The ride was a bit rough

[Fritz1]

it's a 2000 ranger xlt I recently aquired. The ride had this somewhat rythmic bounce/wobble. So I took it to the tire place and asked them to balance my tires. I couldn't help but notice the rims were bent but the tire guy said that's normal, it's ok, I said: I don't think so. (I've noticed that steel rims get bent by these tire places with their pneumatic tire machines, so rather than admit their machines did it they just call the warp normal). So after the balancing, the ride was only slightly better. So I asked them about mounting mags on the truck. The quote was absurd, and the choices were ugly, I won't bother with the details here. Next stop was the local scrap yard. I found a set of mags off an Explorer for $100. I found a set of matching hubcaps on ebay for another $30. Had the tires remounted on the mags. What a huge difference! Still had a funny rythmic bounce. Went and got new tires. The old tires had less than 10k, but somehow they had either broken belts or just bad quality tires. Two problems solves, but still had a lot of steering wheel vibration. Went back to the tire place and had them put new shocks on it. The truck has like 238,000 miles on it, maybe it's time for new shocks. Wow! The truck rides like a cadillac. I can now drive it all day and not feel like I been riding in a rodeo. I was able to go to the VA and back in one day! That's 550 miles and still feel up to watching a movie! Before, it was go there, catch a motel and come home the next day.

 

[4x4junkie]

That's great that you managed to sort everything out and get it running well.

I probably would suggest use another tire shop though... Any shop that tells you bent wheels are "normal", isn't really deserving of your (or anyone else's, for that matter) money.

Welcome to TRS

 

[Blmpkn]

Personally... id like to see a tire machine bend a wheel lol.