'08 Mountaineer Vibrating With New Tires

[CPDecker]

I had a set of 235/65R18 Cooper Discoverer CTS tires installed on my 2008 Mercury Mountaineer Premier V8 AWD with about 40,000 miles. The tires were balanced and the vehicle was aligned. Following the installation the vehicle began vibrating at highway speeds. The vehicle did not vibrate on the way to the tire shop.

I returned to the local tire shop the next day and they did a road force balance on all for tires, each one was off by 1 ounce. This did not resolve the vibration.

I returned to the shop again the next day at which point they told me it was impossible for the vehicle to be vibrating due to the tires. After the mechanics took the vehicle for a drive and then me driving with them in it, they agreed there was a bad vibration coming through the body (floor boards and door handles). They pulled off a rear tire to balance it again and they then claimed that the rim (stock) was bent at which point they tried to balance it again but the vibration got worse.

I did have a vibration when braking that appears to have been caused by a warped rotor. I replaced the rotors and pads today. The vibration during braking is gone but the vibration that is coming through the body, and to a lesser extent through the steering wheel, is still there. The vibration is noticeable at about 35-40 mph and gets worse at highway speeds.

I driving the family to Florida, about a 20 hour trip, in a couple weeks and I need to resolve the problem by then. Is it possible that they could balance the tires twice before finding a bent rim? Are bent rims common? This is my wife’s vehicle and it has never been off-road.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Thank you in advance!

 

[swetrid]

Could be bad tires, did they give you the road force specs. It should be less than 20lbs, anything higher can create a vibration. I would say if it wasn't there before, it is the tires. I work for Ford and just put 4 brand new Wrangler rts on mine and it vibrated bad. Brought it back in the shop and had 2 tires with 40lbs of roadforce. Had to get 4 more tires till I got 2 good ones under 20lbs of roadforce. New tires are sometimes manufactured improperly and create problems.

 

[waskly]

heres a little tip about tires.

tires have 3 grades to them

grade a tires, only mfg will get these tires.
grade b tires, only retail stores of said tire get these tires
grade c tires, only 3rd party, discount stores get these tires.

that does this mean, mfg get the best build tires. they are the best customer for tire mfg. 2nd is there own outlets 3rd is who ever wants to sell tires.

with that said, they sold some bad tires.

as for bent rims, its not hard to bend them, you dont need to off road with them, you can just hit a pothole right enough to bent rims.
but it should of been seen the first time they balanced them, when they need 5 oz on one side.

 

[CPDecker]

Thank you for the reponses. I didn't want to give the tire shop a hard time if somehow it could have been the vehicle.

They did not give me any specs on the roadforce. Where can I get more info on the roadforce process so I can be more educated when I return to the shop?

After six sets of Bridgestone Deuler Revos and one set of Revo 2s on different Fords and Jeeps over the years without any problems, I sure wish Bridgestone made them in the correct size for the Mountaineer.

Thanks again!

 

[belvin20]

The tires are bad, I had the exact same set of Coopers put on my 06 Explorer, had bad vibration, dealer replaced the entire set, vibration went away, you have a bad set of Coopers.

 

[CPDecker]

After way too many trips to the tire shop I had them take the Coopers off the Mountaineer and replace them with Michelin Cross Terrains and the vibration is gone.

Thanks for the help!

My advice, stay away from the Cooper Discoverer CTS!