F350 SRW new tire recommendations.

[Beachcamper]

Steve, my truck is a 4 wheel drive vehicle. If I understood you correctly, you think I can get it aligned so that the tires up front would wear evenly? I can have this done before I start towing in May. Would a place like tire kingdom be able to do this or go back to Ford? And what specifically do I have to ask for?

Thanks!

Vivian

[WhittleBurner]

Is your Ford 2 or 4 wheel drive? I'm glad you had the alignment checked, but the point I am trying to make is that alignment changes when you are towing, more with 2 wheel drive than four wheel drive. Dealerships can give you a printout and results that will be fine for a non-towing truck. I would hope there is an alignment shop in your area that can listen to your input, and perform a custom alignment to address your issue. IMHO Air Lifts or similar will do a better job stabilizing your truck from pitching for and aft on rough roads and minimize alignment changes. Best wishes to you in moving forward. I worked for Hunter Engineering (alignment systems) for about 15 years and worked on vehicle suspension systems for at least another 15.

Steve the tires wearing on one edge wouldn't that be from the camber setting. All toe is, is how the tires are turned in or out. That would cause scuffing on the tires across the treads but not causing an edge wear. Camber is the setting for the tilt of the tire from top to bottom. That would cause wearing on the edge. with a weighted down truck especially the front would change the dynamics of the camber. When the truck goes down the top of the tire goes out. When you jack up the front of the truck by the frame you will see that happen. That would give you the edge wear.

[steve gravelle]

Steve the tires wearing on one edge wouldn't that be from the camber setting. All toe is, is how the tires are turned in or out. That would cause scuffing on the tires across the treads but not causing an edge wear. Camber is the setting for the tilt of the tire from top to bottom. That would cause wearing on the edge. with a weighted down truck especially the front would change the dynamics of the camber. When the truck goes down the top of the tire goes out. When you jack up the front of the truck by the frame you will see that happen. That would give you the edge wear.

You are correct that camber is a contributor to tire edge wear. However, with today's vehicles and radial tires, the idea of scuffing wear across the tread surface is not happening. When dynamic toe being off from straight ahead, edge wear is the rule. Both in my education from Hunter and my experience working on vehicles I observed this wear pattern. And as far as tire wear, 90 percent is from toe, and 10 percent is from camber.

[Beachcamper]

You are correct that camber is a contributor to tire edge wear. However, with today's vehicles and radial tires, the idea of scuffing wear across the tread surface is not happening. When dynamic toe being off from straight ahead, edge wear is the rule. Both in my education from Hunter and my experience working on vehicles I observed this wear pattern. And as far as tire wear, 90 percent is from toe, and 10 percent is from camber.

Steve, check out my question above. Would love your insight.

[steve gravelle]

Steve, my truck is a 4 wheel drive vehicle. If I understood you correctly, you think I can get it aligned so that the tires up front would wear evenly? I can have this done before I start towing in May. Would a place like tire kingdom be able to do this or go back to Ford? And what specifically do I have to ask for?

Thanks!

Vivian

Great questions for sure. For what it's worth, I suggest that you need to research an alignment specialty shop that is in the business specifically to solve customer issues. There are exceptions, but typically dealers and tire shops are setting the alignment to factory specifications. You should be able to speak to a service advisor or manager/owner and describe what tire wear issue you are having. And then hopefully you will have a good gut feeling about those people and their customer concern and expertise. Your question has generated others joining the conversation. With your vehicle, camber is pretty much static as you travel down the highway because you have a solid front axle- also when you hook up to your Reflection, you will still have similar if not identical camber. I hope you find the right people!

[Beachcamper]

Got my new Michelin Defenders M/S on Moose (my truck) I am happy Michelin honored the warranty and Tire Kingdom was a great help. Total cost with Tire Kingdom maintenance for tire life, balance, free puncture repair and free rotations. $504 total. Anyway, I hope these last longer than 30k miles. The manager noted that he sees this type of wear mostly on ram and ford trucks due to solid front axle. The good morning trucks he said have independent front axle so tires wear better. Don’t know if true or not but found it interesting.

[FordmanNJ]

I have Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my RAM 3500.

Work well off road and quiet on road.

Agreed. I have a set of Ridge Grappler's on my F350 SRW. Recommendation from a friend who has them on his 350 6.7 King Ranch (Personal truck) and his 2018 F350 XLT 6.7 SRW ( Work/company truck) I have to say they have kicked some butt in everything I have tossed at them. Snow, sand, dirt road/ gravel off road. The only thing is I would recommend to have the BCM changed to a lower tire pressure. Most tires seem to wear better with a slightly lower tire pressure.

Example.
2016 F350 XLT I changed my stock low pressure warnings from 65 PSI to 50 PSI using a program called Forscan. It uses a Laptop or PC and a ELM 327 ODB port adapter to allow access to the truck's computer. You can purchase the adapter on an on line retailer for under 30 bucks. The program is free you just need to register the program. However, if you feel uncomfortable, you could have your TPMS recalibrated by the dealership or possibilty by an independent mechanic / tire shop.

I usually run my air pressure around 60 PSI and have gotten much better wear and towing results. I suspect some of the early wear out conditions of any tire has been over inflation since there is no real load in the back of the truck and front of the truck to flatten the tire. Lowering the air pressure a few pounds and resolve this issue without comprising the tire or ride quality. Another benefit is a smoother ride. It allows the side walls to flex if you are running full or near full tire pressure, it can be a head jarring experience. This is empty not loaded. Loaded if I know I am getting something heavy I will give the tires a couple of extra PSI to give the proper weight carrying abilities. However since running the tires at 60 PSI, I have been getting better ride out of the truck, better trailering experience, and it also seems the fuel mileage has been better in some cases.


Good luck with your purchase.

[akgourmet]

Have you weighed your truck solo and with your trailer attached? We run a 2013 F350 SRW Platinum crewcab shortbed with Airlift bags and a 303. Weighed on a CAT scale last month the front axle weight only changed 40 lbs. Seems like that would be insignificant on tire wear.

[Spike32]

I am sorry if this was already discussed but I did not come across it in my search. I have stock Michelin LTX M/S 2 17” tires on my 2018 truck. They already look worn after 30k miles and I will need to replace them before we set out this coming summer. We stay in Florida for winter and travel with a 303 about 5-8k miles in the summer and fall we are fulltime.

One thing I will add is Timbrens. My stock bumper stops are not holding up either. Rough roads tend to bottom out suspension and back tires and bumper stops are paying the price. Other than that, ride is perfectly level and we are within payload capacity on truck.

Here is what I am looking for in a tire. Quiet on highway when towing, good mileage, able to take on our occasional off the beaten path explorations after we set up camp. Gravel, sand, forest roads basically. No rock crawling or serious off road stuff. Just trying to find the fishing holes and photo ops.

Sounds like you really need to consider installing a set of air bags if you are hitting your bump stops as much as you describe.

[Beachcamper]

Have you weighed your truck solo and with your trailer attached? We run a 2013 F350 SRW Platinum crewcab shortbed with Airlift bags and a 303. Weighed on a CAT scale last month the front axle weight only changed 40 lbs. Seems like that would be insignificant on tire wear.

Weigh my truck and trailer every time we set out for the summer. The difference on mine is 50lbs so not bad.