This is more of a documentary post that hopefully will help others.
I have a 2014 Tundra, 4x4 with 117k miles. I'm on the 3rd set of tires. First OE set (BFG AT type tires, NOT AT KOs) were severely mis-worn at 55k miles. I attribute that to my lack of maintenance (rotate/balance). I replaced them with Toyo Open Country AT-2. These were not cheap tires. Pricing at the time was about $312/tire. I bought them at a chain store that was running a local promotion, something like 4 for price of 3. I had the rotate/balance performed more regularly but I failed to pick up on the shop I was using for that and alignment that the alignment wasn't being done properly or at all. Poor alignment ended up chewing these tires up. I replaced these at 100k miles with a set of Michelin Defender LTX M/S, my 25+ year standby for light truck/SUV tires. Ahhh. Back to a great ride.
Fast forward 12k miles and the ride is horrible. I went and had a R/B done at the chain tire store and the ride was better for 3-4 days. Went back 2 weeks later and "the tires were out of balance." It still wasn't good. I went to my go-to mechanic and he balanced them. Tires were not balanced. It felt better, but not cured. So in a period of a month, I had been to have them balanced 3 separate times and they still weren't fixed.
I decided to try a small tire shop near my house. I go in and explain everything to them. There is an older fella and a young (20-21?) kid with me. They go out and look the truck over. The kid (his grandson) takes it and starts going through it. He road force balances the wheels/tires. None met his level of desired spec before. He got them to passenger car range and my truck feels like it's new.
I told them they've earned a customer for life.
So if you are having trouble with vibrations and have gone through the ordeal of balancing after balancing, find a shop that will really investigate it.
I have a 2014 Tundra, 4x4 with 117k miles. I'm on the 3rd set of tires. First OE set (BFG AT type tires, NOT AT KOs) were severely mis-worn at 55k miles. I attribute that to my lack of maintenance (rotate/balance). I replaced them with Toyo Open Country AT-2. These were not cheap tires. Pricing at the time was about $312/tire. I bought them at a chain store that was running a local promotion, something like 4 for price of 3. I had the rotate/balance performed more regularly but I failed to pick up on the shop I was using for that and alignment that the alignment wasn't being done properly or at all. Poor alignment ended up chewing these tires up. I replaced these at 100k miles with a set of Michelin Defender LTX M/S, my 25+ year standby for light truck/SUV tires. Ahhh. Back to a great ride.
Fast forward 12k miles and the ride is horrible. I went and had a R/B done at the chain tire store and the ride was better for 3-4 days. Went back 2 weeks later and "the tires were out of balance." It still wasn't good. I went to my go-to mechanic and he balanced them. Tires were not balanced. It felt better, but not cured. So in a period of a month, I had been to have them balanced 3 separate times and they still weren't fixed.
I decided to try a small tire shop near my house. I go in and explain everything to them. There is an older fella and a young (20-21?) kid with me. They go out and look the truck over. The kid (his grandson) takes it and starts going through it. He road force balances the wheels/tires. None met his level of desired spec before. He got them to passenger car range and my truck feels like it's new.
I told them they've earned a customer for life.
So if you are having trouble with vibrations and have gone through the ordeal of balancing after balancing, find a shop that will really investigate it.
