Ok, so I have new Cooper Zeon LTZ tires. They are LT265/70/17 on the Chrome Clad Wheels. I know they are big, aggressive, rough riding tires. The main problem is the vibration. Many of you may know I am a long time fighter of vibrations on the DAK, starting way back with the rear axle TSB. I was also one of the first with Ranchos. I think my problem is with the Wheels. I've had the tires road force balanced 6 times by 3 shops. Everytime they are re-balanced, they are off from the last time by .25 to .75 ounces per tire. I don't think they are using the correct center collar...or if they are, the wheel is out of round. Has anyone had them balanced using the 5-arm adapter that balances lug-centric instead of hub-centric. The shop says that the adapter should only be used on after market wheels. Seems a bit silly to me as lug centric would seem to be the true center. I need to have them break the beads and re-index the tires on the wheels before they re-balance them again. That was already done on the fronts, and they improved greatly. I really don't think the problem is with the tires. Any thoughts?

 

Just a thought, but I was trying to get mine balanced and couldn't. I ended up just going to another place on the third try.

I think the issue with mine is that I have some cheapo Les Schwab tires and they flat spot very easily, like overnight. The truck will shake until the tires get warmed up and round again. A decent enough flat spot could effectively throw off the weight/balance, no?

 

I had a similar problem w/ my chrome clad wheels. they were putting on the cone from the front (so the cone would rest on the plastic instead of the metal). if they have been doing this for you...ding ding ding, there's youre problem.

Have them put on the cone from the inside of the rim. that fixed my problem perfectly. I'm not sure if this is your problem but it might be the reason.

 

I'm not sure about the first two places, but I know the 3rd did use a collar (not the cone) that seemed to fit properly. It is much better now.

In a related matter, I checked the air pressure in the tires, something I had not done before. 40lbs in all of the tires. That seems pretty tight for a seudo M/T. I dropped them to 34lbs, and that made a big difference, for the better too. It is not perfect, but very livable. For a while, I thought I was going to have to commit myself.

 

sorry....pseudo

 

I am expecting a shipment of Dyna Beads to show up tomorrow. 4oz per tire with filtered valve stems and installation bottle. Full report to come. Anyone got any advice?

 

Just to let us know how that turns out. I've got a little shake at certain speeds on the highway too, on my balanced chrome clads.

 

Well, I can't say enough great things about DynaBeads. They went in smoothly and quickly using a pen engraver to vibrate the valve stem. I left the lead weights on at first, but it rode best when the weights were removed. They completely eliminated the radial runout. I still had a lateral wobble in the steering wheel, but the rear axle was smooth as butter. After rotating the drivers side front-to-back, the front is now smooth and the rear is back to shaking. Long story short, the DynaBeads have made it possible for me to identify the single tire that needs to be replaced. The DynaBeads have also balanced tires that have been Spin and Road Force balanced seven times. I will never ever go back to lead weights. Now to call Treadepot.com for that replacement tire.

 

What a great follow up! I may have to give this a shot if my chrome clads give me any more trouble.

 

Well, I have a replacement tire coming from Treadepot.com. Another $192 out of my pocket for now. My original purchase price was $153 per tire. I asked the Treadepot representative about additional costs I may incur for mounting up this new tire. He said it is not their responsibility and I would have to take it up with Cooper Tire. Cooper Tire said that it is, in fact, Treadepots responsibility as the retail seller. Cooper also informed me that they do not directly distribute to Treadepot and they have had many complaints about them. So noe I'm scared that Treadepot will try to pull some sort of BS. I don't really care about the $15 to mount a tire. I just don't want them to tell me that they found no fault with the bad tire and screw me out of another $192. This seems like a distinct possibility. Any thoughts?