F450 19.5 tire shop question(s)

[msutoad]

So its time again for some new front rubber. I have been running the factory Continentals on my rig, and I am gonna likely stay with the brand but put steer tires up front from Continental. My question is, where are you all that have rigs like this getting your commercial 19.5 tires? have any of you put on the "intelligent" conti tires that have the built in TMPS sensor into the tire? If so what did you think about how it works post install. THanks in advance.

 

[Fsalmy]

I’m looking for replacements, too. My Conti Hybrids, especially the front are chipping pretty badly with significant wear on the outside edges. In less than a week, they’ve gone from should probably look at replacing to have to replace right now. Rotated side to side every 7K. Watched Big Truck Big RV vids about his quest for tires. I think he’s settled on the Firestone Transforce AT commercial but not sure if he put steer tires up front. On the forums, seems to be concern that steers and 4wd don’t work well together. I need something with all season performance, including snow. Last I saw, [MENTION=33369]jjbbrewer[/MENTION] went with GY G622s. My friend, who runs an excavation company, just put Falkens on his as recommended by the local farm co op. The local GY dealer recommended I take my F450 to the nearby truck stop/service center for alignment and tires. Some even suggested also replacing the Rancho shocks with Bilstein 5100s at the same time. Lastly, a lot of advocates online say to dismount and rotate across all 6. A couple of years ago, the truck stop service advisor told me that wasn’t necessary. Whatever the right combination of tires/shocks/alignment/rotations is, I need to figure it out quickly.

 

[jjbbrewer]

Last I saw, [MENTION=33369]jjbbrewer[/MENTION] went with GY G622s.

Thanks for the shout out! Just a quick update - I'm still quite happy with the G622 RSDs. The rears are looking almost like new after about 1.5 years and a couple of winters. The fronts are showing some angled wear so I'm going to swap them side to side to hopefully even them out. When they go, I'm not sure what I'll do on the front. I like the RSDs for snow traction, but the RSS (steers) might wear better. Hmm ..

But they're wearing MUCH better than the stock Conti's did for me.

As to where to get them, I got mine at Discount Tire locally and they matched the best price I found on the net (Sam's Club).

 

[msutoad]

I’m looking for replacements, too. My Conti Hybrids, especially the front are chipping pretty badly with significant wear on the outside edges. In less than a week, they’ve gone from should probably look at replacing to have to replace right now. Rotated side to side every 7K. Watched Big Truck Big RV vids about his quest for tires. I think he’s settled on the Firestone Transforce AT commercial but not sure if he put steer tires up front. On the forums, seems to be concern that steers and 4wd don’t work well together. I need something with all season performance, including snow. Last I saw, @jjbbrewer went with GY G622s. My friend, who runs an excavation company, just put Falkens on his as recommended by the local farm co op. The local GY dealer recommended I take my F450 to the nearby truck stop/service center for alignment and tires. Some even suggested also replacing the Rancho shocks with Bilstein 5100s at the same time. Lastly, a lot of advocates online say to dismount and rotate across all 6. A couple of years ago, the truck stop service advisor told me that wasn’t necessary. Whatever the right combination of tires/shocks/alignment/rotations is, I need to figure it out quickly.

So I have teh Bilstein 5100's on mine and airbags in the back. the Conti Hybrids in the rear are fine, but the fronts or a problem for me for sure. I am gonna go with the Conti HSR5 with the TPMS built into the tires so I have TPMS in the fronts with the new Conti-lite app, which is decent and better than no TPMS and it cost me no extra .

I do not have to worry about snow in NC... If it is snowing, I am not pulling LOL... I wont mind it, but my wife sure would so that is not a thing I need to solve for on my tires.
My lugs on the tires started chunking badly in the last 3 weeks, so I needed to make a change NOW, and I am at the truck tire shop now... Fronts, alignment and TPMS and I am gonna be good to go. The Bilsteins were a must as my stock shocks were scorched at 30K miles.

Hope this helps. I will update the thread on the HSR5 tires once I get some miles on them.

Also im at 61K miles and I need some front brakes. I am considering just pads and not rotors for this swap and then do rotors on the next. Anyone doing pads at 60K ish miles on the front of their 450's? Just curious.
Thanks
Jason

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Wow, only 60,000 miles and need brakes? That seems odd. Granted mine is a 3500, not a 450, but it has 150,000 miles and original front brakes. This truck was used for hotshotting before I bought it.

