New Tire & Wheel Problems 2020 CM

2020 SR5 Crewmax 4x4 1100 mi on the clock. Bone stock suspension.

I thought I might try to reach out about my new tire and wheel issues. I am stumped.... Just got 285/65 R18 E1 BFG KO2's mounted on Method 305NV's drove away from the shop and things seemed fine however quickly deteriorated on the highway. from 60-70mph I have a bad steering wheel vibration and the truck wants to drift to the right. Probably oscillating back and forth +/- 5 degrees and my steering loses sensitivity until I either speed up or slow down. So bare with me.... I took it back yesterday, the shop said they didn't get balanced properly. They re-balanced and apparently were having an extremely difficult time getting the tires to balance (took 2+ hrs). When they finished they said they drove it and was not bad. I leave once again onto the highway and it is worse than before! Two of my wheels has 12+ oz. of stick on weights and they double stacked them in two places. Called them back they said this is normal Tundra's are very sensitive to offroad tires and that there is little they can do. I have checked and double checked pressures, torque on lugs, and swapped them around front and back to no avail. I am wondering if since they are lug-centric wheels this could be part of the problem that I may need a hub-centric ring adapter?

The truck had factory steel wheels with Michelin LTX's which I understand will feel very different than an E range KO2 BUT the truck had no drift and no vibration before what so ever, it drove like butter compared to this. My question is from a standard tire like this what changes do you see in steering? I only can speak from past on my Tahoe and Jeep that KO2's really did not change the drivability much if any.

I really don't want to change the setup, I think it looks killer. But if I have to go back to a different tire I guess I will if that means I wont have carpel tunnel and numb hands when cruising at 65mph.

 

Honestly from what I have been hearing on this forum and advice from a friend these newer KO2’s are crap. Extremely hard to balance and nothing like the original KO2 tire that was an amazing tire. Not sure what the differences are from generations but thus the reason I went with a Nitto tire. Some people have problems with this newer generation of KO2 and some do not. Hope you get the issue figured out and great looking truck!

 

I just got off the phone with the shop, they are offering swapping to a different tire if I pay the difference. However they will cover mount and balance fees. What is a good option? They immediately went to the Nitto Ridge Grappler which are $60 per tire more. I just do not want to spend even more money if it comes down to being a wheel issue.

 

I’ve been happy with my Nitto RGs. Braking is the only category they don’t get 5/5 in my book. I’ve been running them 15k miles.

 

I think the white paint on the outside is throwing it out of balance

seriously though I have ridge grapplers are they are so good. Especially if you drive a lot of high ways.

goodluck op hope you get this situated

 

it might cost you a little but i'd take it to another shop to get another opinion, rebalance and alignment. some things said that would concern me about them:

'took it back and is worse than before'
'drive it and said not bad' this translates to me that they are ok with having issues with their work
'tundras are very sensitive to off-road tires' i call bs

 

The wheels are lug centric so make sure that the lugs are installed correctly a lot of shops run them all the way up with the impact but should be 75% impact torque and the rest hand.

 

I have the Falken Wildpeak 305/65/18 on Method 305NV's with no problem.

 

Nitto Ridge Grappler, Wildpeak AT3, Nitto G2 AT are some good options. Happy with my RG as well...

 

I rotated them myself at home and torque'd everything to 125.

What is your suspension setup? How much weight did it take to balance them? I am concerned that the double stacked weights are going to fly off and cause a mass casualty on the interstate.

 

Your weights should never be double stacked!

 

Get some Ridge Grapplers or Wildpeaks. From everything I’ve read on here, while doing some research on tires, the Ko2’s are a bitch to balance. It’s too bad because I had them on a few trucks in the past and I would have went with them again for the Tundra but I’m not taking the chance that they won’t be able to be balanced.

 

Toyo AT IIIs. Done.

 

I have Bilstein 5100's all around. The fronts set at 2.38" (top setting). I have no idea on the weights.

 

TOYO OPEN COUNTRY AT III, anyone running these I have four new ones ready to go on. They look good not lot of reviews so new.

 

I love my Wildpeaks... best AT tire for the $$$.

 

ANYTHING Nitto. Mmmmm. Made in Japan.

I run the Terra Grappler G2's (essentially their all terrain). On my 2nd set. 1st set went 63,000 miles (with prolly 5,000 more left in them) and never needed to be rebalanced. 275/60/20's for me.

 

Nitto is a U.S.A. subsidiary of Toyo. All Nitto’s I’ve bought were made in the USA. Not something you can say about the “American” brands.

 

K. Didn't know.

My Terra Grappler G2's, purchased and put on 6 weeks ago, don't know that either. Ho hum.

 

Cool. I edited my post. Looks like they have 6 plants. The 8 I’ve bought were all made in the US.

 

The TOYOs in my garage say Made in USA, but the fact is they are a Japanese company sucks to me but at $202 each free shipping its close enough. I mean I'm driving a Japanese owned truck made in Texas LOL...