| Author | Message | ||
     ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Member Username: Scubaman99 Post Number: 63 Registered: 06-2002 |
WOW!!!! just mounted my new MT/R's on my Disco (95 DI, OME MD springs and shocks) put them on a set of stock steel wheels(this is an off road set as im keeping my michelins as daily drivers on the stock Castors). couple of inital thoughts... 1. my Speedo FINALLY reads dead on (guaged with GPS). prior to today, my speedo was always reading aprox 10mph fast... 2. MT/R's are suprisingly quiet... well no more noisy then the Michellins. 3. according to the EE tire size calculator, the only difference between 235 and 245's is about an inch... uh... side by side... the 245 look HUGE!!! 4. the new tires rub when i crank the wheel over... can anyone tell me how to make that adjustment.. 5. i definately got my monies worth from the tire guy... each tire took almost a pound... thats right almost a POUND of LEAD... the guy kept scratching his head as he balanced each tire. 6. tires ride suprisingly smooth!!! 7. totaly looking forward to next weekend... gotta see how these babys grip!!! anyone up for Hollister or cow mtn next weekend? KEN | ||
| EricV (Bender2033) Member Username: Bender2033 Post Number: 217 Registered: 08-2002 |
I am running 245/75 on my 96 too. If you look under the front of your truck near the swivels you will see a bolt that is used to set the "steering stop". Just let that out a few turns to keep your tires from rubbing. If you need I can snap a photo. | ||
| Joe M. (Little_joe) Member Username: Little_joe Post Number: 145 Registered: 11-2002 |
Yeah the MTR's rub on the radius arms, adjust the steering stops to prevent it. A pound of lead is not good - is it the tires or the wheels? I have 33x12.50 MTR's on my Toy and they only took a few ounces each, and on my Disco no tire took more than 2oz. joe | ||
| ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Member Username: Scubaman99 Post Number: 65 Registered: 06-2002 |
Thxs folks... Eric, can you pls send me a snapshot of the bolt... there seem to be just a few different choices... id really hate to unscrew the wrong one. Joe, yeah i agree that a nearly a pound of lead isnt optimal... i have communicated a few times with ho and he was saying that MT/R's suck for balancing... so i guess it just goes with the territory?!?!? i REALLY dread the day i go wheeling and accidentally throw a weight. i'd imagine that the ride home will suck. as for if its tire or wheel being the culpurt... i dont know. what i can tell you is that the tires are mounted on the standard Land rover steel wheel (same rims as what the spares come on, do they tend to be hard to balance?) KEN | ||
| Blue (Blue) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Blue Post Number: 338 Registered: 04-2003 |
 A pound of lead per wheel sucks. The Land Rover steel wheels should be fine if they're in good condition. Did all 5 of your MTR's take a pound? | ||
| Joe M. (Little_joe) Member Username: Little_joe Post Number: 146 Registered: 11-2002 |
Ken, some shops can check the actual wheel before the tire is mounted - not a bad idea to do this if you bought used wheels. Also, rotating the tire on the rim may help reduce the amount of weight required to get a good balance. I don't agree that MTR's are hard to balance. I have 2 sets balanced out w/ little weight and I personally know a few dozen folks running them, all w/ less weight than comparable tires. I had my Disco MTR's done w/ the Hunter GSP9700 road force balance and they are smooth as can be, w/ the little weight mentioned previously. joe | ||
| John Lee (Johnlee) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Johnlee Post Number: 376 Registered: 03-2003 |
That pound of lead per tire isn't really surprising. Goodyear MT/R's are generally very hard to balance. | ||
| gp (Garrett) Senior Member Username: Garrett Post Number: 2271 Registered: 10-2001 |
i have seen shops that only put weights on one side. LR Harrisburg did this and they were the worst balanced tires i have seen. not that i have balanced that many, but know enough that 7 ounces on one side is bad. really bad. my NATOs with Coopers on them have about 1-2 ounces per side of the wheel. i have a new Accuturn 1400 and can get within 3 grams. Hunter is some nice shit though. we don't do enough wheel work to be able to fork over that kind of cash. | ||
| gp (Garrett) Senior Member Username: Garrett Post Number: 2272 Registered: 10-2001 |
and what makes a tire hard to balance? i know that the meatier the tire (i.e. MT's, etc) they tend to need more weight. least from what i have seen so far. | ||
| Blue (Blue) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Blue Post Number: 340 Registered: 04-2003 |
accuracy & precision in manufacturing. the tire should be "equally meaty" all the way around. | ||
| gp (Garrett) Senior Member Username: Garrett Post Number: 2273 Registered: 10-2001 |
