Hoping to get some clarity on tire balance techniques. Please bear with me while I give the story:
JEEP:
'02 Sport, 6cyl, 5 spd manual, completely stock, running 31x10.50x15 on stock wheels for the last 4 years I've had it. DD mostly highway, little to no trails to date.
BACKGROUND:
In April, I installed a 2" OME kit. Coils, shocks, steering stabilizer and rear track bar bracket. I drove the Jeep and had driveline vibs. Installed the tranny drop pucks and vibs went away. Reinstalled the 31x10.50s without any changes to alignment and drove for a month. Absolutely no further driveline vibs and never had any steering wheel shimmy at all.
ISSUE:
Last week, I had new 15" pro comp alloy wheels installed with BFG KO2's, 32x11.50s and alignment. Toe was adjusted as expected due to the lift. Reputable 4 wheel supplier with experience in all types of off road installs, especially Jeeps. Spoke at length about proper wheel balance. They get it...or so I thought. Drove home and have steering wheel shimmy at 50mph. Lowered air pressure to 29 all around and test drove again. Same shimmy at 50 mph. At 70 mph (or what my speedo now says is 50 and 70 mph) it feels like I'm driving a jackhammer. Vibes in steering wheel, floorboards, seats, etc. Took it back and the shop rebalanced on different Road Force machine. The balance changed and they corrected. Reinstalled the tires in the same location and I have the same result... Marginal improvement but unacceptable vibes.
They said the front end is tight, lift kit was correctly installed and no drive shaft runout. The shop is working with me to correct the balance issue. But beforehand I'm going to switch the L and R front tires and see if that helps and they want me to remove the OME tranny drop washers and test drive again. They said the drive shaft angle is slightly off but I didn't have vibes before changing tires and I thought the tranny drop pucks were to restore the driveshaft angle to pre-lift condition.
QUESTION(s):
I've read all the posts about the importance of wheel balance and I'm confident that is the issue here. My question is more about HOW tires are balanced.
I'm reading about this Road Force balancer and how it was designed more for low profile tires on larger diameter rims. Could this be causing balance issues in the 32s? Should I just have them spin balanced in a traditional balancer until perfect and see if that corrects the vibes? Is it possible to get to 'perfect' balance in a RF balancer or even a traditional balancer? The only other thing I can think of is having them break the bead and be sure the tire 'high' spot is properly positioned on the wheel's 'low' spot, typically opposite the valve.
Thanks for your insights!
Joe
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
JEEP:
'02 Sport, 6cyl, 5 spd manual, completely stock, running 31x10.50x15 on stock wheels for the last 4 years I've had it. DD mostly highway, little to no trails to date.
BACKGROUND:
In April, I installed a 2" OME kit. Coils, shocks, steering stabilizer and rear track bar bracket. I drove the Jeep and had driveline vibs. Installed the tranny drop pucks and vibs went away. Reinstalled the 31x10.50s without any changes to alignment and drove for a month. Absolutely no further driveline vibs and never had any steering wheel shimmy at all.
ISSUE:
Last week, I had new 15" pro comp alloy wheels installed with BFG KO2's, 32x11.50s and alignment. Toe was adjusted as expected due to the lift. Reputable 4 wheel supplier with experience in all types of off road installs, especially Jeeps. Spoke at length about proper wheel balance. They get it...or so I thought. Drove home and have steering wheel shimmy at 50mph. Lowered air pressure to 29 all around and test drove again. Same shimmy at 50 mph. At 70 mph (or what my speedo now says is 50 and 70 mph) it feels like I'm driving a jackhammer. Vibes in steering wheel, floorboards, seats, etc. Took it back and the shop rebalanced on different Road Force machine. The balance changed and they corrected. Reinstalled the tires in the same location and I have the same result... Marginal improvement but unacceptable vibes.
They said the front end is tight, lift kit was correctly installed and no drive shaft runout. The shop is working with me to correct the balance issue. But beforehand I'm going to switch the L and R front tires and see if that helps and they want me to remove the OME tranny drop washers and test drive again. They said the drive shaft angle is slightly off but I didn't have vibes before changing tires and I thought the tranny drop pucks were to restore the driveshaft angle to pre-lift condition.
QUESTION(s):
I've read all the posts about the importance of wheel balance and I'm confident that is the issue here. My question is more about HOW tires are balanced.
I'm reading about this Road Force balancer and how it was designed more for low profile tires on larger diameter rims. Could this be causing balance issues in the 32s? Should I just have them spin balanced in a traditional balancer until perfect and see if that corrects the vibes? Is it possible to get to 'perfect' balance in a RF balancer or even a traditional balancer? The only other thing I can think of is having them break the bead and be sure the tire 'high' spot is properly positioned on the wheel's 'low' spot, typically opposite the valve.
Thanks for your insights!
Joe
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk