BFG tyre balance

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Richard Brookman - 05 Oct 2004 17:55 GMT

I fitted a set of BFG ATs to the Rangie last year. Supplied and fitted by
local ATS, who have always been A1 as far as I am concerned. The fitter
commented that he had a lot of trouble getting them balanced. At about
10,000 miles a slight wobble developed at the front (about 50-55mph), so I
went back and had them balanced again. Problem solved. Now, at about
20,000 miles, the same thing has happened. I've had them rebalanced, and
it's cured again. Tyres are now about half worn. The fitter said that the
tyres were out of balance by (IIRC) 120g on the left and 190g on the right,
which he said was quite a lot.

Anyone else come across this? I have never had this problem with tyres
before. I ran a set of Trac-Edges from new to knackered on the 90 and they
stayed balanced, despite some serious off-road punishment. The ATs have
seen plenty of rough stuff, but nothing severe, and there is no obvious sign
of external damage. The only thing I can see is that the ATs are wearing
faster than the TEs, but with an extra half a tonne of car and 3? times the
power, I'm not surprised.

Any thoughts?

Signature

Rich

Series 2a
RR 4.6
V8 trialler
dog, wife, kids, whatever

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Paul - xxx - 05 Oct 2004 18:10 GMT

Richard Brookman vaguely muttered something like ...

> ATs are wearing faster than the TEs, but with an extra half a tonne of
> car and 3? times the power, I'm not surprised.

Nothing lasts forever .. and with 'large' tyres it's very hard to keep them
in balance, it's a reasonably well-known problem, and not really that
unusual.

For the cost of re-balancing every 10k miles it's probably worth it .. ;)

Signature

Paul ...

(8(|) Homer Rules !!!

"A tosser is a tosser, no matter what mode of transport they're using."

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Richard Brookman - 06 Oct 2004 09:16 GMT

> Richard Brookman vaguely muttered something like ...
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> For the cost of re-balancing every 10k miles it's probably worth it .. ;)

Agreed, especially as they charged me less than a tenner for two
wheels, and it took the guy a good half hour.

I'd heard that big tyres are hard to balance, but my set of Trac-Edges
on the 90 lasted right through on the initial balance done by Nene
Valley on purchase. Perhaps the 90 was so rough that I didn't notice

:-)

Thanks

Rich

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Pantelis Giamarellos - 05 Oct 2004 18:15 GMT

Richard Hi,

May I suggest you have a look here?

https://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/

Hope this helps.

Take care
Pantelis

> I fitted a set of BFG ATs to the Rangie last year. Supplied and fitted by
> local ATS, who have always been A1 as far as I am concerned. The fitter
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> V8 trialler
> dog, wife, kids, whatever

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Richard Brookman - 06 Oct 2004 09:23 GMT

> Richard Hi,
>
> May I suggest you have a look here?
>
> https://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/

Hi Pantelis

I have an aversion to putting anything inside a tyre apart from fresh
air - too many horror stories from those instant "repairs" and fluids
that slosh about and do more harm than good. I am especially careful
about a tyre that's holding up one corner of a 2.25 tonne vehicle at
(potentially) 125mph/200kph.

Have you used this product? Is it any good?

Regards

Rich

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Pantelis Giamarellos - 06 Oct 2004 09:56 GMT

Richard Hi,

I have NOT tested or tried it but it appears very interesting.

What I have tried though and it really did work was a pair of active
balancers for the front and rear propshafts on the Discovery of a very good
friend which had severe vibration problems between the 80 and 120 Kph speed
range.

The problem disappeared altogether just by fitting those rings around the
propshafts.
Active balancing is a very interesting proposal for vibration related
problems.

Take care
Pantelis

> > Richard Hi,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Rich

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hugh - 05 Oct 2004 21:03 GMT

>I fitted a set of BFG ATs to the Rangie last year. Supplied and fitted by
>local ATS, who have always been A1 as far as I am concerned. The fitter
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
>Any thoughts?

I've had quite a problem balancing the BFG MTs on my Defender. General
opinion is that it may actually be the wheels at fault. I'm waiting till
the tyres need replacing to find out - only done 53k.

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hugh
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Austin Shackles - 05 Oct 2004 21:17 GMT

>I fitted a set of BFG ATs to the Rangie last year. Supplied and fitted by
>local ATS, who have always been A1 as far as I am concerned. The fitter
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
>Any thoughts?

fscked rim? have they tried dismounting the tyre and putting the rim on the
balancer by itself?

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EMB - 06 Oct 2004 06:02 GMT

> fscked rim? have they tried dismounting the tyre and putting the rim on the
> balancer by itself?

A bent rim will hardly show up on the balancer - not only is it a fairly
small proportion of the assembled mass but it's all in at a small
distance. I've had rims with a visible 8mm bend that show as perfect
when balanced alone. More likely is an improperly seated tyre bead that
moves over time.

Signature

EMB
change two to the number to reply

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Simon Mills - 06 Oct 2004 07:30 GMT

BFG have a current safety recall here in Australia on a range of 4x4 tyres.

http://www.recalls.gov.au/recalls_last30days.cfm?rcl_type=recalls_consumer&psa_i
d=10910

These most likely would have been imported . I'm not sure if BFG import into
the UK but it might be worth checking up on the DOT # on the tyres.

Quote from the newspaper notice

"BFGoodrich has decided to voluntarily recall a limited number of 4x4 tyres
in Australia (aprox 500)
after it's quality system alerted the company to a condition initially
affecting ride quality, but could possibly result in steel belt seperation
if not addressed."

Remember the Firestone/Explorer debarcle in the USA.

Signature

Simon Mills
Melton
Victoria
Australia

98 Disco tdi Auto

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Simon Mills - 06 Oct 2004 07:34 GMT

I believe they are replacing affected tyres regardless of wear.
Be nice to get a new set to replace an 80% worn set. :-)

Signature

Simon Mills
Melton
Victoria
Australia

98 Disco tdi Auto

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Richard Brookman - 06 Oct 2004 09:11 GMT

Austin Shackles <austin@ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk> wrote > >of external
damage. The only thing I can see is that the ATs are wearing

> >faster than the TEs, but with an extra half a tonne of car and 3½ times the
> >power, I'm not surprised.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> fscked rim? have they tried dismounting the tyre and putting the rim on the
> balancer by itself?

Never thought of this, Austin, thanks. It might explain the
difficulty in getting the tyres balanced in the first place, but I
can't see how an out-of-balance rim would manifest itself as a
steering wobble only 10K miles later. I'll get this looked into next
time I have the tyres looked at (which may well be at replacement
time)

Cheers

Rich

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Austin Shackles - 06 Oct 2004 13:22 GMT

>Austin Shackles <austin@ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk> wrote > >of external
>damage. The only thing I can see is that the ATs are wearing
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>time I have the tyres looked at (which may well be at replacement
>time)

could also be a buckled wheel, which makes a wobble without being
off-balance. Although balancing shouldn't affect that. Sometimes removing
and reseating the tyre at a different point will make a significant
difference.

120+190 is rather a long way off, even for a big tyre.

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