Out of round tires

[wander2039]

How does companies get away with such poor quality? I can't be the only one getting these tires. Does people just live with it? .. I'm guessing so, this might be a vent more than anything.

Had to change tires when I upgraded the rear end of the Dakota. Got some Falken WildPeaks H/T02 245/70/16 tires thru a friend ordered on a company discount. Seen the skip when we installed it but there was some debate if it was the rim or tire, I should of known since I just dealt with this on the RV. Had two Primewells with a identical skip. Spent 3 years trying to figure that out.

I've been dealing with the Dakota shaking for a year and couldn't stand it any further. I actually had them dismount the tires and clean the beads (I tried everything) out and rebalanced, they thought I was crazy till they seen the skip. Just a quick google search shows me this is very common on Falken's. At least it's tolerable at this point. The $$$ I've spent trying to fix this I could of got some good Dueler's. I've learned my lesson I'll no longer spend less than $200 on tire, too much of time is being wasted. I only put 2-3k on this truck a year so not sure what I'll do right now.. the tire guy said just to put them on marketplace and make them someone else's problem

 

[AutoMechanic]

Yeah I will say, I’m a Subaru tech and this year they put Falken for the OE tires and we have seen nothing but issues on them at the dealership I work at between wearing fast and coming out of balance or out of round. Not sure if it is the Wildpeaks can’t remember. Not bashing the brand by any means but I think I know why we don’t sell a whole lot of them to put back on. We usually sell tons of Yokohama or MasterCraft as replacements. We had one come in yesterday the lady said she couldn’t stand them anymore and take them off it had 7,000 miles on them. She had a nail in one so she just told us to replace them all she ordered Yokohama as replacements. I don’t think you are the only one unhappy with them.

 

[bullwinkle]

I'm going to sound stupid, but what is "skipping"? Is it like "slipping", or is it badly out of round? I've never heard of this before-but every Falken I've had has been hot garbage, to the point that I avoid Sumitomo ANYTHING!

 

[Rand]

The falken AT's on the 2020 ram (oem) are fine. smooth not even a hint of vibration.. to 100mph or so.
Winter traction is decent for an AT.

 

[CKN]

How does companies get away with such poor quality? I can't be the only one getting these tires. Does people just live with it? .. I'm guessing so, this might be a vent more than anything.

Had to change tires when I upgraded the rear end of the Dakota. Got some Falken WildPeaks H/T02 245/70/16 tires thru a friend ordered on a company discount. Seen the skip when we installed it but there was some debate if it was the rim or tire, I should of known since I just dealt with this on the RV. Had two Primewells with a identical skip. Spent 3 years trying to figure that out.

I've been dealing with the Dakota shaking for a year and couldn't stand it any further. I actually had them dismount the tires and clean the beads (I tried everything) out and rebalanced, they thought I was crazy till they seen the skip. Just a quick google search shows me this is very common on Falken's. At least it's tolerable at this point. The $$$ I've spent trying to fix this I could of got some good Dueler's. I've learned my lesson I'll no longer spend less than $200 on tire, too much of time is being wasted. I only put 2-3k on this truck a year so not sure what I'll do right now.. the tire guy said just to put them on marketplace and make them someone else's problem

Have you checked for suspension/steering issues?

 

[ekrampitzjr]

When I bought my Ranger, the front end had two out-of-round Hankook tires that could not be balanced. They were easily 1/4"+ off. The upper and lower ball joints were all bad and were probably the culprit. Those two tires have been replaced with Coopers. The rear tires are still Hankook and have no problem.

Definitely check alignment and suspension when you have such a problem with tires. The tire might be a lemon, or something else could be going on.

 

[CapriRacer]

A couple of thoughts:

Some vehicles are incredibly sensitive to wheel end vibrations - out of round tires, imbalance, poorly piloted wheels, etc. The OP mentioned that he changed the rear end - and I wonder if he made the vehicle sensitive to wheel end vibrations.

Also, aftermarket wheels don't always center pilot - that is center on the hub by way of the center hole, rather than by the lugs (lug centric). Center piloting is better, because it is hard to get 4, 5, 6 (etc) lugs both properly placed AND square to the hub. (Note: They make hub rings to help center aftermarket wheels to the hub)

Plus, many OE wheels are purposely built out of round - so the out of round low point of the wheel can be matched to the out of round high point of the tire - the net result is a "rounder" assembly. That's where are a Hunter RoadForce balance machine becomes valuable. That machine can determined both those points and show how to properly match them up.

 

[Lapham3]

Myself, I like true wheels and tires. When a tire is out of round significantly, I have a guy with a 1965 vintage 'tire truing mochine' and soon I have a round tire. I did a fair amount of that work myself back then in a tire shop. Picking out the sand and small stones from the tire after some road use, was putzy, but saved the the rotating cutting blade. Also, we had a dial indictor for measurement mounted on the balancer Tire quality control was very iffy back then, and better now, but still can have issues.

 

[Traction]

If you have a round tire mounted on a wheel purposely machined out of round, then what do you do?

 

[02SE]

Buy better quality wheels and tires.

 

[CapriRacer]

If you have a round tire mounted on a wheel purposely machined out of round, then what do you do?

You don't do anything. The amount of resulting vibration will be so small that it will be drowned out by the vibrations from the road. (that is, the amount of machining offset is fairly small.)

 

[RyanY]

Ovwr the past 5 years I've had out-of-round issues with Bridgestone, Yokohama, and Cooper, so this issue isn't limited to a single brand. Quality control issues are everywhere!

 

[PandaBear]

Plus, many OE wheels are purposely built out of round - so the out of round low point of the wheel can be matched to the out of round high point of the tire - the net result is a "rounder" assembly. That's where are a Hunter RoadForce balance machine becomes valuable. That machine can determined both those points and show how to properly match them up.