 

[msutoad]

Wow, only 60,000 miles and need brakes? That seems odd. Granted mine is a 3500, not a 450, but it has 150,000 miles and original front brakes. This truck was used for hotshotting before I bought it.

My pads are so dirty and so much dust is crazy, and I think its worthy of brakes. I could maybe get 5-10K more out of these, but not 100K for sure. I think the previous owner clearly didnt use their trailer brakes to have these brakes in this shape. So I think this was a prvious owner things, not a me thing...

The rears are good though...

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Yeah, maybe the PO didn't like the braking, and put on some soft pads.

 

[Fsalmy]

Called around to several (total of 6) tire dealers that tread ambulances, rescue squad vehicles and other medium duty trucks, including Discount Tire. Every single one of them recommended a different tire and half recommended steer tires up front while 1 recommended an all position tire and 2 others said drive tires up front will be fine if you go with “x” brand/model. Recommendations ranged from Michelin XDS and Agilis to Hercules Strong-guard H-DO, with Roadmaster, Kumho, Falken, Yokohama, and Goodyear in between. Oddly, or maybe not, no one recommended the Contis. The tires BTBRV went with, Firestone Transforce AT2, are not available locally, even thru the TA truck stop. Looks I can order them from Priority Tire, though.

 

[msutoad]

Called around to several (total of 6) tire dealers that tread ambulances, rescue squad vehicles and other medium duty trucks, including Discount Tire. Every single one of them recommended a different tire and half recommended steer tires up front while 1 recommended an all position tire and 2 others said drive tires up front will be fine if you go with “x” brand/model. Recommendations ranged from Michelin XDS and Agilis to Hercules Strong-guard H-DO, with Roadmaster, Kumho, Falken, Yokohama, and Goodyear in between. Oddly, or maybe not, no one recommended the Contis. The tires BTBRV went with, Firestone Transforce AT2, are not available locally, even thru the TA truck stop. Looks I can order them from Priority Tire, though.

The conti's where I live in NC are available at multiple truck stops, and truck tire shops (McCarthy Tire as an example). When I spoke to the shops, they all suggested a steer tire unless I was gonna be doing alot of offroad 4x4 stuff, where I would need the drive or all position tires up front. They all here said the same thing about the Conti's feathering because of the position. They are however dealers of Conti, so they have them in stock to include what I got which are the new HSR 5's, their newest tire. I think there are plenty of good ones out there, and as it was said about the Goodyears, its gonna be preference based on where you live, and where you haul. I do not have snow, and my offroad is minimal, but mainly constrained to when I haul my horse trailer. So I didnt want a drive or all position tire up front. I am excited to put some miles on my steer tires and see how they hold up and ride quality too.
Every dealer I spoke to did however have critical feedback about Ford putting the conti's from the factory on all corners... They only can assume it was because of the assumption of using 4x4 and needing the traction.

Good luck, let us know what you go with.

Jason

 

[Dick Noble]

I put the Centramatic circle things behind the front tires and they do seem to be helping with wear. I'll have to look up the spelling for these.

 

[Dick Noble]

I put the Centramatic circle things behind the front tires. They seem to be helping with the balance.

 

[msutoad]

I put the Centramatic circle things behind the front tires and they do seem to be helping with wear. I'll have to look up the spelling for these.

I always wondered about this. My previous tires went straight as an arrow on the road, no pull, no shake, no vibration. They were balanced perfectly, so I know that it was aligned properly and balance was fine. I did not have completely proper inflation, but I also did not do much driving in the city. Most of my 35K miles were freeway. Infact Conti measured my tread depth and at 35K miles, I had only used 40% of the tire aside from the shoulders on the front being featured.

 

[RVingwithJessandChris]

The ford factory tpms can be activated using FORScan. Obviously would need the sensors. They aren’t any smart tires that I’m aware of. The sensors are part of the valve stem.
This is what I did with my 21 450 so my truck tire pressures are displayed on the dash.
As far as tires the continentals are just not very good. The fronts will be trashed after 25-30k but the rears wear well. Part of the issue is the wide track front end places the front tires between the rears and on top of the semi dually ruts whereas other dually trucks front tires and rear inners are on same track. That creates excessive wear on the outer edges as well as the much tighter turning radius.
All that said I wouldn’t trade my 450 for any other pickup.

