Truing tires from radial runout

[frankbee3]

About three years ago, I bought a set of Firestone Winterforce tires brand new from a tire store, mounted and balanced for my Toyota pickup. My pickup had vibration right from the start. I took my pickup back to the tire store for correction. Same result. Took it back a second time and the tire store re indexed the tires on the rim and rebalanced. Same vibration at 60 mph. When I got home, I jacked up the pickup and turned each tire by hand. Two of the four tires had about a quarter of an inch of radial runout. The wheels are straight and true. I would like to have the tires trimmed straight and true. I asked around and no one seems to do this kind of service. Does anyone know of a tire service place somewhere in or near New Hampshire that can do this? I am willing to do this myself if necessary. I don't really want to give up on tires that have less than 300 miles on them. As the tires are now, I find the vibration unacceptable. I have a different set of dedicated winter tires on the same wheels that are smooth as glass but will need replacing next winter. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

You mean the tire is that far out and Firestone wouldn't replace them after you pointed this out to them?

 

[rubberchicken]

IMO based on your description, the tires are defective and need to be replaced.

 

[frankbee3]

Yes, the tire shop said there was nothing more they could do. I told the tire shop that I found the radial runout, and the manager basically refused to help from that point on. Needless to say, I don't go there any more..

 

[danez_yoda]

go to a different Firestone. This is an obvious defect. if that doesn't work, try calling firestone corporate. You spend good money to get perfectly working tires. Not ones you need to "fix" right after you bought them.

 

[ammolab]

If you take off a 1/4" of that tire you will have a bald spot pretty soon in that area. Would that be a "fix"?

 

[frankbee3]

I don't want to admit that I have let three years go by since I bought the tires. I found some used Nitto snow tires that are glass smooth and basically forgot about the Firestone's. I don't think Firestone would care since this was three or more years ago. I am just trying to see if I can make the tires work. I like to try things (experiment) and would like to see if the tires can be corrected safely. I am not interested in barking up some trees trying to get recourse for something that I failed to follow up on in a timely manner. Live and learn for me. Back to the original question. Anyone know of a shop that can shave the tires, or, know of any technique or tools that I could use to shave the tires true?

 

[frankbee3]

Good point ammolab. Maybe time to give up on the idea. My fault for not escalating this to a timely resolution.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by frankbee3

Yes, the tire shop said there was nothing more they could do. I told the tire shop that I found the radial runout, and the manager basically refused to help from that point on. Needless to say, I don't go there any more..

Well now you know who to mark off your tire buying list. If there is another Firestone store take it to them and see what they say. But frankly I've never heard of anyong having outstanding customer service from Firestone.

 

[eljefino]

Closest thing you could do is come up with some sort of jig that runs the car on jack stands and shaves with an angle grinder mounted to a tripod. But if you lose that much rubber, you'd take an impressive amount of weight to counter-balance this. And what would it mean for your traction to come around to a more bald spot every 40 inches or so?

 

[frankbee3]

It wasn't a Firestone brand store. It was a Quick Lane tire store that is part of a large local dealership where I bought the Firestone Winterforce tires. In the meantime the local Goodyear tire store has demonstrated excellent service, but I haven't ever had a problem with any tire purchase prior to (or since) the Firestone Winterforce purchase.

 

[tcp71]

Bend your rim by the same amount. Mount the tire with that in mind? Obviously a bad idea, but nothing else would work. You can't shave it round.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by tcp71

You can't shave it round.

Dealers years ago used to do this, you might have to search. Tire rack still lists it, probably have to contact them for the closest service. https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/motorsport-messages-from-marshall/tire-shaving-available-at-tire-rack

 

[Chris142]

Put them on the rear and do burnouts?

 

[sasilverbullet]

Bet you lunch if they're Hunter Road Forced you'll find a bad tire. ALWAYS get new tires Hunter Road Forced when you buy them.

 

[ammolab]

Originally Posted by sasilverbullet

Bet you lunch if they're Hunter Road Forced you'll find a bad tire. ALWAYS get new tires Hunter Road Forced when you buy them.

Good advice if you can find a shop where the tech knows how to operate the Hunter Road Force equipment.....in four tries I have yet to accomplish this.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I've seen references to companies that can shave a tire that's been flat spotted due to a skid stop, but I've never actually found one up here that does it.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by Snagglefoot

I've seen references to companies that can shave a tire that's been flat spotted due to a skid stop, but I've never actually found one up here that does it.

Its called sipping used to be offered a few years ago. Its been year now since someone asked me if I wanted to have them sip my tires. Oh thing I can think of it was used to allow manufacturers to make below spec tires. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtk4ijS4gOo

 

[CapriRacer]

First, find someone with a Hunter GSP9700. GSP9700 Locator Have them perform a match mount. While you mentioned they reindexed the tire on the wheel, maybe they just reindexed without knowing what the values were, where the peaks were, and whether that was going to fix the problem. Second, truing a tire may not fix your problem - which is why the procedure kind of died out. Ya' see, only about 60% of a tire's uniformity is tied to runout. The rest is tied to stiffness, which you can't fix. Third, it might be that the wheel isn't center pikloted - meaning, the wheel isn't being centered on the hub. Are these after market wheels? If so, then you might need a hub ring to get them centered. And lastly, just because you can't see wobble in the wheel doesn't mean it isn't there. a small amount of wobble at the wheel is amplified at the tire. That's where the Hunter GSP9700 comes in. It also measured the wheel. The key to all this is the operator. So if you find a GSP9700, have the operator make a note of the before assembly values, the before values of the tire and wheel (2 separate numbers), what the predicted matched value is going to be, and what the final value was. Just be aware that a tire can flatspotted so much that the flatspot is permanent, and can't be corrected by matching the high spot of the tire to the low spot of the wheel.

 

[frankbee3]

Thanks for all the input! Maybe there is hope for these tires after all? Thanks CapriRacer for the link to the Hunter finder. Hope I find a technician to match the Hunter.. Oh, and thank you for the link to Barry's Tire Tech too! There is a lot of good information there. I appreciate the time that must have taken to organize, write and publish this website. That is going be be compulsory reading for me.