well techically you can balance a block of wood. my coopers work out pretty good, but i did my dads Pirelli's this past weekend and they were way out of balance. i hate those fucking Scorpion pieces of shit. so the MTR's are not very well manufactured? i don't like GY's in general, but the MTR seems to be of a different breed. | ||
| John Lee (Johnlee) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Johnlee Post Number: 377 Registered: 03-2003 |
Our Equal Tire Balancer customers fall into two main groups: (1) those who aren't having any problems with tire balance but want to use Equal anyway; and (2) those who cannot get their tires balanced no matter what they try. And this second group has tried it all, including BB's, golf balls, lead weights, mercury balancing, etc. This second camp is composed almost entirely of Interco or Goodyear MT/R owners. I think both tires are pieces of shit. | ||
| Blue (Blue) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Blue Post Number: 341 Registered: 04-2003 |
there's no such thing as a perfect circle, but some are less perfect than others... | ||
| Milan (Milan) Member Username: Milan Post Number: 240 Registered: 10-2002 |
I could not be more happy with my MTRs. But they're of the 35x12.50R15 variety. Maybe their 16" counterparts ar edifferent. The 35s are most easily balanced tire I've ever had and this is the first time I'm hearing MTRs are hard to balance. I actually spin the rims inside the tires frequently and I can still drive home without vibrations even with tires out of balance. When balanced they ride very smoothly and take very little weight. The Swampers on the other hand could not be balanced no matter what and they were 33s. My buddy has them now on different rims and rebalanced and still they wobble. We were able to balance 37" boggers using Equal, so like John says, if nothing else will work, give that a shot. But I'd check those rims frist. | ||
| Will Cupp (W_cupp) New Member Username: W_cupp Post Number: 34 Registered: 07-2003 |
It seems that if you were running swamper's you could care less about balancing. | ||
| ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Member Username: Scubaman99 Post Number: 66 Registered: 06-2002 |
just an fyi... im not complaining that it took so much lead to balance the tires... as they ride nice, and a lot quiter then other tires on the hwy. in any event, as for the steering... i just backed out both bolts as far as they will go. is there any problem with this??? i.e. does it change toe in or just it just limit the outer turn limit.... should i have been more precise? | ||
| Alan Bates (Alanb) Senior Member Username: Alanb Post Number: 291 Registered: 07-2002 |
It just limits the turn, might want to slowly turn the bolt back in till it rubs then back it out a little till it stops, so you don't lose more of the already lousy turning radius. | ||
| Mike Bauer (Mikeb) Member Username: Mikeb Post Number: 89 Registered: 02-2003 |
Ken: Those MTR's will be start making lots of noise soon enough. Thanks, Mike B. | ||
| Mike Bauer (Mikeb) Member Username: Mikeb Post Number: 90 Registered: 02-2003 |
Oh, yea. I can't get my MTRs balanced either. I have 3 oz. of equal in each tire. Works fine when the tires are warm and up to about 68 mph. Equal seems to stop working at about 70 mph. Thanks, Mike B. | ||
| ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Member Username: Scubaman99 Post Number: 73 Registered: 06-2002 |
Post WHeeling thoughts.... Truck: 95 DI, OME MD springs & Shocks (10mo old), RN Sliders, Factory brush bar w/LR hella 4000's, QT diff guard on rear, rear swaybar disconnected OUT: Michelin XPC on Castor wheels IN: Goodyear MT/R 245/75/16 on stock LR steel wheels. ON ROAD 1. speedo now reads dead on (measured against GPS) where before with the "stock XPC's" the speedo would read aprox 10mph fast 2. MT/R's feel a little less "on track" truck has a tendency to feel like its wandering 3. eventhough it took a lot of lead to balance the tires, they feel nice and SMOOTH 4. MT/R's are just slightly louder then XPC's are at 50% tread 5. truck no longer fits in garage with new MT/R's. thus i will be swapping them out with my old XPC's on castor wheels... looks like these MT/R's will be my "off road set of tires" OFF ROAD... 1. for the last 4yrs of wheeling my disco i have ALWAYS used the stock XPC's. the difference between the two is NIGHT AND DAY... Much more then i had ever anticipated. flexi trails where i would get crossed and spin the old XPC's... i now dont have that problem. i think the extra inch of tire size coupled with the tremendous amount of traction have a synergistic effect and i was truly suprised by the difference. 