Stock Rubicon Wheels & Tires

timb04086

New member
A friend gave me some stock Rubicon wheels and tires (from a 2010) and I put them on my 2010 Sahara. I took the wheels and tires to Sears to have them balanced before putting them on my Jeep. Heading home yesterday I noticed the whole Jeep vibrates a little. Not the steering wheel though. Is this normal? I haven't been in a Rubicon yet to know if this is normal. I'm just curious if they need to be rebalanced or that this is normal with these type of tires. This is my first Jeep and I'm still learning things. The vibration doesn't start till around 60-65. It does it even at 70. Its not like a whole lot of vibration, but there is some vibration. Your guy's input is greatly appreciated. :D
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Well, you are running mud terrain tires now and the voids between the lugs will be significantly wider than what you were running before. What you most likely are feeling is what some refer to as "lug thumping". Now, if you're feeling this more as a kind of "shimmy" as opposed to just a "buzzing", you may need to get your tires rebalanced. It isn't uncommon to need to get off road tires balanced more than once to get them on.
 

timb04086

New member
Yeah, mines more of a shimmy. I'll head back to Sears and get them rebalanced. Thanks for the info! Greatly appreciated!

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jhires

Member
Yeah, mines more of a shimmy. I'll head back to Sears and get them rebalanced. Thanks for the info! Greatly appreciated!

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I think taking it to Sears may be part of the problem. If they try to sell you on rebuilding your front suspension, drive away and get a second opinion at a shop that specializes in tires and suspensions. I'll spare the details, but Sears does not have a good track record with members of my family and friends.
 

timb04086

New member
I took it back to Sears and its a little better. Plus they told me their machine only goes up to 55 mph. Each tire was off by 2 psi. They put the psi for a Sahara, not the Rubicon. I guess I'll have to take it to a truck/4x4 place or the Jeep dealership and have them rebalance them.

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Webe

New member
THere's also a possibility that one of the tires has a small separation or has minor cupping. The person balancing the tire should be watching for that but may not be if not at a good tire store.
 

timb04086

New member
I also heard that my alignment could play a part in the vibration. True?

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jeeeep

Hooked
take it to Discount Tire - did Sears use the weights on the wheel rim or the stick on weights?

You shouldn't have to do more than balance.
 

timb04086

New member
So today, I took the Jeep into the dealership and had the tires balanced & had an alignment done. Alignment was a bit off. The tech was actually pretty cool. He is a Jeeper himself. An older tech as well (knowledge & experience). We shot the shit for probably about 30-45 minutes. He checked everything that could cause the issue and said all is good. I left and headed back to work. The Jeep started to vibrate/wobble. I went back and talked to him again. He took it back in and rechecked everything. It's all good. He started to rub the tires with his hand. He said there is a slight raise in the middle of the tires (we're guess the previous guy didn't maintain the air pressure) and that this could possibly cause it to vibrate/wobble. Once the tire wears down normally with the right psi, it should mello out. He asked if I did any mods. I said nope. The only thing I did was take the Sahara wheels/tires off and swapped them for the Rubicon wheels/tires. Nothing else. He said the tires balanced out perfectly. He said it had to be the tires and that's when he rubbed them. Two different machines and three balances later, there was major changes. I did notice the weights were swapped out on todays balance. Now the vibration/wobble starts at about 63 mph and gets a little worse the faster I go. When I say vibration/wobble, I mean it feels like when you are driving a car over an old pebble/brick road. Its kinda like a machine gun type feeling (make sense?). There's no vibration/shimmy in the steering. Before 63 mph, it's smooth sailing. He said it's also because it's meatier tires. He said his does the same thing. He has the version/model of the first Rubicon that was made (TJ).

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jeeeep

Hooked
if there's odd wear in the tires that would cause it - keep them at the correct pressure and rotate them about every 3000k miles - they will begin to wear more even and settle in.

you might also do a chalk test so you can see how the tires are wearing and also adjust the pressure to get the best tread pattern out of them until they even out.

one think about driving not driving faster, your mileage will increase :beer:
 
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