they did the dynamic balance. there are weights on both sides. sams did the static twice and the dynamic twice. im thinking about just ordering some new rims to see if that will fix it. also did anyone read my post earlier. i was wondering if it could be related to me lifting the front with 2.5'' spacers and not changing my struts.

 

I work at Sam's Club and I balance my own tires, 31x10.50R15 BFG T/A KOs. I never have a problem balancing them myself, they always balance out pretty easily, and they ride very smoothly. ive heard all that crap about the my toyota rims being lug centric and need to be balanced on that hunter gpsi9700 or whatever it is, i think that's bull. my truck rides smooth even at 75-80mph. i balance my own tires about every 3000 miles. try another sam's club, be nice to them, and find out whos been there the longest, ask them (very nicely) to have that guy do it specificly.

Yes we, Sam's Club, hires guys right off the streets with no experience, but we also have some guys that have been doing tires for a long time and know what we're doing, like me. i wish you could come to my shop, i'd balance yours right the first time, every time

oh ya, and also, we will always do a dynamic balance (both sides balanced) unless the member requests a static balance (only one side), or if the rims don't have an outside lip to take weights. the more you watch me, the worse of a job i might do. let me do my job, and i'll do it right

 

Jason,

You may have a good work ethic and treat everyone's tires as you treat yours but I have to say that there aren't too many people, in my experience, that will care as much as you'd like them to.

 

I don't know but I kind of doubt it. Ask yourself when did it start? If it started right after the tires were rotated then it’s probably the tire or wheel or the connection between the wheel and the hub. I once narrowed it down to one tire by rotating the tires front to back on just one side at a time then test driving. If you can find two good tires on the front that don't shake the steering wheel then you can eliminate the front suspension as a problem. As far as the connection between the wheel and the hub try lightly torquing the lugs with the wheel in the air in a criss-cross pattern, then lower to the ground and finish torquing to 85 ft-lb.

The last time I got new tires on my BMW I went through this same thing, brand new tires that would shake the steering wheel. After returning for the 3rd time for rebalancing I saw the tech zero-out a wheel remove it from the balancer and then put it right back on and check the balance only to see the machine call for more weight. He then repeated this 2 more times with the same result. This told me that there was a problem with the machine or the connection between the machine and the center point of the wheel and it was just a crapshoot as to whether or not the tire was truly balanced. They finally got them to run smooth.

To the tech at Sam’s that balances his own tires, I’m jealous. I would love to be able to just do this myself, you know, if you want something done right…I noticed you didn’t just drop it off and let the new kid do it for you, unsupervised. Good tip about asking for the guy that has been there the longest.

 

only other thing that i can think of is that my rims are bent. are the 01-02 4runners have weaker rims(5spoke)?

 

ive had a set of a/t on my toyota and they ran perfect.. lasted along time too.. now i got some m/ts and they are doing good too... must be the people that installed them...

 

Sorry to hear about all of your problems with these tires. I've run MANY sets of BFG Mud Terrain and All Terrain tires including 31x10.5x15", 33x10.5x15", 33x12.5x15", 265/75/16, 275/75/16, 35x12.5x15" and 35x12.5x17" sizes. I've never had an issue with them. For those of you that have switched to another set of tires, did that solve the problem? Just wondering if it is the tire's fault in all of these cases, since I know I've had suspension and alignment issues that feel like a tire is out of balance.

 

normally the stores, atleast my store, sams club, doesnt get credit on defective tires we return to michelin (covering bfg), or goodyear (covering dunlop). so taking care of a defective tire after its been driven on is a lose-lose situation. only up side is we keep the customers business

 

What about defects that are found when the tires are first mounted and put on? Does the store get credit for those?

 

yes, in fact, yesterday i found a goodyear allegra with a defective bead. the bead was pinched in two areas. lucky i found this while i was moving some tires around, and not while i was putting it on a car or after it was mounted. with those i put a defective tag on them and ship them back to goodyear. we get credit for tires that havent been driven on

 

What about when a tire wobbles (out of round) as you are first balancing it? Is there a certain amount of wobble that would make you consider it defective?

 

umm.. ive never really had that issue. i see lots of bent rims, but very seldomly ive seen tires wobble. the only ones i can think that ive seen wobble were some 33x12.50r16.5s for some old ass chevy pickup. the guy bought the cheapest tires he could get. and you know what they say, you get what you pay for. they were some dunlop mud rovers, POS tires