Best balancing tire?

[thecriscokid]

I know, not another tire thread but, I'm so sick of every set of tires that I mount being out of round.
So far I have not been happy with my Yoko's half the time/rotation(love the snow traction though)
BFG KM2's or the BFG AT's that came on my truck(maybe poor wear?)

I feel like the BFG AT's should in reality be fine...

Looking for an aggressive AT or a smooth running MT in 255/85/16 or 285/75/16 for my 00 Tundra.

Cooper SST?

Back to BFG AT's?

Toyo's?

This seems to be my biggest issue these days. I just want to drive...

Any input?

 

[CA-RJ]

Are you sure you don't have a problem with your truck? I find it hard to believe that you've been through several sets of tires from different manufacturers and have had a problem with all of them. There has to be more going on. Bent wheel perhaps? I've had 4 sets of tires on my 4Runner (MT/R's, Firestone MT's, Nitto Terra Grapplers and MFG MT KM2) and have never had a balancing issue.

 

[AYIAPhoto]

Are you sure you don't have a problem with your truck? I find it hard to believe that you've been through several sets of tires from different manufacturers and have had a problem with all of them. There has to be more going on. Bent wheel perhaps? I've had 4 sets of tires on my 4Runner (MT/R's, Firestone MT's, Nitto Terra Grapplers and MFG MT KM2) and have never had a balancing issue.

I have to agree,, if I can run 70-75 mph on 385/65/22.5 without shakes, balancing 255's shouldn't be an issue. Although, buying tires solely on price may get you some "seconds" which are on sale for more reasons than cosmetic blemishes(and chain store are more likely to sell you "seconds" and not tell you while charging full price). "Mom and pop" tire stores are more likely to do right by you as they do not have manufacturer or corporate to back them. They rely on word of mouth and repeat business.

 

[SuperCal]

Back when i had my 86 fulsize bronco with 33" tires on it i had what i thought was a tire balance problem. had the set re-balanced and exactly the same prob. had a mechanic friend of mine drive the truck and he was thinking balance prob but after checking into things a little deeper it turned out to be a rear driveshaft prob... just givin you something else to consider, especially after you went through so many tires with the same prob...

 

[cocco78]

For such an expensive tire BFG's seem to suck for out of round and being hard to balance. Every used truck I've gotten has had bfg at's on them and had problems with them.

Toyo tires seem to be very good from what I have seen. I run 37" toyo mud terrains on my Jeep and 2 of them dont even have weights on them, the other two have less than 3 oz. I also have a set of Nitto terra grapplers on my tow rig and they balanced out great and they were cheap.

 

[thecriscokid]

The shops are all saying that a tire is out of round. They may be hiding it on the rear and I don't find it until 5k down the road when it rotates to the front.
The only thing that I could think would be wrong is that I have a poorely balancing wheel. I could try swapping in my spare wheel to the "bad" tire or maybe there are 2 of them. It gets frustrating when a shop says that they "fixed it" and I have to show them that I number my tires and prove to them that they just hid them on the rear again. then the conversation goes to the fact that they "wanted to give me the good ride I was looking for" I then remind them that tires need to be rotated for proper wear... UGH
I've been hearing the best things about the Toyo's lately.

 

[01tundra]

I've so far ran a set of 37x12.50x17 and 40x14.50x17 KM2's on my truck with no balancing weights at all and they're super smooth all the way up to 75 MPH.

 

[thecriscokid]

I'm starting to think it's an "IFS thing" All the solid axle guys never have problems.
I have replaced the steering rack bushings but there is a small amount of play in the rack. I would think that this would result in a little bit of vibration ending up in the steering wheel, but it's only half of the rotation(2 out of 4 tires)

 

[cnynrat]

I had a bad experience with BFG ATs. All 5 took a lot of weight, and one was nearly impossible to balance. They also wouldn't stay in balance over the life of the tire.

Surprised to hear your comments about Toyo. They are usually held up to be a very high quality tire that takes very little weight to balance. I've heard the same about Nittos.

Last time I needed tires I would have bought Toyos, but they were all on backorder so I ended up with KM2s. They balanced OK, but did take a fair amount of weight. So far they are holding their balance with maybe 5k miles on them so far.

 

[01tundra]

At first I thought it was just due to the larger size tires I run........then I tried some of the new 37" MT/R's........I had two 8" rows of weights double and triple stacked and those worthless tires would still shake me out of the truck practically, took them off, ripped all the weights off, remounted the 37" KM2's and smooth as silk once again.

My Toyo Open Country M/T's required a lot less weight than the MTR's and they were actually pretty smooth, but nothing has been as smooth as the KM2's on my truck.

 

[Scott Brady]

Michelins are great on the roundness/balancing side. They are a 12 segment tire.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

My good friend just got some Cooper SST's and they were so bad that he had to get them replaced. The tire shop tried to balance 5 times before they said they would replace them. They also tried putting them on the rear so he would not notice it, needless to say the 2nd set of tires are ok but he still thinks they were a bad choice.

I'm going to be looking for Toyo's for my next set of tires.

 

[cnynrat]

Michelins are great on the roundness/balancing side. They are a 12 segment tire.

X2 on the Michelins. We've had a few sets on our F350, and they have always balanced well.

 

[thecriscokid]

Michelins are great on the roundness/balancing side. They are a 12 segment tire.

X2 on the Michelins. We've had a few sets on our F350, and they have always balanced well.

I wish they made a bit more aggressive tread pattern though.

 

[West Coast Mags]

I've been in the wheel and tire business professionally for over 11 years and lots of experience with tires up to 40" or so. Hands down the BFG Allterrain is the smoothest riding tire of all the brands. They are the best all around do everything tire I have ever used.