Hello,

Got a set of 285/75/R16 from the dealer about a month ago.

Wear Issue:
I now have around 1500 miles on them and am seeing some real wear on the outsides of the front. Specifically, it looks like the tires are riding on the outside edges of the tire ***** from about the middle out. The outside edges of the *****(not sure term) are clearly wearing and you can feel how the edges of each one are rounding out. The edges of the inside ones are perfectly 90 degree and sharp, almost as if they are not even touching pavement. I did the chalk test and saw as expected, from about the middle of the tire to the outside edge are definitely getting much more contact. I've tried running different pressures anywhere from 30 - 36 cold with no change in behavior regarding the wear. Had 2 hummer dealers check a total of 3 times in the past 4 weeks and each time they said it was perfectly in spec. I know from my past 2 H3's this is an unfortunate characteristic, but they other tires were nowhere near as evident as these, even after 7-8k let alone 1.5k.

The dealer has offered to adjust the alignment out-of-spec, for lack of a better term, so that the tires sit more level with the ground. Anyone tried this and know of any negative effects this may have?


Balance Issue:
I've had these tires balanced 6 times now in a month. And still on the highway I feel the shake. The steering wheel will bounce ever so slightly,and is sometimes worse than others. The major part though is you really feel it in the seat and the change in the tray will shake, the passenger seat (when empty) with rhythmically shake the entire time on the highways. They tell me its the more agressive tire, but I just cant buy that as a valid explanation for this. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I really do love the way these tires have handled in various conditions, especially rain they stick to the pavement with no slippage at all. But this vibration is making me sick!


- Josh

 

As far as tire wear issues I really don't have much input other than from my experience. I have 8000km's on mine and they still look new. Mine are 315's and I keep them around 32-35psi and they seem to be wearing really even. I did my first rotation about 3 weeks ago and plan on doing it about every 6-8000 km's. I do know that these tires are a softer compound than others with such an aggressive tread and this is part of the reason they handle so well in wet/snowing conditions. I was originally concerned about this when I got the tires but went for it anyway.
Mine seemed to balance pretty easily. The drive smooth and I have no vibrations or wobbles what so ever. Only a slight hum from the tread noise. They took less weight than my previous BFG AT's that were 285's.
I would say there is an issue with one or more of your tires as far as the balancing problem is concerned, but the wear issue on the outside would indicate to me an issue with alignment. One thing to remember is that the front two will wear faster and on the outside edge more from turning and they will round out some.

 

Definitely sounds like it could be an alignment problem with the wear. the shaking could be from a balance, but it seems like that would have been corrected within those 6 times.

 

My upper ball joints were bad and cause the top of the tires to stick out. This causes the outer edge of the tire to wear and round off. I took mine to the dealer and they fixed it for free. They replaced both front upper control arms, since the ball joint was part of it. I just got it back today and I can tell that the tires are sitting pretty much vertical. I could notice a little lean before. Take a look and see if you can tell if the tire is leaning. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the replies folks. I'll have them check again for a bad tire. I wanted to see if this was normal/expected so I can at least tell them I've checked around and no else is having this "normal" condition.

Alengman, how many miles are on your truck that it needed ball joints?

 

check each wheel for the amount of weights used because inexperienced tire techs will put more weights on rather than move them around the wheel to balance them. the only issue you would have to this is if you use the sticky weights. I know some tire techs that supposedly have been doing it for years, but still do not move the weights around.

 

Only 30,800 miles.

 

Update: I took the truck in for alignment and they set the alignment still within spec range, but so that the tires sit a little more parallel to the road. I'll monitor over the next week to see if they wear a little less now.

For the balance issue, they tested the runout? and all were within the acceptable range. I don't have the paper he showed me now, but from what I remember it said acceptable was .40 for the tires. The 4 tires were from what I remember: FL .14 , FR .25, RL .28, RR .16. I really don't know what these numbers mean except they have to do with how round the tire is. In any case, they replaced the 2 tires that had the highest run out values. When I drove it home on the highway it was a really smooth ride. I'll monitor this as well during the week, but so far so good with the 2 new tires.

If your up here in NH and take your truck to Quirk, ask for Shawn when doing any service. He's great to work with.