Need to vent for a minute.

Bought a set of 255/75/17 Firestone Destination AT's to replace the stock tires. Quiet, nice looking tread pattern, and working awesome in the snow.

But...

When I first got them, they were not balanced well at all. Obvious shaking at highway speed. I called to let the tire place know and they re-balanced them, taking 2.5 hours. Same problem. I called. They asked that I leave it for a day. I did, and they replaced two of them for whatever reason.

It's better but still... bouncy/shaky... worst between 30 and 50 - where I mostly drive.

So I take it to Discount Tire because they have a GSP9700 road force balancer and told them what was going on. They check and balance and it's better on the highway, worse in town. Hard to tell, we still have some snow/slush on the roads and ice in the wheels, etc.


Anyway, I feel like I'm losing my mind. Still have a week to get in there and ask for a refund on these.

I think I'm going to go with the BFG KO2's instead - and from a different dealer. The only bad thing about those is they only come in 265/70/17 so they're a tiny bit shorter than stock. Oh well.

 

I have a set of these and I love them. Not sure why you're having trouble but they're a great tire. Best of luck to you

 

Thanks. I was hesitant at first because they're a firestone shop and I figured they were just sellin' me their stuff. All of the online tire retailers have them rated as the best or second best tire available. :/

 

I know you may have done this already but have you checked the air pressure? Not sure if it would help but if they were way overfilled could make it feel bouncy or shaky maybe.....hope you get it figured out. I had a set of MTR Kevlars that I couldn't get to balance no matter what I did......loved the tires other then the shake and wobble. I replaced pretty much everything on my TJ trying to get it to smooth out. I understand your frustration....

 

Yep. First day I got it home I checked them. 47,41,35,35.

Today they were 18,18,21,27. But we've had some pretty drastic temperature swings this week so I'm not shocked.

 

Bent rim?

 

Nah. It was smooth as glass before the new tires, and that was on the Wrangler SR/A's w/ 25k on them. The road force balancer would have detected a rim problem anyway.

 

Are you sure the 265 70's are shorter? They are a little wider so might make up for the difference in aspect ratio. But also different brand could be smaller or bigger. Look up the specs.

 

255/75r17 = 32.1x10.04r17

265/70r17 = 31.6x10.43r17

 

Yes. Half inch or so.