I have a 07 XL 2WD with 18K miles on it. I have 30x9.5 BFG A/T's on it with aftermarket wheels. I am getting a shimmy in the steering wheel at highway speeds. (You can take your hands of the steering wheel & it shimmys back and forth but the truck sit drives straight).
I took the truck to the tire shop last Saturday and had them rebalance the wheels, check the alignment, & they also checked the balljoints.
It seems to be better but not completely gone.
I mean this truck only has 18K on it, it shouldn't be doing this.
Any ideas? Could the it just be the BFG's?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

mine does that, I just assumed it were my 35in tires. I got everything aligned and what not and it still does it, so I dunno to me it seems normal

 

make sure you rotate those things every 3-5k and if you can, go to a shop were they can roadforce your tires to make sure they are not out of round

 

I'll bet money the just half *** balanced them.. most tire shops are to lazy to zero out tires atleast around here they are

 

Mine does the same thing, I'm pretty sure its balancing issues.

 

haha yeah thats a balancing issue. very common problem.

 

Thanks guys.

They were balanced at the shop when I first got them (a shop a used in the past but not real recently), then I had a shop I usually use rebalance them last Saturday, and like I said it seems to be better... I guess I will just deal with it.

 

no take it back and be like its not fixed and make then finish the job

 

Thats true I will do that.

 

it seems that there in a very slight balance issue... like .25 off.... sometimes at tire places will call it good only balanceing it to .25 and not 00's... take it back and watch them.

 

mine does the same thing. had them rotated and balanced and it is still there. its annoying, but im getting used to it.

 

HUB CENTRIC

Definition: A wheel that is centered or located on the hub by a machined center hole-as opposed to "lug centered" wheels that are located by the position of the lug nuts alone.



Had this problem on a VW with large hole centers in the wheels. Tire shop rebalanced 3 times and still shook at 55-65mph. Found the right size hub rings on Ebay and that fixed the problem.

 

Can it just be the tires being large, and when moving that fast the rubber is like stretching or something a little giving it a bounce. Idk is that possible I am just thinking of dragster's how there tires move so much, idk maybe that just sounds dumb haha I am new to large tires.

 

with acorn style lugs and cone seats on the wheels rangers do not need Hub centric i own 33's on aftermarket wheels that are not hub centric and it properly balanced and does not have any problems

 

go back and get them rebalanced. tell them you already had them balanced, and they should take some time to figure out the issue. make sure they check for bent wheels. go out back and watch them work on it

 

bent wheels and egg shaped tires

 

BFG's and aftermarket rims have a reputation of being hard to balance.


Road Force Balancers FTL!!!! Find a joint with Coats equipment.


Chances are that you will not feel if the tires are off by .25 on a truck, you may feel it on a civic, but probably not on a Ranger.

Very good possibility this is contributing to the problem. Your tire shop should be able measure everything and get you what you need for $5 or so.

WRONG! Anytime you have the hole on the rim bigger then the hub, you need to have hub centric rings. Acorn style lugs are NOT lug centric. Post style lugs are lug centric, 99% chance that you dont have those.

Theres also the possibility of bent wheels.........

 

Acorn part was my bad slip of the mind thats the style of head of the lug nut meant to say Conical..

funny advice from the guy that tells people to run 50psi.. um no...

btw i have owned oh lets see 5 sets of BFG's and they all are able to be balanced perfectly so where the problem?


if tq properly conical lugs will center its impossible not to unless you impact one all the way down then start you can warp the rim... funny been running aftermarket wheels on ALL my rangers for years now and none are hub centric but wow it doesnt vibrate.. amazing prob i should be running 50 psi for Crisp sidewalls also..

 

im running 37s and dont have this issue at the speeds you guys talk about.

take them back and get them balanced! make sure the WMS(wheel mount surface) isnt dirty/rusty and your lugs are torqued properly. (ie put them on by hand not impact)

I agree with Stone.

 

A .25 off balance is good to around 80.


One thing that may help is pulling the brake rotors to make sure the surface is clean and smooth, also do the same on the wheels.


What speed are we talking here?

 

Might be one of those "Your results may vary" deals. Never put aftermarkets on Ford trucks, but I did on an SRT and a GTI and both had problems without the hub rings installed. Even when I tightened in a criss-cross 1 thread at a time.

+1 for sure on proper torque with torque wrench or torque stick.

 

Acrorn, conical....same thing. and neither of them are lug centric.

funny thing I dont tell people to do it I suggest it......

btw i have balanced oh lets see 500 sets of BFG's and a good chuck of them have problems (excess weight usually). Do you see where there could be problems. Just because you have had some with no problems doesnt mean that none of them have problems. Just because the firestones on your Explorer didn't blow up doesnt mean that none of them had a problem.

Once again just because you havnt have problems without hub centric rings doesnt mean that there isnt going to be problems with someone elses rims. There are very very few rims that are actually lug centric. You should have hub centric rings on there whether you feel a vibration or not. Its a safety thing. If you dont get it centered with the lugs (which is possible) you run the risk of those lugs loosening and having a wheel fall off.

Remeber I do this day in and day out. I know what im talking about. Just because you havnt had a problem with your 5 sets or rims doesnt mean that someone else could be having a problem with theirs. And the personal attacks can stop at any time. Thanks.

 

no all mine werent good thus why i told him to check egg shape tire i had one replaced it never said they arnt all the same just saying you can balance tire if you take your time. never said the amount of weight it will take i balanced a tire calling for 23oz.. it was a VERY BAD tire but needed it balanced before he could replace it(coming in the mail). no one would even touch the tire. i had it as smooth as babys butt...

no personal attacks just wording that you stated

 

EXTREMELY important to clean the face of the wheel and rotor to make a clean mounting surface alot of people skip that

 

"Clean" it until it is smooth. It may still look dirty, but that doesnt matter, it just needs to be smooth. Do not clean it until it is shiney. If you go until it is shiney you are just wearing away the clear coat/protectant and it will be 10 times worse next time you take your wheels off.