LSUMatt1514

Andy,
Nope. Then again I didn't ask, but I guess I should.

Matt

Nic

Geez, I was hoping you were going to say they got their act together and fixed your problem.

Yeah, that's a bunch of crap about the tire height. When I replaced my 235/75R15 Dunlops, I went to 30X9.50R15s. If that is the case, my ride should be much worse.

LSUMatt1514

If tomorrow doesn't work out at A&R (God I hope it does) then here's my next step. I will buy a new set of 265/75/16 Revos from A&R Tire for approximately $650 which will include mounting and a road force balance. I will then take my current set back to Firestone and get my money back. This sucks, because I will be out the $80 that I spent to get the current set road force balanced. If I would have put two and two together up front, I would have realized that A&R's price included the road force balance, but it had been two and a half years since I bought my previous set from them and they did not mention the road force balance when they quoted me on the tires. Knowing what I know now about Firestone's balancing situation, I will never buy another set from them again. I will continue to have them do my lifetime alignment, oil changes, rotations, etc. but they will never balance another set of my tires. Damn I hope they can get it solved tomorrow. I'm sick of this ˟˟˟˟˟!!!!

Matt

Ducseven

Be careful with that idea......Firestone may charge you a "pro-rated" amount based on the mileage you have driven.
Make sure they are giving you a "full" refund

LSUMatt1514

Yeah, I better find that out. He didn't mention a prorated portion, so I would assume 100%. Don't think I'll act on assumptions though.

Matt

LSUMatt1514

Well, I realized on the way into work this morning that A&R is closed on Wednesdays (small town shops do that for some reason in Alabama). Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Matt

rngrchad

LSUMatt,
Howdy man, sorry to hear about your bad situation w/ REVO's. I have the same tires. Ask yourself: Do I drive on Gravel roads often? All it takes is a relatively small pebble in these revo's to make the tires incredibly unbalanced. I love these tires but their biggest downfall is their knack for picking up rocks and pebbles and not letting them go. At least 2 to 3 times a week I have to take out my leatherman and pry out rocks jammed between the lugs which are causing severe vibration issues. My Tacoma loves these tires and they are a smooth ride as long as I keep the rocks out of the lugs.
Happy wheeling/
-Yota 167 2 pill mobile in the central buckeye.

aowRS

Matt,
I just got back from vacation and read your thread with interest. I'm sorry you've had to go through such BS. The REVOs are indeed very nice tires, as many people on the Board will attest. Unfortunately, the front end of the 3rd Gen 4Runner is very prone to letting you know of any wheel imbalance issues. I'm not sure if it is the coil-over suspension, rack & pinion steering, or a combination of the two. When I purchased my '01 4Runner new in June of 2001, I went through at least 6 months of tire balancing hell with the original Dunlop TG-35 265/70/16 tires. Multiple shop visits, replaced tires, you name it. Until I found Gadget's site, I had no idea what a Hunter Road Force balancing machine was and what a Haweka adaptor was. Well, within days of talking to Gadget, I was at the shop he used in Maryland. From that day forward, the balancing problems were gone. I eventually got 51,000 miles from the first set of TG-35s, which I then replaced with another set. These too balanced properly using the correct equipment and a dedication to doing the job right by the shop.
After a few months I decided to get a set of REVOs in the 275/70/16 size. I had these mounted and balanced at the same shop (Pat Goss Carworld in Seabrook, MD) and the ride was fine. On the day the tires were mounted and balanced, the machine kept having errors and needed repeated resetting. The end result was that I felt some vibration around 50 - 75 mph. I tried to overlook this since May but finally had the time last week to take the 4Runner back in. Amazingly, all tire/wheel assemblies were off by about 1.5 or 1.75 oz - with the old weights still on. I attribute this to the problems that the machine was having on the day the tires were originally balanced. So the same guy started from scratch and ended up getting all four absolutely perfect - with a small weight on each wheel. The next day my wife and I took off for a 1,300 mile trip - the truck drove absolutely glass smooth at all speeds. In fact, I'm willing to say that it's never been as smooth as it is now. Sure there is a slight tire hum, but that is to be expected with an AT tire. But gone are all signs of steering wheel and dashboard vibration. Believe me, this stuff will drive me up the wall if not done properly.
So, my point is that the tires are very good, and that you need to find a shop that will take the time to use the Hunter Road Force machine and Haweka flange plate adaptor correctly. My rebalancing last week took an hour and a half. I enjoyed every minute of it because I know the guy doing the work really cares about the outcome. You may wish to consider finding another shop before giving up on the tires.
I hope that helps.

