Goodbye BFG 315's

[JEvers]

BFG 315's

Had them on my 03 CTD 4x4 and put 30,000 miles on them before selling the truck. Great ride, not problems at all and still have a bunch of tread on them when I sold the truck.



Naturally when I picked up my 06 in late April of this year, first stop was at Discount Tire to install five new 315's.



First 3800 miles were trouble fee, the truck rode as nice as my wife's Audi. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a kind of a tire balance vibration starting around 55 up through 62 MPH. It kept getting worse over the following week. I checked the wheel weights to make sure I hadn't lost one but they were all in place. I haven't had this truck off road at all or hit any kind of big bumps so I brought it into Discount Tire and they rotated and balanced the tires again. No help, in fact seemed worse.



Took it in again yesterday. Left it with the manager for the whole day to let him take it for a ride. He checked the tires out for belt separation and other possible tire failure problems. Everything check out so he rebalanced himself. When I picked the truck up and went for a ride it did seems better but I'm still getting a vibration I didn't have up until 300 or 400 miles ago. I also noticed that he had jacked the tire pressure up to nearly 60 pounds on the front tires and 55 on the rears.



I've got these tires on the stock wheels the truck came with and have not lifted the truck or done any other suspension work. Any thoughts? The truck is just not what it was when I bought it a couple of months ago and I can't live with this vibration.



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[Nate]

Whoah, you have cactus growing in your yard? That's pretty cool!

 

[WhiteSheep]

Jack:



Looks like you live in my neighborhood in North Phoenix.



Try having your truck realigned at a good shop. I recommend Percells Tire. Roger at 32nd Street and Shea will take good care of you.



I picked up a mild case of DW in Nevada this summer. By the time I realized how bad I had cupped my front tires, I had ruined them. Since I carry two spares, I swapped them for the fronts at a campground at Great Basin NP. I had a nice ride home. Back in Phoenix, I took the truck for an alignment and the caster was out. Roger indicated this was likely the cause of the cupping.



I still have two good spares to get me out of scrapes. They're just not completely round anymore. Do you suppose I would have any luck wearing them round if I put them on the rear axle for awhile ?

 

[sarj]

An alignment won't fix a vibration problem; a bad alignment might amplify another problem like a tire problem. The sidewalls on the BFG are tall and soft, which works for ride and sand but if there's a problem with the tire, it will also amplify the problem.



A tire store is not inclined to replace an out of round tire once there's wear on it since many of those adjustments get rejected by the manufacturer, as the tire may be within factory tolerances. If I had that problem, I'd suggest breaking the tire down, and rotating it 180 degrees on the rim, and then rebalancing. I also run 50/45 psi in the tires.

 

[JEvers]

Thanks for the responses, White Sheep and Sarj. I think Knudson's Tire has a road force balancer. I'm going to try that first. What really puzzles me is that I've put nearly 4000 miles on these tires with no problem at all. Vibration has just developed in last few hundred miles.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

My experience with 285 BFG's has overall been good. The only problem has been balance problems with one tire. Three tires take minimal weight,maybe 2-3 oz's. The other one takes 8-9 oz's consistently. Discount has refused to replace it saying it's "within specs" (sounds like D/C). They do offer an "E" rated 285-75-16 now and I'd recommend that one. Discount Tires quoted me $208. 00 apiece yesterday. Should be a sale coming up soon.

if you've got a tire that's 8-9oz out, they should rotate the tire on the wheel to get that down some... that's absurd. I used to work at discount, and if it was much more than 3-4oz, I'd start rotating the tire on the wheel to try to get a better balance

 

[RobertP]

i was also wondering about the new nitto 285 70 17 e rated terra grappler, anyone have them yet they just came out.

 

[Matt400]

Any thoughts?

Hi Jack,

My first thought is tire runout. If any are at . 050" or more then they will shake no mater how well balanced they are. Ask if they measured runout to make sure the tire is round or maybe go to another shop that will confirm the tires are round and balanced.

