New tires causing highway vibration?
 

I swapped the 245/75R16 Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10 tires to the larger 265/75R16's. I like the look of a larger tire but now I have a vibration like the tires are unbalanced. I went back to the tire place and asked if they could road force balance all four but they said the tires were road force balanced when the tires were mounted. The owner and I went for a test drive and he agreed that there was a vibration coming from the tires and not my drivetrain. He swapped the right rear tire and road force balanced it but I still have the vibration. I ran 36 psi in the 245/75R16 set and they ran smooth with no problems. I am running 34 psi in the new set because that's what he recommended but I am confused why a larger tire size would cause a vibration issue.

My guess is one still isn't balanced.

tire or rim could be out of round.... He's lying if he said they were road forced balanced to begin with, shops don't do it unless it's asked for and it costs more than a regular balance. could just be a rim or tire out of round or you could have a faulty tire. I'd asked for the paperwork proving it was road forced balanced; it's not a common thing for everyday vehicles to get and if they claimed they did it on all four to start, did you not notice it was more expensive? I'd be having all four road forced balanced again, making sure it was actually done. If that doesn't help it's definitely something out of round or a tire with a heavy spot

I watched them road force balance the rear tires because the vibration isn't coming from the steering wheel. It feels like it is coming from the rear. I am going back tomorrow morning to have them rotate the tires and test drive it that way to see if it is a bad tire.

Are the rims new? It could be a rim out of round as well

My Buddy put 35's on his Dodge, and the only way he could get them to balance was with the ceramic beads like these.

http://tirebalancebeads.com/Balance-...hipping_c3.htm

The rims are the factory 16 inch 5 lug wheel. The 245/75R16 tires ran without any vibration and the wheels are fine.

It sounds like the wheels are good, so nothing on your side is bad. I'd tell them you want new tires because something isn't right. Don't replace 1, replace all 4. They might come back with "let me try to re-balance them one more time", the people who balanced them to begin with might have said "eh, good enough time for break", so if they get re-balanced, hopefully it's don't right. Or, you'll get 4 new tires and know the issue is solved.

Another thing it could be is they didn't put the tire on right. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, I heard this a long time ago and I'm not sure if it's true but the wheel has a light spot and the tire has a light spot (or heavy spot and heavy spot, can't remember which) so that it is easier to balance them. Not sure if it was just the wheel or just the tire, I think I was told both and they had to be put on right so they'd balance right. Maybe the tire wasn't put on in the right position?

Also, are the tires all facing the right way? I know tires are only supposed to be put on 1 way, so the tread shouldn't be facing backwards if that makes sense.

Red, that is called a directional tire. We road force all new mount and balance jobs for no extra money. Toyota dealer in South MS.

A trip back to the tire shop resulted in the tires getting road force balance again and a tire rotation. Now I am back on the highway with no vibrations.