Is it the Tires or the Rims??? Help

Hey Guys, I need your help on this wheel/tire problem

I own a 2000 Ford Explorer XLT 4X4, it came with teardrop wheels. I bought a set of wheels that according to some research should fit on my Exp. I did not buy them for the tires as I was expecting to buy tires anyhow and the ones that came with the rims where about half used and GoodYear (personal bad experience with GoodYear).

OK to make a long story short, have been using the GoodYear’s and they are better than I remember or better made then a few years ago. The only problem is that the tires aside from being louder than my Michelin SUV tires due to thread pattern there seems to be a hum that progressively as the vehicle accelerates gets worse. I don’t know how to describe the noise, but it’s like the little engine that could. A tire guy told me over the phone if it vibrates it’s the rims, if it chugs it’s the tires. I just want a second opinion and to make sure I’m not having a hub issue, I mean they seem to fit right on the hub no wobeling or anything like that.

Maybe I should contact the guy who sold them to me, he might know if the tires sat for a long time or something that would have damaged them??? I did the process of elimination last night and removed one wheel at a time and replaced it with one of my old rims. Went for a ride and moved on to the next rim. By the end of my experiment I was plenty tired and no happy ending.

Any ideas????

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

you have a couple of options

1. turn the radio up louder so you don't hear it
2. buy new tires/rims.

or

it sounds like the problem i have, except mine is just a constant hum, my neighbor who is a tire balancer said it's the tread wear, that at one time it was uneven, and now that it's been weighted/balanced to ride even, it's the different frequency of the sound coming from the friction

idk if that makes sense or not

good luck

 

[Blee1099]

Some tires are just louder on the highway than others. If its alot louder, I would check things like the balance on the tires.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

probably just uneven tire wear.

the duelers on my 98 howl a little bit especially after i just rotated them, i think it is slightly out of alignment.

i was running mud tires on my 92 and you could definitely tell that the tires got louder (were loud to begin with ) as they started to wear unevenly.

 

[AERTON]

So if it's uneven tire wear balancing them won't solve my problem right?

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

no.