AZ most of the highways are smooth and quite but I just drive through Texas where they seem to use lumps of coal to surface the roads and my tires made an almost unbearable howling noise.

I drove it from Nashville to Gulf Shores this summer with the same vibration the whole way. Plus, Tennessee has extremely smooth highways.

 

[having fun]

Slight humming noise is normal on any AT/ aggresive tire, as far as a slight vibration, it can happen as I had a aggresive tred patern once that crated a slight stering wheel vibration above 50 mph. Not enough to interfer with driving, it does happen, when I put my street tires back on no vibration. Both are spin balanced. It's just probably something you not used to and yes I tok mine back in to the tire shop and had them drive it.