Road vibration over 60mph

JPness · 06-12-2007, 01:33 PM

Just got a new set of Nitto Terra Grapplers (same size as OEM Dunlops)...brought the truck back to the tire place because of vibration at speeds over 60mph. Nothing horrible, but definitely noticable with visible steering wheel shake...should I expect this from a/t tires?

The shop said the balance was off and they rebalanced all tires, but it's only slightly better.

Any advice out there? tia

JP

MJSFJ · 06-12-2007, 01:37 PM

Same problem here. I've recently taken mine in and had them balanced. This has fixed the problem for now. One of my coworkers had them on his Dodge Ram and just replaced them with BFGs. He never could keep his balanced.

taltyman · 06-12-2007, 01:46 PM

So is this the same shop that was supposed to have balanced them in the first place? Maybe time to change shops. If they are vibrating now it will only get worse with time. If they still have your old tires maybe get a refund and put the old ones back on just long enough to get to another tire shop.

daPitbull · 06-12-2007, 01:49 PM

I had Nitto Terra Grapplers on my 03' 4runner and did not have any vibrations. Sounds like the tire shop isn't taking there time balancing the tires.

JPness · 06-12-2007, 01:55 PM

Quote:

taltyman previously said:

So is this the same shop that was supposed to have balanced them in the first place? Maybe time to change shops. If they are vibrating now it will only get worse with time. If they still have your old tires maybe get a refund and put the old ones back on just long enough to get to another tire shop.

Yea, I'm thinking these guys aren't exactly pros. Pretty poor service so far. That's what I get for going to the cheapest guys.

FUN_MACHINE_90 · 06-12-2007, 02:46 PM

hey man i got the nittos too....go to the toyota shop if they allow you to and get them ballenced there...they did it for me.

Sun Fusion Cruiser · 06-14-2007, 07:54 PM

I've had problems with mine too. Got them at 4WP, and noticed it right away. Took it to discount tire to get them rebalanced, but not much better. They also managed to put some knicks in my new wheels though.

But since they will be offroad eventually, I am not too worried. It was bound to happen.

Anyways, the guy at DT thought it was the new wheels, since they are wider than stock. I think it is becuase 4Wp used too many damn weights in the wheels. I have 14 weights just on my front passenger tire. I heard that they should rotate the wheel 180 degrees on the tire and remount them and try to balance again. I'm gonna call 4WP tomorrow and tell them what's up. I got a tire warranty with them, so they might have to replace them.

kinglenario · 06-16-2007, 08:15 AM

check out the Tire Balancing Fix

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...ix-sticky.html

***uphill*** · 06-16-2007, 08:32 AM

I was at Donohoe Racing last week, talking about suspension and tires. They highly recommend the Nitto Terra Graplers and use them on their racing FJ that won the Baha 500 and came in second on the Baha 1000 (or maybe I have it backwards). Anyway, we were talking tire construction, etc. and I think it's less likely that it's the tire and more likely where you had it installed and balanced.

Remember that Nitto is new to the tire manufacture business. Toyo used to make their tires for them and now Nitto is making their own (in Georgia). Since you aren't matching tire conicity to the rim when the replacement market tires are installed, it will (almost) never be as good as the OE in that respect.

Tires are manufactured by assembling components made of rubber, fabric cord and steel wire that are cured together in a mold. Under intense heat and pressure during the curing process, the rubber reaches a near liquid state before vulcanization takes place finalizing the tire's exact size, structure and shape.

If a tire's internal components are misaligned as it cures, it is possible that unequal internal forces may cause the vehicle to pull to the side, even when it is steered straight ahead. When this occurs with a brand new tire it is typically due to conicity, a manufacturing glitch where a tire's tread has cured slightly cone shaped rather than in the desirable uniform cylinder shape.

OE tires are CAREFULLY matched to the rims they're mounted on based on conicity factors (note the red/blue dot on the OE tire - chalk marks across the tread in white or green). When you buy replacement market tires, you should look at the age of the tire (it's on the tire by week and year of manufacture, for example 0107 would be the first week of January 2007). If it's over a year old, don't buy it.

Likely it is the mounting and not the tire in the case of Nitto. There are a lot of other brands of tires out there for off-road applications that are just not very good. Tires vary based on the material used to construct them, the engineering of the tire itself and the care given the tire as it is stored and distributed before you ever see it.

Just my .02 cents worth on this.

Sun Fusion Cruiser · 06-16-2007, 11:41 AM

Got 4WP to fix them. It was obviously balanced wrong. They still used a chitload of weights, but it drives like new.

Now on to the crap part of my day. After getting them fixed, I picked up a rather large nail on the way home in my rear tire. And to top it off, it's not holding any air at all. Sometimes you get lucky and it will, but I don't have that kind of luck.

I am so depressed right now, words cannot describe.