Taller tires + Centramatics = ?

[BILLVO]

I just put a set of 255/85/16 BF KM2 mud tires on my 02. I drove it home and back to town and they were really out of balance so I took it back and they rebalanced them and now they are even worse, They came right out and said the bigger mud tires might not balance right and I might have to put equal inside them but I am against anything inside a tire other than air. I call BS on the bigger tires not balancing well as they are about equal to a 285-75-16 a thin hair taller and a bit narrower and they balance out nice.



My question is about Centramatics and do they work with bigger tires and how well do they work? I am thinking about these to save a headache of balancing tires all the time. I have read good things about them in the past but don't see or hear much about them anymore.



Any good places to get them from at a decent price?

 

[LBARTLETT]

don't know about centramatics but I had some BF tires that were not round, I'd go to another shop and get them balanced and watch them, I'll be you have a bad tire to two, if they aren't bad but the different shop can balance them I'd take the bill to the shop where I bought the tires.



I have out of round tires before and the shop doesn't want to deal with the paperwork of sending a defective tire(s) back so they blame it on the size, had the same problem alot with Goodyears so I quit running them altogether

 

[BDaugherty]

I call BS on the "big mud tire" theory. Yes, BIG mud tires are very hard to keep balanced, but your 255/85 KM2s are NOT big and should take a balance pretty well. I would make sure that the wheels were installed correctly. It's possible to have the wheel out of center on the hub if you tighten one lug all the way and then work around in a circle rather than in a star pattern. Once that's eliminated, they need to spin each tire on their machine and hold a pencil or ruler close to it to allow you to actually see if it's seriously out of round. If you have a "bad" tire, the seller needs to make it right. My buddy has the exact same tires on his 99 Ford dually and they ride just fine and none of them took excessive weight to balance.

Also, I'm running centramatics with my 315s and they seem to be doing just fine. I really like the fact that they rebalance each time you stop and start. That way they correct for any mud stuck inside the wheel or any change in tire balance due to age and wear. I've had good luck so far... but it's a tight fit with factory aluminum wheels. You'll need the 1/8" spacers on the front.



Bottom line: centramatics will not fix a problem with your tire shop or a bad tire. they will keep your decent tires balanced and help them to wear evenly.

 

[EdK]

Bad tires!

I recently went through a similar problem with a set of Pirelli tires. I had vibes even with the Centramatics in place. The dealer rebalanced them three times, the last time using a "ground force" balancer, but still had vibes. I told them it was at least two tires because the vibration would change when going through a long curve.



They replaced them with Michlens... smoother than the wife's Impala!!!



Don't give in... I can't imagine the tire engineers saying, "They sure shake a lot, but the customers won't mind. "

 

[Chief USA]

Are all the tires out of balance or just one or two? I had to educate the guys in the Walmart tire shop on how to balance big tires. I had to bring in the BF Goodrich tire mounting guide and show them that the blue dot gets lined up with the valve stem and then add weight evening on the INSIDE AND OUTSIDE of the wheel. In some unusual cases a tire can be out of round or be overly heavy on one side and it is not possible to balance.



Another option is to try tire balance beads. These work very well according to a friend who has them in his tires.

 

[JSellers]

I also tried BF Goodrich tires in 255/85R16 - the Mud Terrain KM2. The dealer could not balance them, even after several attempts. One wheel had as much as 10-ounces of weight on it - that's when I said enough. The shop exchanged the entire set for Michelin LTX MS, and I got them in the OEM size 245/85R16.



I don't know if the problem with the Goodrich tires was due to bad quality, or because they were D-rated on my Dodge. But the tire dealer didn't have any hesitation when I asked them for exchange. I think they were upset at seeing me return for rebalancing so often.



I have seen that Goodrich is now making the 255/85R16 Mud Terrain tire in an E-rated model now. This may be something that will work on the heavy trucks. I'm a little hesitant to try them again, but I really like the looks of the larger tire, and this size will fit DRW trucks without use of spacers or specialized wheels and studs.



See this page for the new BFG MT KM2 -

BFGoodrich Tires | Mud-Terrain T/A® KM2 | Tire Sizes & Specs



EDIT

I forgot to mention the Centramatics - I also tried them, and I think they're a decent product. As BDaugherty said though, Centramatics won't help with bad tire balancing. I don't think the fill element in Centramatics can respond fast enough to dampen vibrations due to bad balance or out-of-round. They will prolong the time between balance/rotation, but your tires still need to be balanced correctly. The only disappointment I have with the Centramatics is the noise they make at low speed, and that's not really an issue for the advantage they provide.



Hope this helps,

John

 

[BILLVO]

My KM 2 are the new E rated ones. I will give them one more try and see what they can do for me.



I checked and there is no Blue dot on these tires And I see no other particular indicator for a mounting indicator for valve stem ect. I will ask about it when I get there today again.