 

[msutoad]

The ford factory tpms can be activated using FORScan. Obviously would need the sensors. They aren’t any smart tires that I’m aware of. The sensors are part of the valve stem.
This is what I did with my 21 450 so my truck tire pressures are displayed on the dash.
As far as tires the continentals are just not very good. The fronts will be trashed after 25-30k but the rears wear well. Part of the issue is the wide track front end places the front tires between the rears and on top of the semi dually ruts whereas other dually trucks front tires and rear inners are on same track. That creates excessive wear on the outer edges as well as the much tighter turning radius.
All that said I wouldn’t trade my 450 for any other pickup.

Actually, Continental makes what they call an “intelligent” tire, which has the TPMS built into the rubber. I have it on the HSR 5 Steer tires I just put on my 2020 F450. I got 35K on my HD3 hybrids on the front and Continental gave me a 60% credit on the price I paid, so I paid 167.00 per front tire to get 35K miles on my fronts. They had plent of tread left, but I didn’t like the featuring, which is aligned to your comment above.

With that level of credit, I could not turn down a set of HSR 5’s with the TPMS in them for the front. I have the Continental-lite app on my phone which shows all my tire info which is great, and does not require me to forscan my truck to get it enabled . FYI only.

This wont be for everyone, and these HSR5’s might not be great, but for the warranty money I got, I could not pass it up, plus I got TMPS .

I will share screen shots from the cont-lite app next time I near the truck .

Hope that helps you all.

Jason

 

[RVingwithJessandChris]

Actually, Continental makes what they call an “intelligent” tire, which has the TPMS built into the rubber. I have it on the HSR 5 Steer tires I just put on my 2020 F450. I got 35K on my HD3 hybrids on the front and Continental gave me a 60% credit on the price I paid, so I paid 167.00 per front tire to get 35K miles on my fronts. They had plent of tread left, but I didn’t like the featuring, which is aligned to your comment above.

With that level of credit, I could not turn down a set of HSR 5’s with the TPMS in them for the front. I have the Continental-lite app on my phone which shows all my tire info which is great, and does not require me to forscan my truck to get it enabled . FYI only.

This wont be for everyone, and these HSR5’s might not be great, but for the warranty money I got, I could not pass it up, plus I got TMPS .

I will share screen shots from the cont-lite app next time I near the truck .

Hope that helps you all.

Jason

Thanks for sharing. Good info for all. Discount tire added my tpms sensors as part of my tire package at no additional cost. FORScan was a one time $50 fee of which I’ve used for way more than $50 worth of changes to the oem systems to customize to my preferences. Most importantly I was able to ditch the continentals for tires that are good for 50k. Obviously my setup allows for all 6 tires to be monitored in the dash not an app. I have tst507 for my trailers and use the monitor for them.
Lots of ways to skin the cat. The most important is the ability to monitor tire pressures regardless of how it’s achieved.

 

[huntindog]

Actually, Continental makes what they call an “intelligent” tire, which has the TPMS built into the rubber. I have it on the HSR 5 Steer tires I just put on my 2020 F450. I got 35K on my HD3 hybrids on the front and Continental gave me a 60% credit on the price I paid, so I paid 167.00 per front tire to get 35K miles on my fronts. They had plent of tread left, but I didn’t like the featuring, which is aligned to your comment above.

With that level of credit, I could not turn down a set of HSR 5’s with the TPMS in them for the front. I have the Continental-lite app on my phone which shows all my tire info which is great, and does not require me to forscan my truck to get it enabled . FYI only.

This wont be for everyone, and these HSR5’s might not be great, but for the warranty money I got, I could not pass it up, plus I got TMPS .

I will share screen shots from the cont-lite app next time I near the truck .

Hope that helps you all.

Jason

This is interesting. How do they do it? Especially the battery.

 

[Fsalmy]

Good luck, let us know what you go with.

Well, got Yokohama 115R all position tires installed by Discount Tire yesterday evening. I should have walked away from them (Discount Tire) after they asked me to drive an hour so they could look at my truck and then made a recommendation on their exclusive Yokohama HDX tires. They showed me specs and store manager said he “strongly recommends” and “has high confidence” in the HDX. I asked to see the tire since it was in stock. Looked similar to the 115R I had seen on line, but when I picked it up, I remarked how light it was for a G-rated, N speed tire. Pulled up the weight spec and it was 38 lbs (!) compared to 66-69 lbs for every other tire I was considering. Then, I looked at the actual load rating in lbs, and it was over 1100 lbs LESS per tire than every other G-rated tire. The assistant manager said the lighter weight tire would improve my fuel mileage. Uh, if I was concerned about a 180 lb weight difference on my unloaded 9500 lb truck, I wouldn’t have a 9500 lb truck. When I said I wasn’t going with the HDX, they recommended the Yokohama 115R telling me they were seeing cupping with every other tire brand including GY, Michelin, Firestone, etc. I believed them and ordered the tires last week.

