01 Tacoma Tire Question

[JAJI4]

I suppose I should be posting this question on a Tacoma forum somewhere on another site - I just can't seem to break away from the MUD site. Too many good folks here.

When I recently bought my 01 Tacoma (about 2 weeks ago), the prior owner put new tires on the truck before the sale. The tires are "cheap-o" Geo-Track radials (never heard of them before) but they were new. When driving on the highway, I was getting a vibration that my local mechanic advised are out of round tires. He verified it while rebalancing them for me. I have a couple of questions on this.

1. Are out of round tires a safety hazard? Money is tight, but I will not sacrifice my family's safety for $1k in replacing the tires if necessary.
2. If not a safety issue, will the mild to moderate vibration at highway speeds cause faster wear on my suspension? Again, if it is going to cause more wear/tear headaches down the road, why not take care of the problem now, I suppose.
3. I use my Tacoma as a DD and family weekend hauler to the beach and hardware store. No off-roading for me. Any recommendations on good quality tires for highway driving? I've always been a Michelin man, but am open to other suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Duane]

Are your rims alloys or steel?
If alloy here is a link/thread I started a while ago.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/95-gen-toy...ancing-problems-my-99-4runner-alloy-rims.html
To confirm if a tire combo is out of round I would jack up each corner of the vehicle, one at a time, set up blocks to put a pointer on(I used a prybar) and then spin your tire and watch to see how much up and down or side to side run out you observe to see if the tire or even the rim are out. Or if it is a balancing problem.
Before buying new tires maybe check this out and put the worse ones on the back for the least vibration. I think driving on them tends to wear off the high side as well if they are slightly out of round so let the rear end do this for you rather than putting the wear on your front end.

I had bought new Nokian tires and then upgraded back to my favorite Michelin LTX M/S..they still shook..then the finger pointing went to the rims..then I was to buy new rims... at any rate... needed a good balance on them... first sign of problems was getting my new upgraded tires/michelins and seeing 3 weights in a row on the rim... never seen a Michelin in that bad of shape to need that kind of weight..definitely a flag that something is wrong if a michelin light truck tire needs that much weight in one place.

 

[SC T100]

My truck had new BF Goodrich Radial Long Trail T/As on it when I bought it (Note: not the Long Trail Tours). Great tire so far (about 12K on them now). They ride very well and are pretty quiet. Good grip in the wet (very deep channels) and dry, and even gave me decent traction in the snow once. I don't do a ton of offroading, so they seem to be a great tire for me. After 12K miles, they look barely worn. They are a bit scarce now i believe, and they apparantly don't make them in 31X10.5x15 anymore like mine. But I have seen them around, and maybe they will match your truck's size. Just a good option to compare.

 

[JAJI4]

Thanks for the tips. I'm thinking of replacing the tires in the next few weeks.