37” Mickey Thompson Baja Boss Balancing

[Moose568]

I purchased 37 inch Mickey Thompson Baja boss tires. 37X 12.5 X 17 on fuel rims. Tire shop balance them and said four of the five tires was over 14 ounces of weights. So I opted to go with balancing beads. I’ll mount them this week hopefully it works.

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[Cypher]

I purchased 37 inch Mickey Thompson Baja boss tires. 37X 12.5 X 17 on fuel rims. Tire shop balance them and said four of the five tires was over 14 ounces of weights. So I opted to go with balancing beads. I’ll mount them this week hopefully it works.

ATs or MTs? That seems like a lot of weight, wonder if the wheel is part of the issue?

 

[Moose568]

Ok, I drove back from Gupton’s today with mopar 2” lift and factory Rubicon wheels and tires with zero problems. 6 hour drive between 70-80 mph. I got home and mounted my 37” Baja boss A/t pictured in the first post. I get the death wobble around 38mph. If I get on it and hit 50 it does ok. It’s only if I slowly get to 35+. What now? I’m calling Nicky Thompson Monday to see that they say about these tires calling for 14+ounces.

 

[Moose568]

P.S The rims are new

 

[Moose568]

 

[Headbarcode]

Ok, I drove back from Gupton’s today with mopar 2” lift and factory Rubicon wheels and tires with zero problems. 6 hour drive between 70-80 mph. I got home and mounted my 37” Baja boss A/t pictured in the first post. I get the death wobble around 38mph. If I get on it and hit 50 it does ok. It’s only if I slowly get to 35+. What now? I’m calling Nicky Thompson Monday to see that they say about these tires calling for 14+ounces.

Full on death wobble that needs slowing to a near stop to settle down, or just a bad shimmy that lasts a couple seconds after a bump? Does it even require a bump in the road to induce it? Other than that, are the 37's showing any signs of vibration at highway speeds? Did the shop use a road force balancer that is higher recommended for 35's and up?

 

[Windshieldfarmer]

Make sure the tires were “road forced” balanced. Huge difference compared to dynamic balancing. Not all shops have road force balancing equipment. Discount Tire stores typically can do this for you…

 

[Moose568]

They were not road forced. I’ll be looking for another shop with that capability. No bump needed for shake. I’ll take it for another drive today and post more details

 

[Marine2146]

Ok, I drove back from Gupton’s today with mopar 2” lift and factory Rubicon wheels and tires with zero problems. 6 hour drive between 70-80 mph. I got home and mounted my 37” Baja boss A/t pictured in the first post. I get the death wobble around 38mph. If I get on it and hit 50 it does ok. It’s only if I slowly get to 35+. What now? I’m calling Nicky Thompson Monday to see that they say about these tires calling for 14+ounces.

I have the Baja boss AT tires in 35x12.5r17 I mounted on 17x9 wheels. I mounted and balanced mine using a Mayflower tools brand tire machine and balancer. Mine took anywhere from 5 oz to 8.5 oz to balance dynamically, one tire took 0. As far as I can tell Mickey Thompson doesn’t mark the light spot of their tires to line up with the valve stem, they recommend using some type of machine that finds that out. They are heavy tires for their size so I’m not surprised they took so much weight.
They do ride supper smooth on the highway at speed. I have about 1500 miles on them so far. If they start having issues when the tread wears down I can always easily rebalance them.
I’ve used balance beads in the past on my TJ that were put in by a tire shop. Living in the mountains I found that the balance beads didn’t like curvy roads, they vibrated a bit until you got back into a straight section. The beads also can make it worse until they all spread out at spread, every time you come to a stop or drive at low speed they have to spread out again once you get going. That’s most likely where your vibration at 35mph is coming from. They need centrifugal force to work properly, the larger the tire the higher the speed it takes for them to work.
I would take the beads out if I were you. just be sure to let the shop know you have beads, they’ll never get them to balance with them in there.