Is this only from iffy brands or reputable brands of automakers? Can you name some of them so I can avoid?

 

[CapriRacer]

Is this only from iffy brands or reputable brands of automakers? Can you name some of them so I can avoid?

First, the purpose of making the wheel deliberately off center is so that - on the average - the tire wheel assembly will be rounder when they are matched up - high point to low point. So BOTH have to take place to jave the desired affect! The small amount of offset shifts the worst assemblies into an acceptable range while leaving the best assemblies within the "mud" of road vibrations - that is, undetectable.

To my knowledge EVERY vehicle manufacturer did this. They may be doing this today, because it is such a better way to deal with the issue. The ones I am sure about are GM, Ford, and Toyota.

The only issue is with replacement tires. But the offset is so small that the difference is like the difference between an "OK" ride and a "Good" one. It's not like "Bad" to "Good"!

Really, it's nothing to get worked up about. It been going on for over 40 years!

 

[circuitsmith]

The small amount of offset shifts the worst assemblies into an acceptable range while leaving the best assemblies within the "mud" of road vibrations - that is, undetectable.

Good point. What company wouldn't strive to reduce reject parts?
I'm sure the tire's unit-to-unit dimensional variation is much bigger than the rim's.
So the rim's tiny built-in offset offers an option for fine tuning.

 

[JHZR2]

I’ll say this… I had a blowout with a Cooper cs5 ultra recently. theyre on a car thst sits a lot… another car with cs4 tires doesn’t do this at all…

Before the blowout, just a few days before, I had a vibration. It seems that the car always has a vibration after sitting a while. It tends to go away so ai figured it was “flat spotting”. But now I wonder if it was actually out of round and that and/or something related resulted in the blowout….

 

[CharBaby]

I found a guy(NICK) who has a shop with the HUNTER 9000 RFB. We first met when I was looking for a shop locally(within a reasonable driving distance) that preforms RFB. NICK only traveled at that time(truck with all of the equipment). Now he has his own place.

Shops with RFB were hard to find with a qualified tech who actually knew what they were doing. The closest shop to me(Firestone Service Center) has the HUNTER RFB(I've used them before) but it was not functioning properly and they weren't willing to have it repaired.

I want to help keep NICK in business. He is the only one I will let mount my tires from now on. We've become friends and I have introduced my buddies to him as well and they feel the same way. I am at the age and in a position where I only want good tires on my vehicles and I don't want them to shimmy/shake/vibrate.

The tires I buy don't have to be the best tires in their category according to the testing agencies, however they do have to be of a reputable brand and the best tires for our situation and driving style. AND I don't like private label tires due to never have a single good experience with them.

 

[CapriRacer]

I’ll say this… I had a blowout with a Cooper cs5 ultra recently. theyre on a car thst sits a lot… another car with cs4 tires doesn’t do this at all…

Before the blowout, just a few days before, I had a vibration. It seems that the car always has a vibration after sitting a while. It tends to go away so ai figured it was “flat spotting”. But now I wonder if it was actually out of round and that and/or something related resulted in the blowout….

First, the typical tire failure is a belt leaving belt separation, commonly called a tread separation. As the separation is developing, a gradually increasing vibration will develop. This vibration will go from undetectable to failure in a few hundred miles. If you feel a vibration that is getting worse, you should IMMEDIATELY drive SLOWLY and get the tire looked at.

If you want to do it yourself, rub a GLOVED hand over the tread circumference. You are looking for a bulge If you find one, IMMEDIATELY go to a tire shop and get it replaced, driving SLOWLY to get there.

Out of round and imbalanced tires do NOT cause tire blow outs! Even flat spots caused by the vehicle sitting too long do not cause blow outs!

 

[JHZR2]

First, the typical tire failure is a belt leaving belt separation, commonly called a tread separation. As the separation is developing, a gradually increasing vibration will develop. This vibration will go from undetectable to failure in a few hundred miles. If you feel a vibration that is getting worse, you should IMMEDIATELY drive SLOWLY and get the tire looked at.

If you want to do it yourself, rub a GLOVED hand over the tread circumference. You are looking for a bulge If you find one, IMMEDIATELY go to a tire shop and get it replaced, driving SLOWLY to get there.

Out of round and imbalanced tires do NOT cause tire blow outs! Even flat spots caused by the vehicle sitting too long do not cause blow outs!

Had it gotten worse, I would have stopped. It tended to get better with some driving, which is why I thought it was nothing. I did in fact take the car to a shop to get the tires rebalanced, which made it slightly better. But some vibration still remained. Hard to determine from what on an old, non-DD, that sits a lot. Many knobs to turn regarding the potential cause…

 

[JHZR2]

First, the typical tire failure is a belt leaving belt separation, commonly called a tread separation. As the separation is developing, a gradually increasing vibration will develop. This vibration will go from undetectable to failure in a few hundred miles. If you feel a vibration that is getting worse, you should IMMEDIATELY drive SLOWLY and get the tire looked at.

If you want to do it yourself, rub a GLOVED hand over the tread circumference. You are looking for a bulge If you find one, IMMEDIATELY go to a tire shop and get it replaced, driving SLOWLY to get there.

Out of round and imbalanced tires do NOT cause tire blow outs! Even flat spots caused by the vehicle sitting too long do not cause blow outs!

I’ll say, the blow out was because of a puncture. So I agree there.

But I’ve been dealing with a vibration on these tires all the same. Multiple vibrations. Have had them balanced twice, now road force.

Three are between 8-12 lbs. One (drivers front) is at 38 lbs, and the shop was able to adjust it down to 34. They said they could see how it was off when spinning on the machine.

Vibration meter at 60 MPH shows a ~14Hz vibration as well as the 4th harmonic.