Andreas

LSUMatt1514

Thanks Andreas. I appreciate it. I'll give A&R one more shot because they probably won't charge me to do the re-balance. Mine are not at all glass smooth, and I'm starting to wonder if it's a problem with my wheels. My H/Ls were never glass smooth, but much smoother than the Revos. I just wonder if the Revos are somehow amplifying the effects of an imperfect wheel. I have read that Toyota struggles at times to produce good wheels.

Matt

bamachem

Hmmm, do I see some LX450 wheels in your future???

LSUMatt1514

Is there any chance in the world that these tires (one, a couple, or all of them) could have been mounted on the wheel improperly? I'm telling ya'll the ride is not good at all. I get pissed off now everytime that I drive my truck instead of enjoying it. I just don't understand it. I believe what A&R told me about the balance being perfect, but is there a chance that I have a bad set of tires even though the road force numbers are so low?

DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!

Matt

LSUMatt1514

If the attempt tomorrow at A&R doesn't work (and I'm really considering not even trying to balance again) which of the following options would you guys take....

1. Just stick with what I've got and settle
2. Have A&R remove this set of Revos and install a new set of Revos
3. Have A&R remove this set of Revos and go back to a new set of H/Ls

If I went with options two or three, I would have to tote the current tires back to Firestone for a refund. I'll get them from A&R because they have a very good price, are great guys, and have the Hunter setup and will do their damndest to get the thing balanced and riding smooth.

One side item of note...the owner of A&R told me when I first took the truck in to have them road force balanced that "I would feel every bump in the road with these tires" (the Revos). I can understand the Revos not riding as good as a highway tire, but the vibration is killing me.

I read all of the reviews on the Revos and hear from all of ya'll how great they are and now I'm gun shy to try another set. What do I do?

Matt

bamachem

Bring it by if you get a chance. Let me take a look and drive it, then I'll let you drive a REAL 4runner.

I don't have the brush guard and other stuff painted yet due to the high humidity. High humidity = Water in the Compressor Tank = Water Spots in the Paint = NOT GOOD.

Nic

Matt, whatever you do, don't settle for a bad ride. If Firestone cannot correct it, either have them swap tires or just get a refund and go to the other place. I didn't have those options when I had to replace mine since I bought the truck used, although the tires on it were practically new.

If you're not happy, let them know it. If you have to raise pure hell to get their attention, do it. Nowadays, that's about the only thing you can do to get any service.

I almost did what you did on the replacement of my Dunlops and bought the Revos since everyone recommended them here. I just didn't like the fact of the Revos being from Firestone, so I went with the Michelin LTX M/Ss. I don't regret it at all. If you are NOT looking for a super aggressive tire and choose to go with another set, I bet you would like these. I have been very happy with them so far. They ride great. I'm not pushing those on you, but just giving you an option.

Like you, I used to dread driving my truck, but now I love to drive it.

Just don't settle. You will thank yourself later.

ALBPM

Boy is this guy full of ˟˟˟˟E!!!!! My 265/75/16 Load range "D" Revos are great on the Highway. You only feel every bump if they are overinflated. Mine have 38 in the front and 35 in the rear.

I think the best thing I did was replace my Stock wheels right after getting my Revos. Now that I have "Hub Centric" wheels that balance easier my ride is very smooth.

