Can tires go out of balance after wheeling?

I spent last weekend wheeling in Moab, UT. Did a fun trail called Metal Masher. I aired down my tires to about 10 psi for the trail and my tires performed flawlessly. I run 35" BFG mud terrains. On 4 hour drive home, I didn't really pay much attention to it, but now that I am daily driving my Jeep again, I noticed a strange noise, like something is vibrating at just about any speed. Nothing too terribly loud, but something that definitely wasn't there before.

I put the rear end up on jack stands and put it in drive to see if I could see anything abnormal. The only thing that didn't look right was that my rear tires were wobbling a little bit. My question is, could wheeling hard on low tire pressure cause tires to go out of balance? I have already ruled out bad U-joints, driveline angle, and it has a sye. If it's not the tires out of balance, I am dreading that it might be something to do with the ring & pinion.

Let me know if you have had this problem or if I'm just crazy.

yes....it's pretty common. you could have knocked off some wheel weights or spun the tire on the wheel a little. however, you would not really be able to see an out of balance tire by spinning it and looking at it.

You could have taken a chunk out of a tire, or ground a wheel weight off, or 'pushed' a wheel weight moving it to a different part of the wheel, or bent a wheel.

This is why we run airsoft pellets to balance.

IntrepidXJ said:

You would not really be able to see an out of balance tire by spinning it and looking at it.

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What else would contribute to the wobbling of the tire? Would I be able to see it if it's out of balance enough?

there is no mud caught in the wheel anywhere right?

A bent wheel will wobble like a out of balance tire. You said you had it on stands and in drive....was it just one wheel wobbling or more than one?

From what I could tell, both rear wheels were wobbling just a tiny bit.

Which could be the wobbling of one wheel transmitted along the axle.

Look for a small clean spot, indicating a thrown or shifted weight.
Look for a chunk missing from the tread surface
Look for a chunk of mud stuck on the thing anywhere (if you were mudding. If not, it's probably not this.)

Also, this is why I've been known to make chalk marks on the tyre and rim to see if the tyre shifts at low pressure. Either that, or a small paint mark on the tyre sidewall right next to the valve stem - same purpose. (Yes, it's been quite some time since I've really gone off the pavement - but I picked up a bunch of weird habits from before, and I've no particular intention of breaking them...)

Unearthed said:

there is no mud caught in the wheel anywhere right?

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Wheeling in Moab, UT............I dont think so

C85D4x4 said:

Wheeling in Moab, UT............I dont think so

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when I was there last week, I did notice some people with quite a bit of red mud on their rigs, so it's a possibility.

It has happend to me with mud before, my truxus are sensitive to extra stuff stuck on them so i try to knock them off best as possible after wheeling all day.

it it is wobbling have you considered a bent axle flange or wheel?

I'm hoping it's nothing more serious than an out of balance tire. I'll get them rotated and balanced tomorrow (due for a rotation anyhow) and let you know if that fixes it. If not, on to more testing.

Well count my lucky stars, it looks like the strange noise was caused by at least one tire being out of balance. As soon as I had them rebalanced and rotated, the strange noise is gone. Phew! I always fear the worst when something strange like that happens. Glad it was an easy explanation this time.

jeeperguy21 said:

Well count my lucky stars, it looks like the strange noise was caused by at least one tire being out of balance. As soon as I had them rebalanced and rotated, the strange noise is gone. Phew! I always fear the worst when something strange like that happens. Glad it was an easy explanation this time.

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Take a paint pen and make a reference mark on the inside of each tire and rim. Down the road it'll let you know if you're spinning the rims in the tires or not.
Before I got beadlocks my rims would spin almost an inch after a month of street driving. Needless to say I got my tires reballanced after every wheeling trip.

Jes said:

Take a paint pen and make a reference mark on the inside of each tire and rim. Down the road it'll let you know if you're spinning the rims in the tires or not.
Before I got beadlocks my rims would spin almost an inch after a month of street driving. Needless to say I got my tires reballanced after every wheeling trip.

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That's a great idea. I will do that and I'll try to remember to post up the results in the future. Thanks.