New Bronco Shaking

[Padawan]

So as discussed in other parts of this forum, I received my new bronco and I absolutely love it. I drive about 30 miles on I 75 to get to work. Usually the speed is anywhere from 75 to 85. Once I hit 75 there was a definite shaking coming from the front end of the car when it only had 50 miles on it. I got to the dealer at somewhere around 150 miles. The dealership was great except the vehicle and it took them in the neighborhood of two hours to try to balance and align the tires. They even took off the spare in the back and try to match it up in a position where the car would be in balance. Once I took the car back up to 75 to 85 mph today he drove like a dream. I’m not sure they are doing much of a balancing act at the factory. For those of you noticing that same shimmer I would definitely get the vehicle in. Fire stone stores have a lifetime alignment policy if you buy it for somewhere around $100 or $150. I think I will purchase this from them and balance the tires quite frequently.

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[zyglyrox]

I agree, I had my OEM Goodyears put on a new set of wheels and my tire guy said the OEM tires were a bear to get balanced right.
Dunno if it’s poor quality control or just a bad batch of tires.

 

[sgraing1]

Did they isolate the tire(s) that were causing the issue?Were they simply just not balanced correctly or is there a tire/rim runout issue?
I'm fortunate. I have a Hunter tire balancer in the garage.I bought it because of all the bad experiences I had with tire stores.

 

[22OBX]

Interesting. We have a Michelin plant here local and he said Ford had super high QA checks on tires and would reject the whole batch if they didn’t test to their spec. He said it was very stringent as far as roundness and balance specs.

 

[JT58Bronc]

Hmmm, I know mine is good as I had to get it up to about 85 this week on the way in to work. It also tracks good and straight too. Alignment spot on. I have had new vehicles in the past that the alignment and balancing were off. Sometimes it happens.

 

[Snowboarder777]

I had issues with the goodyears too and they were all out of round and excess of 30lbs road force which is pathetic. Michelins have far higher quality control compared to Goodyears. Nonetheless I replaced the tires on my Bronco sasquatch with the BF Goodyears K02 and wow its night and day. Very smooth at all speeds and far more compliant over bad roads and a bit quieter. The BF goodrich were all below 10-15 lbs road force and barely needed balancing weights on the hunter machine.

 

[cyberfalco]

Some tire techs are not very good at balancing tires and some tires take a lot of experience to balance.

 

[RednWhite89]

I had 3 of 4 tires replaced early on. Over 50 lbs on the balancer. The one good one was 18lbs. They struggled to balance the new ones and could only get them down into the low 30's. I still have the wobble right around 70-75 mph.

I'm trying not to be a pain in the rear, but wondering if I should take it back to the dealer (but what do I say: better balance or replace again) or live with it. It does bug me and speed limits around me are 70mph, so I'm in the wobble range frequently.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Padawan]

It’s my thought that like the engine failures, there are many with tire issues that should be covered or recalled. I’m not sure what needs to happen, but @Ford should be providing a lifetime alignment and free balancing until the tires are toast.

 

[nwGTS]

I had 3 of 4 tires replaced early on. Over 50 lbs on the balancer. The one good one was 18lbs. They struggled to balance the new ones and could only get them down into the low 30's. I still have the wobble right around 70-75 mph.

I'm trying not to be a pain in the rear, but wondering if I should take it back to the dealer (but what do I say: better balance or replace again) or live with it. It does bug me and speed limits around me are 70mph, so I'm in the wobble range frequently.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

I reco you raise a stink. While it seems like the only downside is an annoyance at speed, out of balance tires will prematurely wear all your suspension and steering bushings. The balance will never correct itself. It will only get worse.

 

[mikec426]

I agree, I had my OEM Goodyears put on a new set of wheels and my tire guy said the OEM tires were a bear to get balanced right.
Dunno if it’s poor quality control or just a bad batch of tires.

Did they remove all the rocks from the tread that the tires love to hold on to before they tried to balance?

 

[Padawan]

Yes.

 

[flip]

Did your WT sit for an extended period prior to taking delivery? If so, it's highly probably you have flat spots that may or may not ever come out of. Unfortunately, Ford considers this "lot rot" which is the dealer's responsibility. If you were sitting in Michigan for a long time it would be Ford's problem.

If the problem is high road force or just overall lack of balance, that should be covered under factory warranty for the first 12mo or 12,000 miles. High road force that can't be corrected by indexing will require the tires to be replaced.

Sounds like they were just out of balance and GTG now.

 

[Padawan]

Luckily no lot rot. Straight through production to delivery.

Did your WT sit for an extended period prior to taking delivery? If so, it's highly probably you have flat spots that may or may not ever come out of. Unfortunately, Ford considers this "lot rot" which is the dealer's responsibility. If you were sitting in Michigan for a long time it would be Ford's problem.

If the problem is high road force or just overall lack of balance, that should be covered under factory warranty for the first 12mo or 12,000 miles. High road force that can't be corrected by indexing will require the tires to be replaced.

Sounds like they were just out of balance and GTG now.

 

[Monster1926]

I had 3 of 4 tires replaced early on. Over 50 lbs on the balancer. The one good one was 18lbs. They struggled to balance the new ones and could only get them down into the low 30's. I still have the wobble right around 70-75 mph.

I'm trying not to be a pain in the rear, but wondering if I should take it back to the dealer (but what do I say: better balance or replace again) or live with it. It does bug me and speed limits around me are 70mph, so I'm in the wobble range frequently.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

If they won’t balance it’s a manufactures defect and they will replace them. Finding a tech that actually knows how to balance properly is the problem. It takes a lot of time and ford doesn’t want to pay it.

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