[survivorman]

Hey guys had ANOTHER question for you all......as most of you know I just put new tires and wheels on my FJ, love the look......noticed today that I had some slight vibration in the steering wheel at 50 to 60 MPH. Took it to my toyota dealership and had the alignment done thinking this would be the issue(since I didnt have one done from the lift) guess what......not it.


the service tech told me that since these tires are so beefy and have alot of tread that the vibration is normal......so then why does it happen only from 50 to 60? Is it normal? or do I take it back to place I had put on and tell them to try and balance it again......any advice greatly appreciated


guys driving with the BFG ATs 285/70/17 and the pro comp rims(7089) would love to hear especially from you. :bigthumb:

 

[DominicG]

Go get them balanced!


I run the 285 BFG's and i have no vibrations at any speeds.

 

[jenward74]

This problem drove me absolutely nuts when I first got my BFG's. No way was a brand new ride supposed to be vibrating like that! Then I read on here to get it "road force balanced". I took it to the dealership and had them do it, even took the instructions that were posted here.

I don't think they looked at the instructions, and at first I wasn't convinced that they RFB'd it, but the vibration is way better than it used to be. Under certain conditions, such as high wind, I still feel the vibes, but I am either getting used to it and just don't notice it, or the RFB helped. It's certainly worth a try, but I have never read anything suggesting that this vibration will hurt the truck. Just my little tiny bit o input...

 

[Dr. Dirt]

Take a look at the Tire Vibration Fix thread. I think your best option is Road Force Balancing the tires using the Hunter 9700 Road Force Balance Machine. It seams to have solved the problem for many members.

 

[survivorman]

ok will do.....also when I have them balanced do mine have to be balanced lug centric or hub centric?? I have heard to balance them lug centric but that was with the steelies.....is there a difference in balanceing and what rim you have??

 

[Flying Brick]

I have this same tire and they are balanced fine and run smooth. If i am not holding the wheel though I can see a slight vibration but I think this is due to the higher psi than the original tires just translating to more vibration. This does not happen at any particular speed though and is very slight. Once my hand is on the wheel it disappears and it is not even enough to feel through my hand. I have load rating D.

 

[F.E.A.R.]

I"m surprised people had good luck with the dealership alignments...they can't ever seem to get my vehicle aligned, even before I had my lift...their fix was to "unalign it" to get it to drive straight...idiots.

 

[survivorman]

so do our tires need to be balanced lug centric, or hub centric?? does it matter what rims we run when this is done....I saw that the tires should be balanced lug centric with the steelies.....is this for all rims?


I am running the pro comp 7089

Pro Comp Xtreme Alloy Series Black 7089 16x8 - 5x4.5 - 4.5 BS: OffroadToyStore

 

[stringmachine]

have your alignment check i promise you will find it is out, i had similar troubles and tires were balanced just fine, after alignment no more trouble and i have the km2 on it now.. hope this helps:bandit:

also make sure some tire installer didn't bend one of your rims, unless you have alloys.. the homeslices bent one of my steelies when they mounted my km2 on them..

 

[survivorman]

I ha my alignment done today at the toyo dealership.....printed out specs they got them as close as possible with showing me results.....it is not the alignment

 

[stringmachine]

what did you have on it before? and what psi now and before?

 

[Traakon]

have your alignment check i promise you will find it is out,

He already said he had the alignment done.

I believe the stock Toyota wheels are "Lug Centric" but I cannot check my FJ because the stock wheels only made it 1.5 miles from the dealership. This means that a proper balance will need to take that into consideration.

I will offer the following not as a dig, but "life history" with BFG's. I use to be a BFG diehard. Had them put on all my trucks (personal and business) but I ran through a period of a year when I had to have 11 sets (yes 44 tires total) replaced for being "out of round". The symptom was difficulty to get/hold a balance and when balanced still having a vibration. It was such an issue BFG actually contacted me to look at the truck/s to see what "I was doing to their tires". As a regular client, my tire guy was pretty straight with me and told me that while my experience was worse than most (I bought more tires then most) there was a "manufacture issue". BFG did their best to keep me buying their tire but after the 11th set, I went to Michelin and magically the issue disappeared.

Get a good balance on them by someone who knows what they are doing and ask them to check for "Round".

GL...keep us posted

 

[stringmachine]

yes i already saw that in the post. but not all alignments are good ones either..thx

 

[23V]

It definitely sounds like you need to have the tires balanced (or rebalanced). Many others with FJs have had similar problems with a steering wheel vibration right around 60 MPH. I had the same problem and had it corrected in about an hour at a tire shop with a Hunter 9700 balancing system.

See this post for details and a link to find a Hunter shop in your area:

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/problems-dealer-service/40109-occassional-steering-wheel-shimmy.html#post687955