 

[JEvers]

Hi Jack,

My first thought is tire runout. If any are at . 050" or more then they will shake no mater how well balanced they are. Ask if they measured runout to make sure the tire is round or maybe go to another shop that will confirm the tires are round and balanced.

Good thought, Matt. I will do that.

 

[KevinO]

I just put the pro comp Xterrain AT on with the Procomp 6005 wheel. these things are all over the road. They seem to be getting better in the two weeks i've had them. First pulled out of the drive of the tire place and took a corner and nearly thought the back of the truck was coming around (no it wasn't wheel spin) These things are worse than my swamper SSR's were. On a side note they sled pull and hook up good on dirt. paid 185 per tire installed. these are the 305's replaced my bfg 315's but will be going back to bfg's when these are gone.

 

[Matt400]

Good thought, Matt. I will do that.

I shoulda mentioned where the . 050" came from, in the 90's I owned a Goodyear Dealership and it was that figure Goodyear allowed us to condemn the tire. We didn't like seeing any above . 035" but at . 050" the tire was sent back defective.

 

[JEvers]

I'm fortunate to have some real tire experts post to this thread. Would you take a look at these photos please. Do the numbers mean ounces? Picture 1 = 2. 25 ounces? Picture 2 = . 75 ounces?



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If so, it doesn't look like they used an excessive amount of weight to balance these tires.





R/F Outer . 75

R/F Inners 2. 5



L/F Outer 2. 25

L/F Inner 2. 00



R/R Outer 1. 25

R/R Inner 2. 0



L/R Outer 1. 25

L/R Inner 2. 0



The weights are somewhat staggered as opposed to be straight across from one another. Further, I have found out that Discount did indeed "road force balance" these tires. I guess they rotate them against a roller to simulate road force.

 

[03 H.O. Police]

use the dynabeads get rid of the weights all together, friend of mine uses them and no vibrations at all. I have 5 bags ready to install on my new tires and rims.



http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html

 

[JEvers]

use the dynabeads get rid of the weights all together, friend of mine uses them and no vibrations at all. I have 5 bags ready to install on my new tires and rims.



http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html

Have been reading threads on the Centramatic Balancers and will probably call them tomorrow and order a set.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

Have been reading threads on the Centramatic Balancers and will probably call them tomorrow and order a set.

did you read the thread about them causing random vibrations?

 

[JEvers]

did you read the thread about them causing random vibrations?

jeez, don't need that. i've got random vibrations now.

 

[JEvers]

I went ahead an ordered the Centramatics this morning. Nice people and they gave me a $10. 00 discount for being a TDR member.



Am still skeptical about this product but getting anxious to try something other than countless tire balances. Dread the thought of what thousands of miles of vibration might do to steering and suspension parts.

 

[JEvers]

Oh, and I want to apologize to LAugustine for hijacking his thread.

 

[LAugustine]

Apology accepted ProComps still doing good, no D/W since I got rid of the BFG's.

 

[wawazat]

I found another E rated tire and had them installed today. Hankook Dynapro MT RT03 in 35x12. 50-17. Put about 20 miles on them so no significant impressions so far. Replaced 3/4 worn 315 BFG's due to death wobble issues after KORE Chase install. Beefy tire and at $250 each out the door TODAY versus $400+ for the Toyo MT's and 6-8 week wait so I'm pleased.



My Hankook RS-2's are performing well for me when I autocross my Subaru so I figured I'd see what they had to offer on their website. Saw the tire and called (and e-mailed) their tech lines for details. Got a call back from their Tech guy in NJ and an e-mail back from their Tech Center in Akron, OH (home of all things round, black, and rubbery Oo. ) within minutes confirming the E rating. Hankook is well aware of the delays facing much of the country for Toyo per their tech guy. My driving is almost entirely highway/surface street and I'll report how they perform. I got over 50K out of my BFG's with tread left for another 10-12k left.



Todd