 

[Moose568]

Ok, I switched the front tires with the rear. A little better but I’ll call around to have them rad balanced. Thanks everyone

 

[Headbarcode]

I have the Baja boss AT tires in 35x12.5r17 I mounted on 17x9 wheels. I mounted and balanced mine using a Mayflower tools brand tire machine and balancer. Mine took anywhere from 5 oz to 8.5 oz to balance dynamically, one tire took 0. As far as I can tell Mickey Thompson doesn’t mark the light spot of their tires to line up with the valve stem, they recommend using some type of machine that finds that out. They are heavy tires for their size so I’m not surprised they took so much weight.
They do ride supper smooth on the highway at speed. I have about 1500 miles on them so far. If they start having issues when the tread wears down I can always easily rebalance them.
I’ve used balance beads in the past on my TJ that were put in by a tire shop. Living in the mountains I found that the balance beads didn’t like curvy roads, they vibrated a bit until you got back into a straight section. The beads also can make it worse until they all spread out at spread, every time you come to a stop or drive at low speed they have to spread out again once you get going. That’s most likely where your vibration at 35mph is coming from. They need centrifugal force to work properly, the larger the tire the higher the speed it takes for them to work.
I would take the beads out if I were you. just be sure to let the shop know you have beads, they’ll never get them to balance with them in there.

Yeah, I've never been a fan of using balancing beads. I used to hear a lot about them in motorcycle tires and nowadays with larger jeep tires. If I lived in a very dry and warmer climate, maybe, but any moisture in the air would condense in the tire and cause the beads to clump and not work as expected.

35's are the most common size seen on Jeeps in my neck of the woods, with occasional 37's. The shop that road forced my previous 38's said its the largest tire they ever handled, but they did an excellent job. When I recently went back there to swap on a set of 40's, they actually remembered my Jeep and had to verify that they could fit the 40's on their machine. They were a tad nervous at first and mentioned the possibility of using beads. I said I didn't want that and was getting nervous myself until they came out after a couple were done and said it's all working out just fine. It's never fun being the guinea pig.

 

[Moose568]

Took the Jeep to Discount Tires and they road forced balanced them. I showed them the email from Mickey Thompson that said they will replace the tire if it takes over 26 ounces per tire. Where in the hell would you put that much weight? Lol. They balanced them with 9-14 ounces per Tire. It rides great and I’m happy. Thanks guys

 

[Cypher]

Took the Jeep to Discount Tires and they road forced balanced them. I showed them the email from Mickey Thompson that said they will replace the tire if it takes over 26 ounces per tire. Where in the hell would you put that much weight? Lol. They balanced them with 9-14 ounces per Tire. It rides great and I’m happy. Thanks guys

26 ounces is the upper limit? holy crap thats a lot. My last set of Nittos were like 2-5 ounces max per tire. I know that was lucky, but wow.

I imagine if it really took that much they would be a nightmare to keep balanced due to weights falling off etc.

 

[joshuathorpe1980]

Ok, I drove back from Gupton’s today with mopar 2” lift and factory Rubicon wheels and tires with zero problems. 6 hour drive between 70-80 mph. I got home and mounted my 37” Baja boss A/t pictured in the first post. I get the death wobble around 38mph. If I get on it and hit 50 it does ok. It’s only if I slowly get to 35+. What now? I’m calling Nicky Thompson Monday to see that they say about these tires calling for 14+ounces.

OK, so I have those same tires. Mickey Thompson told me to run my tires at 25 psi. Also, , you need to consider that the average cheaper wants to run a 17 inch rim on everything. Your rim, technically by rule of thumb should be half the size of your tire. My tires are balanced, but there’s quite a few weights on there. I would have to look. Sometimes eliminating weights can help. But let’s ask him even more important question? how long have you had your car? How many miles are on the suspension? And with the lift that you have did you upgrade your ball joints if you’re passing it about 30,000 miles or so? Steering components could have a major result in your steering too. I am sure that you know that. Just suggestion. If you have quite a few miles on stock, ball joints, tie rod, and track bar? Some people will disagree, but I also think that a sector shaft brace is an excellent idea on a jeep JL. Also sport correction brackets drop your control arms to get a better caster angle and smooth ride, which it will be closer to stock. All which, if not done, put more stress on your ball joints, and tie rod ends.

 

[Moose568]

Your reply was from an old post. Jeep had 400 miles on it, tires and rims were new. After I got rid of the balance beads, all was fine and still is. Thanks

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