Jeepwalker

OP, I think you're doing the right thing ..changing tires. Coopers are good ...you'll like those AT3 4S's ...a lot. Good tire. I have a few sets of Coopers on other trucks at the moment. Really happy with them. Also, someone mentioned Hankooks. They're not a cheap tire. They're a pretty good tire. I just put a set of LT Dynapro A/T 33-incher's on my H3, after a lot of research. I had Pirelli Scorpion ATR's on before (great tire), great for FL but not so good in deeper snow. Cooper AT3's were my 2nd H3 tire choice, but they didn't have the rim-protecting bead ...and I wanted a tire just a tad more aggressive than the Coopers as sometimes I need to churn through deeper snow (long driveway). Plus I wanted to try a set of dynapro's. So far so good. I've had good luck with Coopers in the past and the ones I have now.

If you can, see if the shop you're buying them from has a Road Force tire balancer (made by Hunter) ...and get them Road Force balanced if you can. Worth the extra effort IMO. Post a pic of your Jeep with the new meats after you get them installed!!

Happy Holidays!

arpunk

According to their website: "We have Hunter Alignment and Road Force Balance machines."
https://www.tmttire.net/

Jeepwalker

Cool! Probably a good shop ...if they invest in good equipment like that. Make sure you ask them to rotate each wheel to the tire (Known as 'Rim matching') per the balancer's instructions. Hopefully that's their normal practice. I personally make a point to stand there and watch tire techs as they do my tires. A number of shops or techs get lazy and tire techs are very crafty at cutting corners wherever they can, and not go that extra mile. Some might only rim-match in more extreme high-weight-reduction situations. I would ask them to rim-match each tire-rim no matter what unless there's virtually no gain expected. Because you (they) might still be able to reduce the amt of weight's needed for each tire, even if the machine indicates only a 2 or 3# gain by rim matching, it might turn out to be 5 or 7# reduction gain (the goal is to achieve the lowest # of lbs of road force).

I've literally stood right there at the balancer when I was helping my buddy balance my tires ...and the gain the machine predicted seemed to be a small gain, again, like a 3# gain. Not much. We debated weather we should rotate the rim or not (because it's an extra step ...and the lazy tech is going to skip rim matching a tire like that), but in the end we said, 'well, what the heck ..let's try it' ...and the reduction of weights is sometimes greater than the balancer had predicted. So it can be worth it. And sometimes the improvement was only what the machine indicated. Sometimes the amount of weights initially indicated can be nearly cut in half after rim-matching! That results in a better balance down the road, a smoother ride, longer life tires (most likely), and less stress on your vehicle's driveline. Also, the machine gives an 'after-balance' final balance score ..you might ask them to write down on the rim (with a piece of masking tape) what the final score (in lbs) turns out to be, just for your own knowledge. I usually put a piece of masking tape on my rims before I take them in so they don't have to hunt around for that elusive roll of tape. Just a thought.

Cheers!

.

arpunk

Thanks for the info! Can you go into more detail with regard to what rim matching is?

Jeepwalker

This is a pretty good video to watch. Rim matching is rotating the hard or high part of the tire to match a steel/aluminum wheel (they're not all 'perfect') to achieve the 'best' balance with the fewest weights. So you're matching the tire to a rim.

The drum btw, puts 1500 lbs of force on the tire to simulate road forces. You can see by the video, there are a lot of steps. That takes time and is more work. It goes pretty quick when a guy who's done a lot of them is just doing your tires. If the tech comes back and after the first spin and says (which they probably will), "It comes out to 15 lbs ...that's pretty good" That's your cue to say, "Well, let's try rim matching it and see how low we can get it." Then they're going to say, "I don't think I'd bother." Then you need to say, "Well ...let's see what the machine says ...and go from there". Then they're going to let out a big sigh ...maybe roll their eyes and huff around a bit, but they'll rim match them for you. You gotta stay on them like glue!! Because, like I say, a lot of tire techs (let's say most) are very good at cutting corners and not going that extra mile. You really need to stand there and watch those guys! I've had a couple tires come down from, say, 12 down to 3# where they needed very few weights. And several come down from 18 to the single digits. Down to 3-5 ...that's an extreme good balance, but it could be you go from 18 to 12 or 8#. You'll have the smoothest running tires you ever had. If you have one that's really high, reject it and get a replacement. Have I confused you?? (sorry)

arpunk

They said it’s an extra $30/tire for road force. They can do it if it’s necessary it depends how the rims are. They didn’t try to upset it to me which was nice.

Jeepwalker

I would pay the money. That's fair. It takes more work and effort to perform the extra steps, so you're paying the shop for their extra time. That's better than having to cajole a guy doing extra work they're not getting paid for. A guy could balance a square wheel theoretically, but using the road force will reveal weaknesses if there are any (warped wheel??). Most tires these days are pretty close. So this will optimize the balance.

Using a normal spin balancer you could have shakes or wobbles and you don't know if it's the tire, wheel, hub, rotor, axle ...or what the issue is. Some guys go back in 2 or three times to the tire shop and if they're just spin balancing, if there's a bubble, broken chord or mfgr imperfection, you wouldn't pick it up if they just throw it on an old-school balancer ...which most techs do (how many ever look at the tires these days??!). If the shop road force balances the tires, and records the number for you, you'll know exactly what the final number is. Don't expect a low single-digit road force number with a heavy Discoverer ATX3 4S tire, but the lower they can get it the better. Sometimes there isn't much gain to be had if a rim and tire are near perfect. But often there is.

A couple years ago I had Walmart mount and balance tires (31" 10-ply rated tires for a full-sized pickup). I could see the guy doing my tire didn't know what he was doing. He was nice enough, they had an old school Coats balancer and he didn't know if it had ever been re-calibrated!! I could see him loading on weights. By the time he was finished he had 6" of big-a$$ weights on the rims! I marched them down to my buddy at the GM garage where they have a brand new Road Force balancer and we cut the weights down to a few 1.5" weights!! I don't remember the exact weights now, but we went from like 24-28 down to the mid teens (pretty good for a large 52 lb tire). It was $75 extra ...but I tell you what, those heavy Coopers run out smooth as butter. Now, the Hankooks I recently had installed, those were in the high 20's to mid 30's as far as road force #'s go. So a lot higher. But they're a lot heavier 10-ply, E-rated 33" LT tire too, on a heavier wheel. The bigger, heavier tire, the harder they are to balance. Anyway, they run out smooth, but they would have been even worse had we not rim matched lower.

So ...anyway, up to you, but I'd pay the extra $$ and have them give you the best balance. Once tires wear into a certain pattern, they are set. So give them a 'fightin' chance' ...lol..

Best of luck. Happy Holidays!!