Michelin Costco Defender 22s - Failing road force balance. Next steps?

[Whhrheb]

I have a 2023 R1T. In May 2024, my initial Pirelli 22s were ready for a change. I installed the Costco Michelin "X LT A/S 2" 22s (115H Extra Load), which are just a Costco-badged Michelin Defender A/S 2, I believe. (It looks like Costco now sells it with the Defender name included)

I have about 5500 miles on them. For most of that time, I've noticed a bit of a steering wheel shake around 70 mph. Not major or scary but noticeable. I had Costco rebalance the tires. They said all was balanced well.

I put in a service ticket in case there was something Rivian should do about it. They just called and said they rotated, balanced, and road-force tested the tires. They confirmed excessive vibration and said the tires are all in balance but all wheels failed the road-force balance test. In their opinion, the tires aren't up for the load/demands of the vehicle, though they are load-rated appropriately per the sticker.

What should I do next? Just live with it until I need new tires? Do I have avenues with Michelin or Costco via warranty etc? Curious what advice you might have.

And - FYI, though the Rivian Service Center for the DC area is 30 mins from my house, the nearest Discount Tire is 82 miles away

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[Whale Blubber]

Oh man that sucks. I wonder if the badged ones were some sort of seconds? I had some steering wheel shake kick in at about 77mph when I first had the same tires (but non-Costo badged versions) installed, but a subsequent rebalancing solved that problem for me.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Make sure the work order from Rivian shows that they failed the road force balanced and that it is the cause of the vibration. Take that back to Costco and either have them replace the tires or give you a refund.

 

[Whhrheb]

Make sure the work order from Rivian shows that they failed the road force balanced and that it is the cause of the vibration. Take that back to Costco and either have them replace the tires or give you a refund.

Yep. Going to try this

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

It may or may not not be the tires. Steering wheel shake was very common on Gen 1 R1's, so much so they had a bulletin stating the weight of the steering wheel and other (nonsense) may be the issue. Here is what I would try first. Move the rear tires forward and cross the fronts to the rear. E.g. left front to right rear.

Have Rivian double-check alignment. My steering wheel vibration went away when I did this and never came back, even with a tire change. YMMV

 

[Whhrheb]

It may or may not not be the tires. Steering wheel shake was very common on Gen 1 R1's, so much so they had a bulletin stating the weight of the steering wheel and other (nonsense) may be the issue. Here is what I would try first. Move the rear tires forward and cross the fronts to the rear. E.g. left front to right rear.

Have Rivian double-check alignment. My steering wheel vibration went away when I did this and never came back, even with a tire change. YMMV

yep. I have the new steering wheel already and they did rotate the tires. I haven’t driven it yet to feel it myself since the rotation.

 

[kong]

If it helps, I bought the same tires in the same size, but had my local wheel and tire specialist mount and balance them. His opinion was that most big name shops only road force balance once to pass, but if you tested them again, you’d find that they were no longer balanced in many cases. He believes that to be acceptable, they should pass road force balancing twice in a row. One of my wheels needed four runs to pass consecutively.

 

[Whhrheb]

Just got the notes delivered. Here's how it's written up.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Just got the notes delivered. Here's how it's written up.

I remember from a few years back that a lady returned a dead Christmas tree after Christmas for a full refund. I don't see why they wouldn't take back a set of defective tires.

 

[CANCERDOC]

Take the Rivian work order summary and show it to Costco to have the tires replaced. Costco doesn't care - its a Michelin warranty anyways. They'll get paid by Michelin to remount and rebalance the replacement tires.

As far as I can tell, there's no difference between the Michelins that Costco sells exclusively and the normal Michelin tires. Costco being a high volume center just special orders frequently purchased tires. It's like the TV's sold over there - the serial number is different but its the exactly same TV you can buy at Bestbuy.

 

[snowboarder777]

This is why Costco sucks they don't have road force balancers. You need to go to independent mechanic with Hunter road force machines and make sure that they are all before 12 lbs of road force run out for glass smooth ride. I got the defenders ms2 in size 21s and had minor vibrations solved with proper road force balance from 18 lbs to below 10 in the front and 12 in the back.

See this post
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...efender-ltx-m-s-2-275-55-21-380.15645/page-33

I'm surprised Rivian techs didn't even mention the road force numbers but if they were super high like 20s or higher they should be replaced by Michelins through Costco for out of round defects

Hence why I've said this in the other Costco tread I never take any of my cars to them. Go to tirerack recommended road force installers and avoid Costco.

 

[AYAYRON]

My local Costco said they have the 115 and 116 but couldn’t install the 115 unless my truck had 115 or the sticker said 115 was ok (mine has pirelli 116’s on it).

Did your Costco not care about the 115 or did your truck somehow confirm 115 was ok? I’d love to pay $300 a tire for 115 instead of $400 for 116

 

[AYAYRON]

This is why Costco sucks they don't have road force balancers. You need to go to independent mechanic with Hunter road force machines and make sure that they are all before 12 lbs of road force run out for glass smooth ride. I got the defenders ms2 in size 21s and had minor vibrations solved with proper road force balance from 18 lbs to below 10 in the front and 12 in the back.

See this post
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...efender-ltx-m-s-2-275-55-21-380.15645/page-33

I'm surprised Rivian techs didn't even mention the road force numbers but if they were super high like 20s or higher they should be replaced by Michelins through Costco for out of round defects

Hence why I've said this in the other Costco tread I never take any of my cars to them. Go to tirerack recommended road force installers and avoid Costco.

This is very interesting, my Costco was the only location who could properly balance by tires on my previous truck. It was just a Tacoma stock wheels and tires, discount tire and Toyota themselves couldn’t fix the whole truck shaking, I took it to my Costco and it drove smooth as glass after.

I think perhaps the specific tech that did it was just really good at his job of balancing where Toyota and discount must have relied on the machines to do it and the “art” of balancing must be unique to that guy.

 

[snowboarder777]

This is very interesting, my Costco was the only location who could properly balance by tires on my previous truck. It was just a Tacoma stock wheels and tires, discount tire and Toyota themselves couldn’t fix the whole truck shaking, I took it to my Costco and it drove smooth as glass after.

I think perhaps the specific tech that did it was just really good at his job of balancing where Toyota and discount must have relied on the machines to do it and the “art” of balancing must be unique to that guy.

Very good point, it also always come down to the tech. My tech uses the road force machine and he knows me, I want it smooth as glass and I have owned Lexus, BMW, Audi, Ford Bronco etc plus Rivian and all of them needed the tires to be remounted optimally on the rim for better ride and had to replace over 10 or so tires the past decade for out of round tolerance including Michelins and Bridgestone to get the numbers low.

 

[snowboarder777]

My local Costco said they have the 115 and 116 but couldn’t install the 115 unless my truck had 115 or the sticker said 115 was ok (mine has pirelli 116’s on it).

Did your Costco not care about the 115 or did your truck somehow confirm 115 was ok? I’d love to pay $300 a tire for 115 instead of $400 for 116

Honestly it shouldn't matter much base on my experience and degree in engineer and medicine. But then again it's Costco....

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