Hello!

I've had my truck about 8 months, '99 reg cab flareside 4.2 5 speed 4x4, put some Kelly Safari ATR 265/75 R16 on it and ended up moving across the country and had to do a lot of driving not by choice. Started noticing a lot of vibration around 35mph and 70mph. The vibration occurs under load, braking, coasting in neutral, cruising. Took it to a tire shop, in the state i was in at the time, to have them check out the vibration, they told me 3 tires were out of round and unable to balance. So I went to Goodyear, they replaced 2 tires under warranty. A little time goes by, still vibration. I end up getting $1500 worth of work to the front, control arms, ball joints, ect, and still, vibration. So I go back to Goodyear in East Peoria, IL, they aren't very nice. Go to a few other tire places, they all tell me the truck is fine, that the tires suck. This goes on a while. Recently, I went to Ford to have a weird little "klunk" in the steering wheel looked at (another story) and they ended up replacing my rear axle, seals, and bearings. Ford inspects the entire truck, does an alignment and another balance job and tells me it has to be the tires. They're on my side now. So still, vibration. I call up Goodyear, complain more than ever, I finally get a case number and Ford is hopefully calling them for me tomorrow to help me out.

I understand Goodyear wanting to blame the truck, it's 14 years old, but come on. I've put $2500 worth of work into it, half of what it's worth, and the amount of money I've spent having it re balanced I could have put Wrangler MT/Rs on there and still had money left over.

I'm assuming I won't get much from Goodyear. The customer service woman I talked to for a while said a free upgrade might be doable but she won't promise anything. But I'll still press hard for some Duratracs or SilentArmors.

Has anyone had issues like this before? What was your process of fixing it? Anyone still think it could be my truck and what might it be?

Sorry for the long story, this has obviously been starting to stress me lately.

Thanks for the help. And if anyone has other 265/75 R16 tires to recommend to just flat out replace the Kellys, I'm all ears. ATs or even MTs would work. I'm not going "budget" anymore. Learned my lesson.

 

If you mount a set of tires and the problem goes away then for sure you know. I have the same size tire BFG all terrain T/A's and there great. 2 of the tires I have over 50.000 miles on and I might get another safety inspection out of them..

 

I worked at a tire shop (strictly tires) and Goodyear is a real pain in the **** to work with but yes ...deff. tires I've seen it before....I have a set of 285/75/16 runway endure m/ts on my truck and love them 4th different set and 4th different size ....no complaints

 

Thanks for your responses. Nice to know other people have seen this issue. Ford called Goodyear for me and explained the situation for me. They said to expect a call from Goodyear tomorrow, but i think I'll call them first.

From what Ford said, the service rep at GY they talked to didn't sound surprised when they explained the situation. Like I said before, I doubt GY will do much of anything other than pro rate what's on there and take a few hundred off new GY tires. So i got on Treaddepot and talked to a rep who really got me hooked on the Toyo Open Country AT IIs. I noticed in the reviews people talk about how easy they were to balance and the tiny amount of wheel weights used. So I'm sold on those if Goodyear doesn't upgrade for free. Simple as that.

 

You can't go wrong with any Toyo truck tire honestly. They are smooth, quiet, and last a long time. I never really liked the original A/T's. Just thought they were too plain, but the new A/T II's look pretty good!

 

So I talked with Goodyear again yesterday. The woman I spoke with was very understanding. They found a Goodyear in a Sears nearby I'm going to go to Monday. I'm bringing 5 receipts from tire shops that said they were out of round. Sounds like she wants Goodyear to work with me. When I go in I give them my file number and show them my receipts and hopefully get an upgrade!!!

And like I said earlier, if they don't throw me an awesome deal (free hopefully) on Duratracs or SilentArmors, time to get those Toyos!

 

The good news, after having to go to TWO locations today, ended up getting Silentarmors for $60 a piece, no other frees. Not a great deal after time and money spent, but it was hard not to walk out with new tires.

The bad news, trucks still shakes. Goodyear said I had 2 out of round wheels. I don't even know who to believe anymore. First place out of many to tell me this. Since the truck still shakes at certain speeds, I believe it has to be that or the only other thing I've come across with research, is an out of balance drive shaft. I just don't know what else it could be.

I found comparing the vibration to the last tires is a bit tough though since the SilentArmors are a much stiffer ride than the Kelly Safari ATRs, so I get to feel every bump just a bit more.

At least the truck looks better and more ballsy so the vibration doesn't feel as annoying. Quick pics from today and a messy quick tire shine job just to enjoy the whole new tire thing.







Thanks for the help. Hopefully this thread will help others with similar issues.

 

It's hard to imagine your wheels are out of round if you've had no vibration prior to the installation of new tires, but it's a easy thing to have checked.

It also sounds like you've gotten the front-end rebuilt, so that's ruled out. If your rims are fine, then it may be your driveshaft or u-joints. Check for any weights that may have fallen off of the driveshaft, and play in the joints... hard to imagine it would be these items if Ford did your rear axle. They should've checked.

 

I've had the u-joints looked at many times, and I'm thinking I should give a call to Ford and see if they checked the driveshaft balance. Other than the wheels, I just don't know what else it could be.

 

The vibrations on my truck (the steering wheel would shake) was due to out of alignment tires. My neighbor had problems with tires after having his truck sit for 5 years but these tires should be new... I would check for weights though. Some tire weights may have been installed on the inside of the tire to hide them for appearance and not removed when new tires put on.

Just a stab in the dark but hopefully contributed some useful info.

 

At this point the evidence seems to be pointing to an unbalanced driveshaft. I had a similar issue a few years ago, truck would vibe but only between 80-100 kph. Any other speed it was fine. Took it to a driveline shop and they found a weight had fallen off and the shaft had a slight bend. $200 later prob solved and its never vibed again.

 

Next step is definitely the driveshaft. I've had it aligned twice since I got the Kellys. I didn't get an alignment done after I got the new GYs on, but that was just a couple days ago. I'll just make it a project of mine to get that driveshaft and wheels done over the summer. I just am starting to feel weird about sinking so much money into something only worth $5k. If I had the truck for 10 years it would be one thing, but I actually haven't even owned it a year. Ugh. But I'll keep it for a few after all this work. If the drive shaft ends up running just $200 that would be a good investment.

 

I would check the wheels before I check the driveshaft. I have a front end shake above 55mph and it's 100% because of my wheels. Right when I read the first post, I thought wheels. Having the wheels checked would be far less than the $200 for a drive shaft. I'm shocked that they weren't checked first, before everything else. It does seem strange to have only noticed after the installation of new tires, but the balance of wheels and tires is delicate. Slightly hitting a curb one time is enough to bend a wheel if it hits in the right spot. Wheels that are bent usually come into play at higher speeds only though, so it could definitely be the driveshaft. But if you've had it aligned recently, twice no less, my money's on the wheels

 

Can you better describe the vibration, OP?

 

If Goodyear found two out of round wheels, why didn't they tell you before they mounted up your new tires? If the problem was wheels not tires, why are they installing new tires on bent wheels? That seems counter-intuitive.