2000 miles ago I got a set of 285/75 MT/R's mounted on Outlaw II wheels put on the truck.
for 2000 miles, the ride was perfect. Balance was perfect and tracking was dead on straight.

Last week I got a balance and rotation doen.
Right off the bat I noticed the truck pulling to the left, and if I hit the brakes and let go of the wheel the truck almost did a U turn to the left.

So Discount ordered me two brand new tires for the front. I had them mounted on today. Now the problem is a wobbly steering wheel. Somewhere between 40 and 55 the steering wheel shimmies left to right in a very annoying way.
The truck does track dead on straight once again.

So I took it back and they did the following, all on the front tires.
Roadforce test, came out excellent.
tested the wheels and they're perfectly round.
Balanced them using the haweka and without using the haweka.
Pressure is set at 35.
Still the wheel shakes.

I was gonna rotate the tires back to where they used to be, but I wanted to see what you guys think first...

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Ziad

my claws are about 50 % worn & i rotate them about every 10k miles or so,
i noticed a bad wobble in the steering wheel @ 55 to 60 mph after the last time i rotated them, so i put them back, that solved the problem for awhile now the wobble is back after 3k miles.
i think it's time for new tires, i checked the tie rods
& they look ok, i don't want to wear out suspension
or steering parts & the rain is coming so some new swampers
would be nice <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I've noticed that too... My MTR's would ride just perfect up to about 80mph before I start noticing a bit of wobble. After I rotate them, vibrations would develop, so I've given up on rotating them. They seem to be wearing just fine by themselves <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I think it's due to the lugs wearing a certain way - if you look closely at your lugs, you'll see that the leading edges of the lugs are more worn than the trailing edges. So when you rotate the tires, it forces the lugs to wear in the opposite direction. If this is the case, then the best way to rotate them would be front to back, without swapping them sideways. Give it a try...

It looks like you have had better luck then I did with your MT/R tires.

Even after having them installed using the road force machine they shook my truck. I hated it. The road force on all of the tires was over 15 pounds of force variation. The on road ride was just terrible. I started to dislike driving the truck.

I will say off road it is an excellent tire. I never had any traction problems at all. It is unfortunate that I do most of my driving on road and not off.

So, here is what I did to fix the problem. I searched and searched searched for a shop that would true my tires. After several months I found a shop in Easton Maryland called Elliot Wilson. They are manly a big rig maintenance shop, but I talked them into shaving my tires. When I told him of the problems I was having the guy said, "you must have Goodyears". It appearently is a very common problem with Goodyear tires not being round.

I made the road trip to Easton and their head tire guy, Willy shaved my tires. Willy was great and allowed my to observe the process. Let me tell you that there is a lot of work involved in doing this.

All of the tires were out of round. Once required about 3/16" shaved off one side to make the tire round. It is a hard to watch that big pile of rubber pile up on the floor knowing that he is still going to take more off to make the tire round.

The improvement was immediately noticeable even with the tires being dramatically out of balance from so much rubber being removed from the previously out of round tires.

I then went back to my main shop and had all the redone on the road force ballancer. Now the worst tire is at 15 pounds of force variation and the other three were 4, 5, and 7 which is EXCELLENT!

Now, for the first time after installing these Goodyears my truck rides smooth at ALL speeds.

It is very sad that so much work has to go into Goodyear tires just to get a smooth ride. Once these wear out I will buy some other brand even if I have to give up some off road traction.

If you all have not seen my vibration page you may want to check it out to understand this whole road force thing.

www.GadgetOnline.com/vibration.htm

Gadget

The only thing I can say about these Goodyear complaints that are starting to appear is - I'm not surprised. I expected this when everyone started raving about the MTR's when they first appeared. Honestly, I'm amazed it took this long.

I've had 4 sets of assorted types of Goodyears in my life. Every one was a POS. Not round when new or they didn't stay round as they wore. Hard to balance, flat spots, uneven wear, one even broke a belt. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I've learned my lesson. I wouldn't run 'um if they were free...

Interesting to hear this Z.

Not sure how close you looked at my truck, or what I griped about, but I have had similar issues in the life of the tires. Thankfully you got them from a shop that would work with you and had the right equipment, I will not make that mistake again.

I just rotated the X this weekend and the ride went to crap. At least they are balanced again. I have to redo them once a month from thrown weights and the like.

I also have some scalloping in the middle lugs from the slightly out of round vibes.

I tried Equal, but that will void your warrantty so be careful who you tell. That made it somewhat better, but the shop made me ditch it before they would consider replacing the tires which they still have not done.

Next tires are Krawlers, period.

Like Gadget suggested you might try finding someone to true the tires as a last resort. The truing machines are hard to find since improved tire manufacturing techniques/tolerances kinda forced the machine into obsolescence 20 years ago.

I had a set of BFG Mud Terrains trued because of extreme noise and vibration. I watched in horror as huge amounts of rubber were carved off the tires. The results were quite remarkable. Ultra quiet and smooth. When you think about it, the process is nothing but a lathe for the tires so turning a set should give you better-than-new roundness. Beats springing for new meats or living with an annoying ride.

I only have about 8000 miles on mine and they still ride great. The delaer did have to put on a ton of weights to balance them. My wife's Jetta has Goodyears on it and all I have to say about them is that they are very noisy on certain road surfaces and handle like crap unless aired up close to their max. I've driven another Jetta with Michelins and it was definately better. I'm picking up a set of Michelins for it today.

gadget what type tires are you getting next. I have dunlop rover rv now (on road great off road suck)and I was thinking about get mtr but after all the bad storys I hear I want something else. I just want a agresive looking tire that will ride good ( more agresive than BFG allterain)
thanks

Really? Arent they bias ply? And like $350 per tire?