Tires, tires, tires

7006 messages, Last post on Oct 29, 2009 at 11:24 AM

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What is this discussion about? Tires, Wheels, Steering

Edmund's Feature Article: Tire Safety: Don't Ignore the Rubber on the Road

For dedicated winter tires, also have a look at the Snow/ice winter tires discussion topic.

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#6987 of 7006 Re: Need advice, this problem [marsha7] by kiawah Sep 23, 2009 (10:25 am)
Replying to: marsha7 (Sep 23, 2009 7:39 am) Just thought of something. Take your spare tire out, and start rotating it thru the 4 different positions....and see if the symptoms change and/or vibration goes away. Replies to this message: imidazol97 (Sep 23, 2009 10:34 am)
#6988 of 7006 Re: Need advice, this problem [kiawah] by imidazol97 Sep 23, 2009 (10:34 am)
Replying to: kiawah (Sep 23, 2009 10:25 am) Does that car have lubed suspension joints or are they all sealed. I'm wondering about wear due to lack of lube. The spare is a good idea. It probably has a full-sized spare.
#6989 of 7006 Re: Need advice, this problem [marsha7] by imidazol97 Sep 23, 2009 (10:53 am)
Replying to: marsha7 (Sep 23, 2009 7:39 am) What would be great is if a shop or someone you know has a full set of wheels that are on a car equivalent to yours that roll okay and you could temporarily switch them with your wheels to test them on your car. That would eliminate the current wheels or would incriminate them. Check your email on your profile.
#6990 of 7006 Trailer Tires by weeter Sep 23, 2009 (12:59 pm)
I'm new in town, so if this is a stupid question, be kind. I have a Japanese mini truck (honda acty) that needs 12 inch tires. I want street tires, not off-road tires. These are available for about $40 a tire which is OK, but I see tons of 12 inch trailer tires for a lot less. When I purchased "trailer tires" for my car dolly, they told me the only difference was much stiffer sidewalls. So my question is, "Could I use the trailer tires on the little truck?" -- would anyone mount and balance them for me if they'd fit? Who is an expert on this? Replies to this message: kiawah (Sep 23, 2009 1:44 pm)
#6991 of 7006 Re: Trailer Tires [weeter] by kiawah Sep 23, 2009 (1:44 pm)
Replying to: weeter (Sep 23, 2009 12:59 pm) Be careful of the rim width. Every trailer 12" trailer tire I've had is a very narrow tire, that mounts on a relatively narrow rim. I used to own an old Honda many years ago with 12" tires, and they were substantially wider than a trailer tire, which would have a wider rim. The other problem will be tire heat and speed. You don't pull a trailer at 70 or 80 mph, which are speeds that you could easily hit in a vehicle. Just stick with a vehicle tire, this is not worth getting killed over with some blowout and wreck in the middle of the night somewhere. Check tirerack.com
#6992 of 7006 Thanks for responses by marsha7 Sep 23, 2009 (4:51 pm)
Alignment was checked and was perfect...at 50K miles, with the OEM tires smooth as glass, alignment was perfect, was not even tweaked... The vibration problem literally started with the first set of replacement tires...suspension components have been checked, altho I found it hard to believe that some suspension component went bad in the 60 minutes it was on the lift while changing the OEM tires... I had thought of driveshaft imbalance, but the same question applies...why would the drive shaft become unbalanced in the 60 minutes it sat on the lift removing OEM tires...it didn't fall off the lift, I was there...same thought with the disc rotors, we could not find a "clean" spot where a balance weight may have fallen or been knocked off... The shop that I am now at is the shop that maintains the county police cars...all Crown Vics... Shocks seem to be OK, and, again, same question...why would (or how could) shocks go bad in the 60 minutes the car was on the lift with the first tire change??? I am NOT trying to be obstinate here, but I think we covered all of your thoughts, which I appreciate... The one thought that keeps coming back to me is this...despite being told from 3 shops that the wheels are not bent, that keeps coming back to me as one main variable from the first tire change...that maybe the tech bent the wheel, since he did work on all 4 of them, and maybe bent just slightly, but enough to cause this "impossible to balance" problem...I just hate to spend $400 on wheels and find out I am wrong... Any followup thoughts??? Is there some machine that can balance a driveshaft, or are they possibly not too expensive and can be replaced cheaper than trying 4 new wheels???...maybe I can "borrow" one from a police car??? Oh, U-joints were checked, too...same question always comes up...why would something in perfect balance for 48000 miles suddenly become impossible to balance after coming off a lift???...that is why I tend to think that a wheel was bent, but that is why I am asking those of you who know more than I do... Again, thanks for your thoughts... Replies to this message: imidazol97 (Sep 24, 2009 4:43 am) capriracer (Sep 24, 2009 5:17 am)
