Many of you may have read my posts regarding my BFG Goodrich 315/70/17 tires. I bought these tires as take offs from a local Hummer dealership and had them installed on the factory rims (of which everyone on this board at the time was doing). I had them mounted at NTB and bought the lifetime balance and rotation for them.

So far, I've got approx 30K miles on them and they are MAYBE worn 1/2 way. I religiously have taken them to get mounted and balanced every oil change, which for me is between 3000-5000 miles. I've always had vibration problems as the tires never did balance out. Well, I had enough and as a last resort I bought a set of Centramatic wheel balancers (www.centramatic.com).

Took the truck into NTB on a Tuesday night, and had all 4 tires re-balanced, and had the Centramatics installed. After looking at the job, both of the front tires had approx 11-12oz of lead on each tire, and each rear had about 4-5 oz each (I'm assuming the #'s on the lead weights indicate their weight). Left for a camping vacation Thursday morning, for a 210 mile drive. Upon getting out of Dallas city limits where I could set the cruise control on 70, I had VERY bad vibration. When it got real bad I had to slow the truck down to let the vibration go away. The vibration wasn't constant, as certain streches of road way gave minimal vibration, and other stretches gave bad vibration. None, the less, after getting to our destination I was dissappointed by the performance of the Centramatics. Coming home was the same result.

About to leave for work the following Monday morning, I was fed up, and dug out a screw driver and pair of pliers and proceeded to pull every ounce of weight off of the wheels. I was going to see what the Centramatic wheel balancers could do without any help. I drive the highway to work, and I was AMAZED at how my truck felt. All vibrations were gone. My truck actually drove nice and smooth.

I've been driving it this way (no wheel weights on any wheels) for over a week and am absolutely thrilled at the ride. I've made a decision to let the Centramatics do the balancing for me, and just let NTB rotate the tires instead.

The Centramatics were my last stop, as I was EXTREMELY close to just buying a new set of tires, and taking of the BFG. At $199 they weren't cheap, but I can re-use them on any new trucks I might buy.

I don't know if anyone else is using them, but just thought I'd share my experience.

 

Sound good. My BFG 285 always shake. I'm going to try a set.

 

Are yours on stock rims? I have been planning on buying some 285 BFG's. Ive got the aluminum forged rims.

 

I have the 285's on stock steel chrome rims. I put them on for the winter. If I could get them to not shake (alot of weight on them) then I would transfer them to my aluminum rims and run them all year. Until then I will run the Michelin tires in the warmer weather.

 

So what did you learn?? The tire monkeys at NTB can't balance tires!!
I've went thru all this crap before, yes the centramatics work!! But if you get your tires balanced properly why in the heck spend $300!
Find a shop with a Hunter 9700 Road Force machine and get them balanced right. The machine tells the tire monkey how to do it correctly, it won't run untill the next step is done correctly. After the 1st tire is balanced to zero have them rotate it on the machine and double check the balance, if it is out, run, the machine is out of calibration!

 

i have been running bf goodrich ta/ko's (285/70/17's) for 30,000 miles on stock rims and have not had a problem. tires get rotated every 5,000 miles. have not re-balanced them since new. never had a vibration.etc.

 

285's on mine, balanced and rotated every 7k. Rides like on a carpet. 30K on the tread and have more than half left. That's my experience.

 

That might be part of the problem. I don't rotate tires on my trucks. Funny tho they seem to run and wear out evenly.

My BFG tires have been balanced by 3 different shops on 3 different types of machines. They still vibrate.

Rick CJ the balance rings are 200 bucks not 300.

 

I have had internal balancing now for the last 3 vehicles and it works wonders with no vibration at all.

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/index.html

No more outside weights for me. Just too ugly and they damage your rims.

 

Can you add this product through the existing valve stems?

 

I would think YES. They sell different valve stems but it looks like it just has 2 seals compared to normally one seal.

I usually take the tire off and have noticed that using a hair dryer or heat gun to heat up the stem, filling it goes much faster. Takes about 20 minutes per tire. Just keep tapping the stem so it slides down the stem just fine.

Only down side I can think of is if you ever need to replace a flat. Then they would all be lost. I would just have tire store put weights on it till I could order more beads, then rip the weights off.

I haven't had flats in 8 years though. (knocking on wood).

 

Amen on the Road Force balance!

Pete

 

AMEN!!! This product works wonders on tires… I use it on all my vehicles including my dual sport bike. Even with 2 rim locks in the rear and 1 on the front, the bike rides perfectly smooth. It is also much more affordable than balancing the tires, and way more affordable than the Centramatics.


You could but then you would have to remove the valve stem to let any air out of the tire… They sell their own valve stem that has a screen that prevents it from getting clogged by the beads.

 

So are you still having good luck with your Centramatic wheel balancers?

 

I am, very happy!