New Tires and Wheels

[RickoSauve52]

I own a 2019, 1500 classic. This is my second truck/RAM and I recently bought new tires and wheels. I have a question myself. I hope I'm not imposing on Tim1620. I went from a regular truck tire to a mud/all terrain tire. Hell, I don't know what I really have to be honest. Pics 1 and 2 is what I replaced with the new ones shown on pics 3 - 5.

My Concern,

I can feel a slight vibration, The wheels are balanced. My steering wheel doesn't vibrate as it would with wheels off balance. My alignment is straight with no play. I can go 150 to 200 yards at 70-75 mph before the truck has a slight pull (road conditions). Is this the vibration I feel normal, or is this all in my head? I thank everyone in advance for your input.

 

[kurek]

Mud tires are going to walk a little bit... that's one of the trade-offs.

The hard part for you (over the internet) is going to be figuring out if you're just experiencing the totally normal mud tire vibration from the tire "stepping" from one tread block to the next, or if you actually have some other problem on top of that.

I don't know if this will be helpful or not but I recorded a video of the sound my previous tires - Cooper STMaxx - if you have headphones you might be able to hear the rumble in the early low speed bits, those are fairly mild by mud tire standards - more like a chunky all-terrain but it was still very much possible to feel the tire tread rumbling at low speeds.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Mud tires are going to walk a little bit... that's one of the trade-offs.

The hard part for you (over the internet) is going to be figuring out if you're just experiencing the totally normal mud tire vibration from the tire "stepping" from one tread block to the next, or if you actually have some other problem on top of that.

I don't know if this will be helpful or not but I recorded a video of the sound my previous tires - Cooper STMaxx - if you have headphones you might be able to hear the rumble in the early low speed bits, those are fairly mild by mud tire standards - more like a chunky all-terrain but it was still very much possible to feel the tire tread rumbling at low speeds.

Yeep .... the inconsistencies of the MT lugs creates these vibrations and it is to be expected ... which is why an AT or hybrid tire is going to vibrate way less than an MT .... that is also why MTs are more loud than the AT or hybrids because of the space between the lugs/pattern ...

 

[RickoSauve52]

Thanks, brother. Thats pretty much what I hear however I feel the slight vibration at higher speeds. I'm in Houston and most of the streets have major "imperfections".

 

[RickoSauve52]

The two of you answered my question, many thanks.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Thanks, brother. Thats pretty much what I hear however I feel the slight vibration at higher speeds. I'm in Houston and most of the streets have major "imperfections".

You will always feel the vibrations at higher speeds that is why tires are balanced with a high speed nuclear device machine lol ...

No but really, you are fine man vibrations at high speeds are to be expected especially on tires that are really not meant for high speeds like the MTs, some ATs and hybrids ...

 

[MADDOG]

Mine vibrated at highway speeds after I went to a hybrid AT/MT Nitto Ridge Grappler 35x12.50R18. I mounted them on my Walker Evans Racing Legacy 504 18x9 wheels.

After having them balanced twice and feeling the vibration was still there, I had them road force balanced and the issue went away.

 

[RickoSauve52]

I'm not familiar with the procedure or term "road forced balanced". Excuse my ignorance but I've never heard of that. I'll have to google that.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Road force balancing is countering the heavier points of the tire against the wheel ... Today they have a special tire balancing machine that has this roller that presses against the tire while it is spinning on the balance machine ... it then tells you where the tire has more weight or imperfections and suggests to rotate the tire on the rim to a certain point .. by doing so you counter the heavy point of that tire with the rim and you get a more balanced wheel and tire set ..


Before these "hi tech" balancing machines we did it differently ... we looked for the yellow and red dots that are marked on the tires and you would line up the yellow dot with the valve stem on the wheel, throw it on the balance machine and get a reading ... if the tire balance machine asked for more than 1 oz. of weight you would rotate that tire on the wheel 180° and put it back on the balancing machine .. that will counter the heavy spots on the tire vs the wheel and you would or "should" have less weight to add to the wheel to balance it better ..

Most tire shops have techs who have no clue what the yellow and red dots mean .. yellow is the heaviest point on a tire's sidewall and the red will be a second point within the tire that will have higher priority over the yellow dot to help you balance wheels and tires....

A lot of tire shops don't have the Road Force Balance machines but they can still get a very good balance by doing what I just explained above ...

When you have a chance look at your tire and look for a yellow round dot on it ... you might also find the red one .... if that yellow dot is no where near the valve stem area and you have more than 8 sticky weights on your wheel the tech who balanced your wheels and tires was lazy and didn't want to rotate the tire on the wheel to get a better balance of your wheels and tires ....

On bigger wheel and tire setups you will see a lot more weights required to balance them but you still want as less weight as possible to avoid those vibrations ...

You also don't want to place the wheels that have the most weight on the front ... that is why when you rotate your tires you always want them re balanced so that you get the 2 tires with the less weight on the front ... and sometimes it is going to take that tech to rotate your tires more than 2 times to get that wheel setup balanced correctly ..

 

[RickoSauve52]

Well it’s off according to your explanation. All 4 of them.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Well it’s off according to your explanation. All 4 of them.

Perfect example of what I was talking about ... so take it to a good tire shop and have them first line up that red dot to the valve stem area and have them throw it on the balance machine ...it should ask for a lot less weights to balance ... if that doesn't help they need to rotate the tire on the wheel 180° and throw it on the balance machine ..that should really ask for a lot less weights ..

How much weight do you have on those wheels right now? A picture of it please ?

 

[RickoSauve52]

The weights are inside and not visible

 

[kurek]

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

The weights are inside and not visible

So you got balance beads ?

 

[RickoSauve52]

No they adhesive weights on the inside of the wheel. Facing the rotors.

 

[Barney556180]

This is uncommon, but possibly the tires are not round, or not seating perfectly.

Not likely but worth ruling out.

 

[GRN69CHV]

Something to consider FWIW, alignment camber setting will place a little added pressure on the outer edge of the tire. Assuming your alignment is spot on, the tires are balanced correctly and aired up to correct pressure, you may just need to put up with it until you get some wear on those outer edges. But, rotate regularly to prevent excessive outer wear.

 

[RickoSauve52]

Excellent, sir thank you for your input.