#6993 of 7006 cvt by stickguy Sep 23, 2009 (5:59 pm)
after reading all the back and forth, I agree that the bent wheel theory is liekly. But, wouldn't this show up when they tried to balance? I apparently have a slightly bent wheel on my odyssey (according to the guy at NTB that last balanced them), but he could tell on the machine, and had a heck of a time (and used a lot of wieght) to dial it in. But, once he got it, no problem on the car. I like the suggestion of trying different, known to be good wheels. If it is the shop that does the CV fleet, maybe they could swing this at some point? Won't need long. The other option of course if you had a full sze spare is use that. Or, find 1 lone wheel, and swap it on 1 at a time to see when the problem goes away. finally, yes a suspension peiece can go bad in those 60 minutes, if they soemhow screwed up something (maybe bent something?) But again, seems like it would show up at other speeds, or with alignment issues. The real solution? buy a new car.
#6994 of 7006 Re: Thanks for responses [marsha7] by imidazol97 Sep 24, 2009 (4:43 am)
Replying to: marsha7 (Sep 23, 2009 4:51 pm) Bent rim: the Road Force balancer would have shown that there was some bend in the rim. What you really need is to switch wheels with a Vic that has wheels and tires that are rolling round. Maybe a wrecking yard could be a source for 4 wheels off a wrecked car cheap? Maybe you could come up with two good rims and wheels and put them on the back and test, and then move them to the front and test. A driveshaft is rotating several times while a wheel rotates once; the frequency of the vibration would be different. Without driving the car to "feel" the vibration under different situations, it's almost impossible to judge from where it's coming. One thing is you can run the rear wheels with the car up on a lift. If it were driveshaft or something about the physical wheels and rear axle, you might get a feel of the vibration; the difference is the suspension components are under weight so the bushings are in their usual positions and loads. The front wheels individually can be spun by a spin balancer on the car...
#6995 of 7006 Re: Thanks for responses [marsha7] by capriracer Sep 24, 2009 (5:17 am)
Replying to: marsha7 (Sep 23, 2009 4:51 pm) Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If it was me, I would have started looking for a different answer after the second set of tires. One possibility: Vented brake rotors are sometimes balanced by applying a sprung coil of metal into one of the vents. These rust right along with the rest of the rotor - and can fall out. That would explain why the vibration suddenly appeared and nothing else seems to fix it. Unfortunately, a lot of time has come and gone, and the evidence that there used to be one of these coils in the rotor will be gone as well. Also unfortunately, most shops are not equipped to solve vibrations that aren't tire and wheel related. Once they road force and balance the assembly, they can't do much more - which is why they tend to do that procedure over and over again - Insane!! Finding the source of a vibration takes some sophisticated equipment - and about the only place you are going to find that equipment is with a vehicle manufacturer. If you can find a Ford Service Engineer who is not only knowledgeable, but is also willing to work with you (and you might have to pay a bunch for the service!), this guy ought to be able to track down where the vibration is coming from. Given how bad the economy is right now, I would bet that it will be difficult to get one of these guys to spend much time trying to solve a problem on an older car. Kinda hard to justify to management! Nevertheless, good luck.
#6996 of 7006 BFG? by stickguy Sep 30, 2009 (12:38 pm)
I have been poking around looking for a deal good enough to make me break down and replace the tires on my 3.2TL (once has a sidewall bubble from an impact break.) Although I finally found a tire store guy that said don't bother to replace now if I was just doing local driving! Ask enough people until you get the answer you want I guess... Anyway, I can get a nice sale this week on BFG advantage TA (V rated). Looks nice enough, but not too many review on Tirerack. Anyone have opinions or experience? General use, with wet driving feel important. Will have to be prepared for some snow duty (hopefully nothing to deep). the other option at the moment was a Goodyear Eagle GT.