I had my Wilderness A/T's replaced under advisement from Ford the other day. Since Ford would only pay to replace them with the original size (235/70/16) at the dealer I went to a Tires Plus and stayed with the 255/70/16 and filed a refund form.

The Wilderness A/T's only had 12,000 miles on them. Everything was smooth and tracked straight at any speed so I expected that after the tire change I would either have the exact same ride or perhaps something a liitle better. I went with Yokohama Geolander A/T ++. After the change I went for a drive and as soon as I got onto the freeway I knew that they were not properly balanced. The entire truck shook starting at about 45 MPH. I got upto 65 MPH and had enough. Before I took it back for rebalancing I had a look and noticed that all the balancing weights had fallen off the left rear wheel( this was likely the clunking noise I heard when pulling out of the parking lot). They rebalanced them and I went onto the freeway and and now the truck has a fast THUMP,THUMP,THUMP starting at 60 MPH. If I open the rear sliding window I can hear one of the tires making a noise in rhythm with the thumping I feel so I still feel this is a tire issue.

I'm going to another Tires Plus in the morning and I'll ask them to remount and balance all 4 tires. If that does not solve this I'm thinking I'll have them remove these tires and replace them with something else.

Am I over reacting here???

Has this happened to anyone else??? Could it be that they were never properly mounted on the wheels in the first place??? I feel that the Tires Plus techs are the problem because I just had the suspention and steering checked about 2,000 miles ago by a Ford dealership and everything was fine.

I am getting very frustrated and my head hurts.

 

Sounds like a tire issue. I also had my Wilderness AT's replaced at Tires Plus, and also had a wheel wieght fall off. Anything over 50 was undriveable. Got to razz my cousin who did the change. They rebalanced them and everything has been fine since. Not sure what to make of the new thumping noise. Hopefully it'll be fixed right this time!

 

The "Thumping Sound" you're hearing may be a heavy spot on your tire. Meaning that it is way out of balance - each time the heavy spot hits the ground it will make the 'thump'. Over time this will lead to a flat spot on your tire, if not balanced properly. You definitely want to get that rebalanced (I would have all checked again) soon. You may want to be sure they are using the correct type of weights when balancing the tires too. There are different weights used for steel rims vs. alum (alloy) rims. The weights should fit flush against the rim. Typically Aluminum and Alloy rims have a thicker bead (the part that makes contact with the tires - on the sides) so the weights are designed to fit over that fatter lip and hold the weight itself flat against the rim. Steel Rims normally have thinner bead, so those weights are designed accordingly. If they are using the weights for one type of rim - on the other, they won't seat correctly and it's only a matter of time before they are thrown off. It is possible that it is a bad tire (out of round) - this doesn't happen often, but they do show up.

 

You were right on with the "heavy spot", Skillz866. After checking Yokohama's website last night this is what I was thinking it would be. I looked at my tires and sure enough, the right rear was most definatly where the "Thump" was coming from. Yokohama tires MUST be match mounted. With the exception of the right rear they had been mounted properly but this one looked as though it was simply put on the wheel. The red weight marking should have been directly accross from the stem but was instead just 90 degrees from it.

I went to another Tires Plus and not only was the shop much cleaner but the techs actually knew what they were doing. The fella that balanced my wheels was even aware of the required torgue setting for the '97 F150 wheels.

The difference is night and day. Not only is the ride perfectly smooth but it's much better than with the Wilderness A/T's.

Nothing against your cousin,gopher (unless he works at the New Hope location) but I am done with Tires Plus. This was so frustrating and cost more than it was worth. Why should I be forced to pay for life time balancing and rotation when I'm afraid to go back

I would have saved about $100.00 if I had purchased the tires online and had the dealer mount and balance them. That is how I'll handle this in the future.

 

No offense - as far as I know, he didn't do the work! (Unless you were down at the Burnsville location, then we need to talk)

Its kind of like Ford Dealers- they're all Ford dealers but it's the people who work there who make the difference!

Glad you got it all fixed up right.