Ok, so I bought this truck with 4 unmatched tires with different wear and tread patterns. Faster I drove, the more it vibrated. First thing I did was buy a set of (used) but matching tires and got them put on. The guys at discount-tire said that one of my rims was slightly bent, and it took a large amount of weight to get it balanced out.

Guess what. Still vibrates.

It makes sense to me that it's the rim that's making it vibrate, but I want to check and make sure I'm not missing something obvious before I go shopping for new rims.

Could there be other things that I could check that could be causing this problem? Visually when I look at the rims I don't see any bend, but I'm sure it doesn't need to be obvious to make the truck shake.. So.. dunno.

 

try throwing the spare on where the bent rim is and see if it goes away.

 

It's a different size, but I might just try it anyway.

 

where is the bent rim, and where do you feel the vibration, in your seat, or your steering wheels, or your brake pedal...?

 

Right now its on the left rear. The whole truck vibrates, not the steering wheel. Today for "fun" my daughter and I sang 1 note together and listened to our voices vibrate as we drove down the road :)

 

sounds like it's that rim... i would try with the spare, but if the height is significantly different, try putting that rim on the front...see if the vibration goes away from the truck, and to the steering wheel

 

if the wheel needed a-lot of weights to balance it.
then it is the tire not the rim
although the bent rim will add a little bit of vibration

sounds like 1 of the internal belts has broken free

that is where you hear the WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP driving down the road

 

I would also say the rim, wouldn't hurt to check out your u joints.

 

No "whump whump" going on. I just had the tires put on and didn't notice any defects like belts broken etc.

 

Move the tire and see if the vibration moves, how bad is the dent?

 

The dent isn't visible at all, but the vibration of the truck is obvious. I'm only going by what the guys at the discount-tire place said. They said it was warped and needed a lot of weight to balance.

 

go back by discount tire and ask them to do a vibration check. have them show you any bent wheels. if they show you one that is really obviously bent that could be the problem. if its barely noticeable it probably isnt the rim.

have them check to see if the tires are out of round. if you bought a set of used tires i would think this would be the culprit. a lot of time tires will not be round and will result in a "hop" in the tire. while it is spinning on the balancer look at the surface of the tire. does it move up and down or side to side? side to side isnt a biggie, but if it moves up and down a good amount thats your problem.

if one of them is particulary out of round politely ask them to do a 180 to the tire. this involves breaking the beads and rotating the tire on the rim before reseating the bead. sometimes this can help.


if all the tires are out of round and rotating the tires on the rim doesnt help the only thing that will solve this is new tires.

another thing to check is for cupping out of the tires. run the palm of your hand along the tread of the tires, paying special attention to the inside and outside edge. is the tire flat and round? or does each individual lug seem to be ramped or have section of uneven tread wear. cupping can be caused by lack of rotation or suspension problems.




put the worst assembly on the right rear (furthest away from driver) and the best one on left front.


go out and talk to the techs working on your truck. this way you get all the information and make sure it is done right.

there will be no charge for this service so make sure to give the tech working on your truck a fat tip

 

if the dent isn't visible it isn't there. you really need to have it spinning on a machine to get a good look at it though. "a lot of weight" seems to point to tires. if a rim is seriously bent balancing it wont make a difference

 

Ok thanks for the suggestions guys. First off I'm going to rotate the tires just front to back to see if the vibration changes or moves to the steering wheel. After that I'll take it back in have the guys give it a good going-over at the tire store.

 

Wow, you guys are good.

I swapped the left rear+front wheels/tires and the vibration is significantly decreased.

I do have 4 other tires of the same size in various stages of wear, but I'd hate to have non-matching ones on there..