Balancing Problems

[DTS419]

If you seen my other recent posts, I have been shopping for new tires. I finally settled on Cooper Discoverer ATRs. Got a heck of a deal from a local reputable tire shop. The shop only used the Dyna Beads to balance them (no lead weights). I got half way home and turned around to go back to the shop; the tires were clearly unbalanced as the whole truck had a shimmy. The tire shop guys seemed bewildered at fist, but then admited that the new Cooper tires have been a hard to balance. They then used the dynamic balancer to add lead weights to my wheels. The shimmy improved, but still not perfect. I became skeptical that the beads inside the tires would create error in the dynamic balance.

 

Today, I took the truck to another reputable shop closer to home. I had them dismount the tires and remove the beads, then re-balance with lead weights and no beads. When I returned to pick up the truck at closing time, they were still working on the wheels. The guy told me that in his 30 years of balancing tires, these were the hardest to get balanced that he's ever done. They tried several attempt on each wheel to rotate the tire slightly on the rim, but they just couldn't get it without having to use several ounces of weights. Now I only have driven the truck a couple miles home from the shop on rough country roads, so I don't know yet if they nailed it or not.

 

This leads me to some concerns....

 

1) Are the aluminum wheels on these trucks known for balancing issues, or not maintaining true round?

2) Could all 4 tires be defective?

3) Could it just be that the tire tread is so aggressive that I needs a few hundred miles to "break in" or soften and smooth out?

4) What do I do if the ride quality is still not perfect? In all the new times I have put new tires on vehicles, the ride has always felt 200% better with fresh meats. I've never got new tires and had to convince myself that the ride was at best, no worse than with the old tires.

5) Does anyone know of balancing issues with Coopers?

6) Is this just natural for truck tires to be a little rough, even after a perfect balance job? I'm I expecting my truck to ride too much like a Cadillac?

 

My new Coopers are P-metric, and the guys at the second shop thought that tires with a heavier ply would might be stiffer an less prone to vibrations, but I went with P-metrics specifically for better ride quality, and the OEM spec for my truck is P-metric according to a dealer check of my VIN. Also, the tires I replaced were Firestone Wilderness ATs which I'm sure were no more ply than these Coopers.

 

As of now, I am very leery of my $600 investment. Any insight?

[Ron_CA]

Can't comment on the ATRs but my Cooper Zeon LTZ tires balanced fine.

[Stevens03]

I had a similar issue with a set of BFG tires. I took them to several balance places, and paid all in all about $200 bucks trying to find someone to balance them. Very frustrating process. They were 315's.

 

In the end, all it was... was bad tires. I had to fight a little with BFG to send a second set of tires and when they did, they balanced PERFECT and the truck road smooth as glass.

 

My cooper Zeons took two tries, but I those got nailed down pretty easy.

 

I'd suggest the tire place get you a second set to try.