275/65R18 BFG AT's

FL335i · August 8, 2015

Thanks for the pic. I've been looking into the E load tire on a 1/2 ton... mixed bag. Seems a lot of the issues with ride come from goofs that run them at too high of pressure. The GY Kevlars in a Non- E load are 43Lbs, but only have 12/32" of tread. That's less than my OEM SR-A's! So I'm pretty much stuck going to an E load tire. I'm gonna just bite the bullet and do the KO2's. Paint marker the treads and adjust the pressures as they should be. Right now with my OEM SRA's I have, cold, 35psi front, 32psi rear. If I did anything higher than 32 in the rear cold, it did nothing but wear in the center and get bad wet traction. As 97% of the time I'm unloaded and empty, just me and a laptop bag. But I do use my truck so I just air up the rears to 35 when towing trailers or heavy loads. I have 26k miles on my truck and at the rate I take care of my tires, rotate them myself properly (dealerships don't know how) I am tracking to get about 70k out of my OEM SR-A's. Hopefully I can swap them out for some good truck tires at around 45-50k, which for me... is about 1yr away or less. I do 25-30k/yr. Hence why I'm looking now.

But regarding the vibration and ride issues with E's on a 1/2 ton... my plan is 1- Road force balance them on a Hunter 9700, with 35psi in them on the machine. I always witness my RF tests or I won't pay/do them. And I use a good shop here in Tampa that does nothing but wheels and tires. 2nd plan is to paint marker the tire treads starting with 35psi front and 32psi rear. Drive around and see how they are wearing. Adjust accordingly. The tread width on the 275/65R18's are 8.9". My OEM 18" rims are 8.5" wide. So I won't have a big issue with getting them to wear even with proper pressures. I put some 35x12.50R20's on my '07 F250's factory 20's years ago. Learned all about Rim width vs tread width. The idea is to have the rim width and tread width the same so you can run proper pressures.

Panik · August 8, 2015

Sound like you have a good plan! If you don't mid sharing what shop are you referring to in Tampa? I moved from there about 3 years ago. Had a house in Lutz off of Livingston just south of SR 56 and before that had a condo just north of Livingston and Bearass. I'm headed down there this month to visit family in the area and might swing by the shop you use to see if they can do anything about that speed related vibration.

FL335i · August 8, 2015

Panik- Advance Performance tire has some work for me with excellent results. http://advanceperformance.com/ However, I just looked and Hunter has a new "road force touch" machine and only a few shops have it. I plan on using hunter's locator and talking to whomever has the new touch machine and making sure I witness it and they do the process correctly. Few shops in Tampa have it now... http://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/road-force-touch So looks like now I'm back on the hunt for a good shop that has the new touch machine and will work with me.

These are the two closest shops to me with the new touch machine. Will probably go talk to them and see it before I schedule anything.

Tires Plus #442615
16125 N Dale Mabry Hwy
TAMPA, FL 33618
Phone: 813-960-7997
Approx. 8 miles from your location.

Tuffy Auto Service Center
3530 Land O Lakes Blvd
LAND O LAKES, FL 34639
Phone: 813-996-2290
Approx. 10 miles from your location.