 

[kscheffler]

I have balance masters on my Toyo M55 255/85/16 MS tires. When I first installed the tire I told the tire shop not to balance the tires because balance master instructions said not to balance tires if you are going to use the balance masters. Well it did not work I had a minor vibration that I could feel on the highway. Took the tires back and had them balanced and have been smooth for 38k miles on the Toyos. I think these tall tires can push these centrifugal balance devices to their maximum capacity. Anyway after the balance and the lead I have not had any problems. It looks like I should get 45 to 50k out of my M55's

 

[Beast2B]

I've had great results from both Equal and Counteract balancing beads. Both on 37" BFG (old school) M/Ts and 37" Toyo M/Ts. The only issue I have had is I need to keep an air source handy when I'm letting air out in case something gets stuck in the stem. A little pressure has always cleared the stems.

1) ALWAYS balance on both sides of the wheel (dynamic) when you can. Looks a little worse, but it is a better balance.

2) Check the wheel runout as well as the tire, sometimes just moving the tire on the rim can offset the difference.

Centramatics as well as the balancing beads work well because they can constantly adjust to tire wear, mud in the tread, whatever MINOR imperfection may be happening. I got ~48k miles from my BFGs and I'm 25k into my Toyos with way over half of the tread left.

 

[BILLVO]

Well after a full day shot in town again, they rebalanced with the ground force and added weights and after another test drive to find out it got even worse they rebalance again and wind up putting Equal bead packets in 2 of the tires it is a bit better but still has a shake to it so now they are ordering another set of tires thinking there is a bad one or two in the bunch, they are out of ideas other than that.

 

[Beast2B]

when they get the new set, have them (or better yet you) check the wheel runout with the old tires removed. Follow CHIEFs advice, too. The new tires will have protective goo on the lettering and a dot (I've seen blue and green) for lining up the valve stem.

Sometimes you have to change which tire is on which wheel as well, but you paid good money for their product and service so insist on complete service!

 

[BILLVO]

Well I just did some old school tire run out testing and both back ones are out of round but one is worse than the other so I am thinking this is it also. I just jack standed the rear end off the ground and at idle in drive I used a straight edge to the tire to actually have a visual and seen that they had a definate wobble to them out of round on the tread face side.

 

[LBARTLETT]

I figured that would be it, even that tire shouldn't take over 7 oz. To balance, i raise hell when buying new tires and won't accept one if it's close to 7 oz. I fought a problem once that ended up being a bent wheel, put it on the balancer and hand spun it and you could sure see it, you can also do the same with your tires on the machine hand spinning and prove to the tire dealer they're out of round, good luck with your new tires

 

[Turboman]

You can balance an out-of-round tire, but it will not roll smooth. You have tires that are not perfectly round. Make them switch them until your happy. The Centramatics won't make an out-of-round tire roll smooth, nor will beads. Get a round tire, put beads in it AND then tell them to balance it. If it spins 1-2 seconds you will actually hear the beads move into place. Mark where it needs the weight and how much and repeat 2-4 times, if it is same place put the weights on and it will be smooth as a new caddy. I worked with Innovative Balancing beads to figure this process out because I couldn't get some smaller tires (245/75R16E) to quite vibrating. I did this and smooth as glass provided the tire is round. I even did it on my 285/75R17 Durragrapplers. I would mess with the Centramatics on anything but a semi. I tried some and did not get much results. On semis they work great as do the beads. Also try running nitrogen if you can find it. Some tire shops have it. You can forget pressure loss, and they run cooler.

 

[rivercat]

for best ballencing tires stick with toyos. Beond that I can assure you that some places balencer does not have the capacity for larger tires. I went through this with tire dept. at SAMS had them order 315 75 16s in good year MTR and they put over 15 ozs on them new. I whent back after 6000 miles and they put upto 20 on each wheel and it bucked like a choppy horse so had to get a full refund. Make sure the balencer is big enough! ! !

It should never call for more than say 5 ozs new 8 is pushing it for baddly worn tires. If it calls for more or they are that bad get a refund. Even some 36" swampers I had only got 3ozs each when mounted new. The shop policy was over 3 and the broke it down and added rubber pads to the inside to help balence it...


the beads you add into the tire will work better than centramatics If you never have to plug
or you can look up the recomendations for weight and add regular crossman bbs instead but then no plugs or they will clump to the plugs and throw way out of balence.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

don't know about centramatics but I had some BF tires that were not round,

I have out of round tires before and the shop doesn't want to deal with the paperwork of sending a defective tire(s) back so they blame it on the size, had the same problem alot with Goodyears so I quit running them altogether

Same here X 2 and will never buy BFG tires again. My centermattics helped out but that is ONLY after 3Oz of weights on one of the eggs. I had the EXACT same run about with a BFG rep.

 

[BILLVO]

This is the second time I have had tires that wouldn't balance. This tire size must be popular as they are on factory backorder. had to wait 3 weeks for them the first time and they reordered a week ago so I figure another couple weeks to see if the new ones are any better. Good thing I have extra vehicles, I don't even like to drive it as its that bad.

 

[Pavemen]

I've had real good luck with Innovative Balancing's Dynabeads. They are ceramic so they won't absorb moisture and I currently run them in my gasser trail rig with 37x12. 50-16 Maxxis Creepy Crawlers on steel double beadlocks. The tire/wheel combo weighs 137 lb.

10oz of Dynambeads in each tire works great, up to the 80mph I could reach (when my truck was able to do that speed before the mods).