Flat spotting Issues Recommendations?

[nklem]

Sorry for the long post.

24 2 Door Base with 18” OBX wheels. 4800 miles.

Oem B/S 17’s were good and smooth but wanted to fill the wheel wells and add white letters. Running OEMs Winter.

I have B/S on my Silverado EV and they are laser smooth at 24k miles, smoothest tires I ever had.

I stuck with B/S. Anyway chose B/S Dueler AT Ascents. 275/65/18. Great reviews (none bad on high end lux vehicles Range Rover and Rivian) and local shop recommended.

After install I noted road forces up to 27# written on wheels when rotating and shaking. Could not stand shake it was at 32 MPH and up.

Took it back a few weeks ago. They Found missing weights and re-road forced. 19 pounds worst case Road Force which is great for an AT tire. Son drove it home and noticed a slight rear shake. I was traveling for work for a week. He drove it for 4 more days, 200-300 plus miles and said it went away and was super OEM smooth.

I returned and drove it for 2 days in bliss, super smooth like off the lot new (weather was warm 60’s). I let it set for a 3 day weekend and cooler temps and shaking is back. It did not go away in first 55 miles trip.

I Finally upped air pressure to 40 PSI (from 35) and intermittent shaking. over the last week, some days shakes gone in 15 miles, other not gone after 30 miles. One day completely shake free over 40 miles. Seems to be doing better now and smoothing out.

So I assume they are flat spotting. I do have a gravel driveway. I am on the 90 day test drive for another week and can get alternate tires swapped for just mount balance cost.

Thinking about the Firestone Dest XT in an LT, white letters of course.

Anyone have any success with them or seen Flatspotting like this with F/S LT
tires? Will LTs be less prone to flat spotting?

Advice is appreciated.

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[BroncoChallenger]

Tires left to sit too long WILL flat spot, the softer the compound and the lower the tire pressure the worse they'll do it. There are ways to prevent it, if you know it's going to sit for a while you can put it on jack stands (under the axle/control arms to keep the suspension loaded), you can put it on some of those 'car dolly' style casters with curved bottoms, it DOES help, we do it with our Challenger in the winter.

 

[Blue Hen]

TFL did a nice comparison on the Firestone Destination XT's.

 

[NC_Oak]

OP doesnt state long sitting times. Maybe you just got a bad tire that won't balance

 

[BroncoChallenger]

OP doesnt state long sitting times. Maybe you just got a bad tire that won't balance

I mean this absolutely could be a possibility. I've only come across it ONCE in my life, when I was a kid - my dad had a 1990 suburban (mom's ride to haul us kids), he put a new set of tires on it and within a month one of them had a flat spot...on a vehicle that almost NEVER sat. Getting it rebalanced helped some, but he ended up getting the tire replaced under warranty.

 

[BroncocnorB]

I vote bad tire(s). My S3 would shake badly during first six months of ownership. Tried everything as you described. Had to get a complete new set. Problem solved. FYI the tire manufacturer paid for the tires. Some kind of silent recall…

 

[GoHawks63]

That's odd that it's flat spotting after a relatively short time. My Bronco has sat at times for over a week because when the weather is good, I drive either my Roush Mustang or my CTS-V, and I haven't experienced flat spotting when I get back in the Bronco. As a matter of fact, depending on weather and which car I've been driving, any one of the three cars may sit for a week or more, and I haven't experienced the issue.

Now I do experience some minor flat spotting in the spring when the Roush and CTS-V come out of winter storage, but it always resolves itself after a couple of miles of driving and doesn't happen again. Now those two cars are wearing low profile soft summer tires (Continentals on the Roush and Michelins on the CTS-V), so I don't know if that is a factor.

I am going with the consensus that it may be a bad tire.

 

[nklem]

OP doesnt state long sitting times. Maybe you just got a bad tire that won't balance

Was Sitting for 12 hours to up to 3 days. 3 days was worst (85 miles and shake not gone). Actually having them them up at 40 PSI cold, much better now. I guess 35 was just too low for them. So far very smooth over the last 5 days with no shakes. As smooth as factory. They just may be keepers versus trying again with an LT tire. Maybe they had a break in period? It’s been 1500 miles. I have never had an issue like this….and I have driven over 800,000 miles and bought a lot of tires.

 

[VirginiaHeritage]

You don’t know what flat spotting is until you’ve parked your Tacoma outside overnight when it’s 45 below zero and your 31’s are at 26psi.

I thought I had square tires for the first half mile.

 

[nklem]

You don’t know what flat spotting is until you’ve parked your Tacoma outside overnight when it’s 45 below zero and your 31’s are at 26psi.

I thought I had square tires for the first half mile.

I can only imagine….

 

[23OBX2.7]

You will not get any flat spotting on that tire profile it is only noticable on low profile tires and they work out after a few min.

Bad tires easy warranty sooner the better bring all documentation attempted remedy so far maybe take to another shop for yet another opinion.

 

[nklem]

Whelp after a trip to Boston, 500 miles round trip, I decided to use the free 90 day test drive upgrade and ditch the Duelers. Even though I was going to just live with them, they were smooth about 70% of the time, but the trip to Boston was smooth down, but shook back, 110 miles, Smooth again for 80 miles and then I stopped to do an oil change (#1) at my sons house. It shook all the way home from warm tires and then 4 hours cooling in his gravel driveway and shaking all the way home. This stretch of road is super smooth and newly paved. So, I made the switch to the Firestone Destination XT. Why not? If I was going to have shaking, I might as well have an LT tire with aggressive tread. They do look great, resonably quiet and smooth at highway speeds. A little shaky around town with speeds 30-40 but I am sure a lot of mass on those wheels, I like them. They are nearly .25” wider tread width than the Dueler AT Ascents

 

[NC_Oak]

still shaky at 30 - 40 mph? you may have something else afoot

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