Some background.... Purchased a beater 95 Bronco, had a pretty good vibration in the rear above about 55. Figured Id start with getting the very worn 35's balanced. Tech said 3 of them were no problem but the on the 4th the machine said it needed 18 ozs. He had no way of getting that much weight on there so he did as best as he could. I asked if he thought the rim was bent, he said no.

It did improve a bit. Takes up to 65 now for it to start vibrating. Has this ever happened to anyone with oversize tires? Or is this likely just a bent rim. I could somewhat understand it being just normal wear given the aggressive tread and that they are nearly worn to nothing. Have to figure thats a couple pounds of rubber worn off of there.

Anyone recommend anything to remedy the situation? Not really interested in looking at new tires. If it came down to it I would probably just live with it as it is unlikely to see much highway speeds. How do you determine definitively that a wheel is bent?

11/13/2007 9:01:56 PM

did he check for a flat spot in the tires?

11/13/2007 9:10:53 PM

I doubt he was specifically looking for a flat spot so no. Wouldnt that make the truck vibrate regardless of speed?

11/13/2007 9:13:32 PM

Well the tech could basically look at the wheel while it's spinning/balancing on the machine and see if the rim is bent. My old factory Dodge rims were and off the truck you couldn't tell, but on the machine while its spinning the bend sticks out like a sore thumb. It's more like the tires are cheapo (the compound isn't mixed well), worn irregularly from misalignment, or just overall drivetrain is pretty beaten up. A Bronco with 35's, you're gonna get some vibration goin down the highway no matter what.

11/13/2007 9:16:14 PM

Procomp tires - had pretty good experiences with them on my old truck but never had this many miles on them. Tech mentioned the same thing about the wheel, said looking at it that it looked fine, but didnt know if there was another way to check.

Given that it improved with the tire balance to begin with makes me think im on the right track, that its not the drivetrain.

11/13/2007 9:28:08 PM

should have broken it down and moved it some, tried to rebalance then

11/13/2007 10:25:53 PM

is there moister in the tires

11/13/2007 10:35:13 PM

without reading any responses, was there mud or debris caked on anywhere on the inside/around the rim/tire?

11/14/2007 12:25:19 AM

No mud or anything noticable around the tires. Couldnt tell you if there is any moisture in the tires, although when they balanced them if there was a significant amount I would think it would have been obvious. Might try having the tire remounted and balanced as someone suggested.

11/14/2007 7:09:25 AM

Someone at work just suggested that maybe someone used Fix a Flat or something on it. Sounds very possible so I guess Ill have the tire remounted and check it out.

11/14/2007 7:29:42 AM

don't drive over 65? its a beater. wheel it.

11/14/2007 8:24:59 AM

put a dial indicator on the bead of the rim and spin it on the truck on both sides and see if you have any runout

11/14/2007 8:50:47 AM

Jesus, Keith...a lot of dial indicators don't even have that much travel.

Or are you just being the usual smartass that you are?

11/14/2007 9:05:55 AM

^?


talkin about mounting it on the brake backing plate perpendicular to the wheel and checking for lateral runout, shouldn't be more than .040-.070" at the worst anything over .125" is gonna cause some bad issues

11/14/2007 9:09:18 AM

Oh for sure there.

I thought you were talking about fucking checking runout at the rim bead. When I used to drive a truck (read: MACK), we used to check runout with a deep socket sittin' on the floor. Anything under a quarter inch was good.

11/14/2007 9:14:48 AM

^ you are lucky to get that on two peice rims

11/14/2007 9:15:42 AM

All ours were one piece. We had a few split ring rims, but got rid of 'em. Everything tubeless.

It would have been LOVELY had they all been Budd wheels. But they cost money that the boss didn't wanna spend.

11/14/2007 9:19:12 AM

^^^^ good idea, just would have to get a hold of a decent dial indicator. ill have to see if I can scrounge one up.

could also take the wheel off and verify if the axle is warped.

11/14/2007 2:37:58 PM

a warped axle shouldnt cause a bad vibration, just bad tire wear

11/14/2007 5:11:28 PM

If the wheel wasn't bent, and it called for eighteen onces, then there was most likely water or fix-a-flat inside the tire. Calling for that much weight, the tire should have been dismounted. I am a tech at a tire shop and I've never seen 18 ozs called for on a wheel before.

11/15/2007 12:37:56 AM

Took it to another shop yesterday, said the tire was starting to seperate although I couldnt really tell myself by feeling it. Can someone explain? Would this cause the weight to be that off? They did point out some areas on that tire and on the other where they were beyond the wear indicators.

Also just as a troubleshooting thing my brother and I switched the front and rear wheels to see if the vibration moved to the front of the vehicle. Figured I would feel it in the steering....and I did. So that particular tire / wheel is definately the problem.

11/15/2007 1:51:21 PM

Thread separation can show itself in several ways. And no it will not cause the weight to be that bad. Did they try to balance it again? If so how bad was it?

But seriously though, if the tires are that bad then you seriously need to get them replaced. I would tell you to come by our shop so we could fix your problem, but if they have separation and wear bars exposed, then we will not even touch 'em.

But we can fix you up with the best deal around on a set of tires.

11/16/2007 7:56:05 PM

what the hell is up with this new flood of tire and lube jockeys lately?

11/16/2007 9:56:08 PM

i dunno, guess the price of computers has come down enough.

11/17/2007 2:57:43 PM

^ I have three jobs, and the tire shop job is the best paying by far. Also I get more hours there.

11/18/2007 10:19:46 PM

slowblack96: is there moister in the tires


that made me laugh out loud

11/18/2007 10:32:19 PM

unfortunately ended up getting a new set of tires. 35 x 12.5 x 15 's MT's made by Cooper with an alignment $760

not incredibly cheap but not too bad. most I was finding only were about 200 a tire. hate spending money on what is intended to be a beater though. pic of the truck with the old tires for shits and giggles

11/19/2007 5:18:03 PM

thats a pretty decent looking bronco

11/19/2007 6:53:48 PM