I was wondering if anybody heard or had problems balancing there steel wheels on radials like BF Goodrich, Goodyear, Toyo and so on?? Ive heard ppl talk about how they are hard to get right!

 

Steel wheels tend to be harder to balance, and the off-road tires are even worse. I believe some manufacturers have better balanced tires off the bat, while other manufacturers have some issues producing relatively balanced tires (from the factory).


I'm sure any competent tire shop can balance the setup fairly well though. Steel wheels usually need more weights, but a decent tech can get the job done.

 

When I went to 33s on my CJ, the tire people told me that that bigger the tire, the more chance of imperfections that could receate a balance problem; however, they would rather install tires on a steel rim than on an alloy or aluminum rim. Once, several years ago, I even had to sign a waiver to have tires put on aluminum wheels because of the chance of damage to the rim.

 

if you run a new set of oversize tires 300-400 miles before the first balance, they will balance correctly the first time. A large heavily treaded tire will shift internally after being run and this will immediately negate any balance that has been done on them with 0 miles. This is why you hear about guys repeatedly having to have tires balanced to get them ''right''. Steel or aluminum wheels make NO difference when balancing, as long as the balancer is properly programmed.

 

Unless you have a stamped steel, one piece, wheel they are a little harder to balance than aluminum or composite wheels. When you add the larger tires with heavy lugs the problem can be even harder. The fix however can be quite simple. If the wheels are not hub centric then get your shop to balance them by using the lug nut holes instead of the center hole. Another way to balance them is to use the road force balancer. This balance machine tries to duplicate what the tire is doing on the road. These machines are very expensive so expect to pay more for a tire balanced on them. Another way to balance them is by tire matching. This is what the factory does. Every tire and wheel have a high spot. When you take this spot on the wheel and mis match it on the tires high spot it couldl be easer to balance. Essentially when the mechanic watches the tire movement and it is too much, while spinning on the balancer, he/she can rotate the tire 180 degrees and re-balance. If this doesn't do it then rotate the tire another 90 degrees.
A qualified 4 X 4 shop should be able to do some of the above to get you a better balance.