When i bought my 06 XL a few weeks ago the dealer installed a new set of firestone Destination LE's (one size larger than OEM) 245/70R15's. By time I'd driven less than 20 miles I noticed that the tires appeared out of balance... I checked the air in the tires and the tire place had 50 lbs in all 4 tires... So I re-gaged them to 35 each...

Still, the longer I drove the worse they seemed to be - more so the rear tires than the front ones... So yesteday I take the truck back to this tire shop where the dealer bought them and they were completely out of balance. The shop rebalanced all 4 tires and within 10 miles they were back to the same situation - a vibration or out-of-balance feel between 50 and 60 (same as before).

I turn around, go back to that shop, and the tire guy said he was ordering a different "brand" - this time a Cooper tire... in the same size.. 245/70.

I know that one size up won't generally make a huge difference in ride and/or driving but has anyone ever had problems with balancing of Firestone tires? also, could something else be my problem causing the tires to "go out" that quickly?? I've never had tires that wouldn't stay in balance, and these are "true" when you run them on the machine as are the stock steelies on the truck...

Just seems odd, and the carfax is clean, no damage, accidents, etc showed up on the vehicle...

 

The tires on my truck are stock-sized Firestone Destination LE, 235/70R16. They, too, do not balance well. When I got the truck the tires were new, but the ride seemed a bit rough and the tires were jiggling a bit, so I had them rotated and balanced at my favorite shop...no improvement; they are still slightly out of balance, just enough to be annoying.

I dropped the pressure to 38psi, but no change in ride quality is evident.

To add insult to injury my '94 TC with a brand new set of Toyo Extensa A/S whitewalls does funny things when the speed get over 50mph. It seems like a balance issue, but I suspect tread squirm....probably will take 'em back. I had a set of Delta Majestics on the TC, replaced by the Toyos, and those tires were absolutely perfect in ride, handling and balance...and the treads wore down uniformly over their 30K mile service.

 

We changed tires today - different brand - and back to the same problem. the dealer offered me another set of wheels (same brand - stock type) but I'm sort of wondering after the tire store told me that they seem to think either the problem is the "steel" type wheels as opposed to aluminum wheels (weight ect), so I'm not sure what to do right now... I did drive another ford truck with alum. rims (same year) and it drove 10x better than mine...

I'm not so sure what the prob is, but I take it bak to the dealer tomorrow and they're going over the entire truck to see what the problem could be - its so wierd that within 5-10 miles the tires (fully balanced) are thrown out completely so bad you can hardly drive the truck...

 

A 06 with 15" rims???? I thought a 16" was the smallest you could go with the big rotors.

 

get the tires balanced on the truck

 

my bad - 17s - they're stock wheels... I was thinking about my ranger. Been a super long week here....


i had thought abuot that, but there's no place anywhere near me that has that type balancing....

 

two tire places and the dealer both checked out the truck, the tires and wheels... Most of the vibration is basically gone but there is still some there. I was told that the stock steelies are what are causing my problem, so I need to find me a set of chrome wheels since the weigh of the steel wheels seems to be the issue...

so, now off to search for wheels - at a "rediculously low" price...

 

So I finally got my truck back after letting it stay 2 weeks at the dealer... They replaced the tires with 2 other brands, still the same problem... They replaced the drive shaft with a new one - still the same problem, and the complete rear diff and axle... The truck still had the same problem... So they take it to another tire store with a set of stock wheels off a 2007 XL and have this tire store order a set of tires and mount them on the truck...

The problem is still there, but not near as bad as it was in the beginning... the 2nd tire store said that the original wheels were slightly out of round, and they checked the '07s wheels and found them to be almost "perfect" for a set of wheels... The 07 truck had 80k miles.

I was almost at a point where I was going to trade the truck for a different one - had looked at different Fords and 2 Chevy's and a GMC... Wasn't that pleased with the GMC and Chevy's tho the ride was much smoother than mine...

but I'm glad that my truck is back - and even tho its not "perfect" she's 100% better than when I first got her...