LSUMatt1514

I just got off the phone with A&R. They checked for the 2nd harmonic during my road force balancing, so that rules that out. I am going to bring it up to them at lunch and they are first going to go drive it, and then move the weight that is stuck to the inside of that one wheel onto the perimeter of the wheel. The Hunter rep threw that out as a recommendation the other day. Derrek (A&R technician) again told me that he really did not see anything at all wrong with this set of tires, especially with the low road force numbers that I currently have. He said this after I mentioned getting them to order and install a new set of Revos. He said that he was starting to feel like that tire was just not really compatible with the 4Runner, which I quickly rebutted because of all of the people on here that are happy with them. Bottom line for now is that he is going to drive it at lunch when I take it up there and they are going to shift that weight and we'll see what happens from there. Damn this sucks!!

Matt

williemon

I still have to say, a tire can still be out of round or have a high spot. If the offending ones can be found then they could be replaced, but the replacements could also have a high spot.

Does the road force balance check for out of roundness also?

Back in the late 80s I had my first experience with tires that couldn't be balanced. It was on my car. I just got new tires on the stock rims. When I hit 55 to 60, the seats started shakeing. I went through 2 weeks, multiple balanceing, and a new stock type rim. The manager at the tire place had me thinking the vibration was in the rear axel. He said "it could not be a problem with the tires or the balance. We use a special high dollar tire matching machine that matches the tire to the rim, then we balance it on the latest equipment." So Off I went to the dealer to have the rear end fixed under warrantee. They found nothing wrong and a guy there keyed me toward a shop in a nearby town that trues and balances tires on the car. He said to go to them and your tires will be smooth as glass. I did so, and after 1 hour, 2 trued tires and all 4 properly balanced, I now had a smooth as glass ride from 0 to 120 or 130 mph. From then on, I use them to do my balance work most of the time. I have not needed their services on all my cars tires since some balanced up pretty good. My latest tires on our new van balanced very well. Both sets of tires on the runner however could never be balanced properly unless this other shop did them on the car. Just a thought.

LSUMatt1514

A&R repositioned the weight for me today. I can tell a difference. At this point it's not a huge difference, but I haven't really gotten out on a long stretch of interstate yet. I plan on doing that tonight and tomorrow. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Matt

LSUMatt1514

Williemon,
The road force balance would have found any tire that was out of round, warped, etc. It also did look for the 2nd harmonic that I mentioned earlier. They also told me that even if Firestone had mounted the tires imcorrectly onto the wheels, that they (A&R) pulled them off, broke them down, re-aired them, and road force balanced them. Basically at this point all Firestone has done is sell me tires. A&R has done everything else. I plan on getting some feedback from someone else this weekend as well. I'm going to get Andy (Bamachem) to go for a ride with me and in return, he's gonna let me drive his supercharged Runner!!!

Matt

williemon

So what your saying is that the road force balance from A&R has proved that the tires are good and cannot be the source of the problem. That only leaves the wheels and your drivetrain components as the problem, which would show up with any tire you used on them. Or, maybe the Revoes simply are not compatible with your particular 4 runner.

Im offically on my now. I still stand by my first comments. The road force just cant be the cure all that its being brought out to be. I may have to eat crow here, but ive eaten crow before in my life and I most likely will do so again, but I just cannot go for the road force balance being the final say so that the tires themselves are not causing the problem, and that there is nothing else that can be done to them to make them run with no or much less vibration. My feel is that the tires are the problem, but that they can be adjusted and balanced for a glass smooth ride. And no, the wheel does not have to have weights on its outer peremiter to get a smooth ride. That does however depend on if the rim will allow stickons where the spokes connect. The most perfect ride might however require them on inside as well as outside though. Anyway, thats my quarters worth. Hope it gets worked out soon.

I forgot to mention, theres 2 places around here that trues and balances on the car. Fowlers alignment in Phenix City AL. and Columbus spring in Columbus GA. Im sure theres got to be a place around where you are at. Anyway, if all else fails, why not give the trueing and balance on the car a try? If you did have a rotor or hub issue, that may fix you up.