2. Having run 245's now, i dont believe Anyone who says you can disconect your rear sway bars AND put 245 MTR's on your rig AND not need to trim your rear wheel well's. My personal exp has shown me that disconnected rear sb, running on relatively new OME MD springs and shocks (only 10mo old) and meaty new MTR's... will chew up your fender well BAD, when you run FLEXI trails(trails where you get extream amounts of articulation). my suggestion, if you get new 245 and you wheel Flexi trails... CUT your wheel wells BEFORE hand, or else risk tearing up your fender well sheet metal. the only thing i can think of for those who do run 245's on MD or stock springs is that your not running really flexi trails, cause 15min into Hollister i could already hear the "pop pop pop pop pop" of the lugs hitting my fenders. by the end of the day, i ended up tearing the sheet metal, ouch... 3. air down. "on road" i run the MTR's at 55psi (tires are rated to 80psi) initially i left them there and spun the wheels suprisingly easy. so i stopped and aired down to 30psi, the tire handled a much better but still had a little wheel spin here and there. stopped again and aired down to 25psi almost no wheel spin what so ever. my gut tells me i could have done 22PSI +/- a few pounds in either direction and would have been fine, but i didnt want to give up to much tire height, so i left it at 25PSI as a nice compromise THings learned... MTR's are good on road and GREAT off road, but they will make short order of your fenders if you dont trim or "volumize them". hope this experience/info helps!!! KEN btw: check us out at:http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalrovers | ||
| Peter Matusov (Pmatusov) Senior Member Username: Pmatusov Post Number: 1032 Registered: 09-2002 |
Ken, that makes me wonder every time I read this. BTDT | ||
| Ryan Melnick (Raoul_duke) New Member Username: Raoul_duke Post Number: 1 Registered: 08-2003 |
John, What are you guys running for tires off road/ on road? I'm looking for something that does it all well (who isn't LOL!) And you fellas really seem to have your heads on straight. Intercos are for Red Necks, as I always see them on those HUGE Chevies and fords. Silly. RD | ||
| A. Ali (Alia176) Member Username: Alia176 Post Number: 103 Registered: 03-2003 |
It took three shops to optimally balance my MT/Rs (235 85 16) without using a huge amount of weight. The third shop was an offical Goodyear truck tire shop took all weights off and used very little weight to balance them perfectly. Just a FYI. | ||
| ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Member Username: Scubaman99 Post Number: 82 Registered: 06-2002 |
Tirerack survey between MT/R's and BFG MT's MT/R's Results from our online tire survey: 243 surveys submitted 2,810,868 miles reported Dry traction=9 Wet traction=8.1 Hydro resistance=8.2 Snow traction=9.2 Cornering stability=8.1 Steering response=8.2 Ride comfort=7.9 Noise comfort=7.2 Tread wear=8 BFG MT T/A KM Results from our online tire survey: 96 surveys submitted 1,633,687 miles reported Dry traction=8.3 Wet traction=7.3 Hydro resistance=7.5 Snow traction=7.9 Cornering stability=7.4 Steering response=7.4 Ride comfort=7.2 Noise comfort=6.6 Tread wear=7.5 Key: Superior (8.6-10) Excellent (6.6-8.5) Good (4.6-6.5) Fair (2.6-4.5) Unacceptable (0-2.5) | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 1872 Registered: 02-2002 |
I love my MTR's and yes they are a whore to balance.  They have been on the Pig for 1 year (15000 Miles) and tread wear is minimal. They get loud though, very loud. | ||
| Aaron Owens (Aaronowens) New Member Username: Aaronowens Post Number: 28 Registered: 10-2002 |
"Intercos are for Red Necks, as I always see them on those HUGE Chevies and fords. Silly. RD" LOL. I guess that makes me a redneck. Aaron | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 1873 Registered: 02-2002 |
Aaron I am sorry to hear that. I can never wheel or even be seen with an Interco having redneck. Paul Disclaimer: this post was crafted with the highest level of sarcasm that one person can create. | ||
| Brian Dickens (Bri) Senior Member Username: Bri Post Number: 614 Registered: 08-2002 |
I believe that the problem with tires that makes them difficult to balance is the uniformity of the tire material and shape. A typical balancing method cannot catch this problem (and/or average crappy tire shop). However a shop that balances big meats regularly or just a high quality high precision shop will. There are some shops that have balancers that place some load on the tire to measure the radial force variation (look for someone with one of these). When done properly balancing should be done with an adapter plate/cone that simulates the hub as well as with lug nuts in place. If not you will not get a good balance on rover wheels. Most shops call this a static balance or load balance I believe. The shops that know what I am talking about when I mention this have had zero problem balancing any tire that I take to them. | ||
| Greg Davis (Gregdavis) Senior Member Username: Gregdavis Post Number: 986 Registered: 08-2002 |
That's OK Aaron. I'll hang out w/ you, since according to Ryan, I'm even more Red than you are. I laugh at people when they make uneducated, generalized blanket statements like that.  |