Arrived at 3:45. Got checked in. Pointed out again I had valve extensions on the duals and external TPMS sensors at all positions. Said they would mark the positions. Pulled out around 6:30. Store closes at 6. Did a quick walk around and everything looked good but tires seemed shorter than the Contis. Oh well, I’ll give them a go. Drove across the parking lot to a clothing store and grabbed some dinner before heading home.

Drive the half mile to the interstate, take the on ramp at 60 mph, there is a significant vibration and whole truck shake. Make it to next exit and head straight back to store since I saw a few employees there when I was leaving. It was closed up tight. Called the 800 number and spoke with an agent who said he would message the store manager. Waited about 20 mins with no follow up. Had to get home due to some pressing work, so planned to drive at 50 mph. Turned on my TPMS monitor once I got on the interstate and pressures were all over the place. And 2 of the 6 showed no signal. Overfilled, under-filled, differences of 10 psi between the rear left pairs. Fortunately, sort of, I was stuck in construction traffic and was traveling at 10 mph or less for most of the way home. I had a ViAir with me, but nowhere to pull over since shoulders were closed. And was in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. All I needed was some hail. Limped home.

Pulled into driveway to inspect more closely. Got out my digital air gauge. Noticed one of the valve extenders was not secured. They didn’t replace the retention nut. All sensors were in the wrong positions but most tires were still under-filled by 5-10 lbs (relative to door sticker recommended pressures). They even asked me what pressures I wanted.

Then noticed a 15” deep gouge on right front wheel. Receipt indicates no scratches or wheel damage on pre install inspection.

No wheel weights on any of the six rims. Was supposed to have been road force balanced. Can’t imagine all 6 tires were perfectly balanced. Contis required weights. Alignment was also to be checked. Nothing in the paperwork about that either.

Finally, valve core on right front was damaged or got dirt in it since the spring loaded pin will not seal.

Detailed all of this, with photos of everything including my TPMS monitor, in an email to Discount Tire. Waiting on a response.

Moral of the story - don’t have tires installed late in the day and check EVERYTHING before leaving. Or watch the install closely.

 

[Fsalmy]

Spoke with Discount Tire this morning. Balance beads were used instead of rim weights. Airing up the tires and fixing the valve extenders, then heading back to the store where manager assured me they would make everything right. Manager said he personally verified lug nut torques.

Lost confidence in them and seriously considering having them put the old Contis back on and going somewhere else. After getting wheel replaced.

 

[msutoad]

Well, got Yokohama 115R all position tires installed by Discount Tire yesterday evening. I should have walked away from them (Discount Tire) after they asked me to drive an hour so they could look at my truck and then made a recommendation on their exclusive Yokohama HDX tires. They showed me specs and store manager said he “strongly recommends” and “has high confidence” in the HDX. I asked to see the tire since it was in stock. Looked similar to the 115R I had seen on line, but when I picked it up, I remarked how light it was for a G-rated, N speed tire. Pulled up the weight spec and it was 38 lbs (!) compared to 66-69 lbs for every other tire I was considering. Then, I looked at the actual load rating in lbs, and it was over 1100 lbs LESS per tire than every other G-rated tire. The assistant manager said the lighter weight tire would improve my fuel mileage. Uh, if I was concerned about a 180 lb weight difference on my unloaded 9500 lb truck, I wouldn’t have a 9500 lb truck. When I said I wasn’t going with the HDX, they recommended the Yokohama 115R telling me they were seeing cupping with every other tire brand including GY, Michelin, Firestone, etc. I believed them and ordered the tires last week.

Arrived at 3:45. Got checked in. Pointed out again I had valve extensions on the duals and external TPMS sensors at all positions. Said they would mark the positions. Pulled out around 6:30. Store closes at 6. Did a quick walk around and everything looked good but tires seemed shorter than the Contis. Oh well, I’ll give them a go. Drove across the parking lot to a clothing store and grabbed some dinner before heading home.

Drive the half mile to the interstate, take the on ramp at 60 mph, there is a significant vibration and whole truck shake. Make it to next exit and head straight back to store since I saw a few employees there when I was leaving. It was closed up tight. Called the 800 number and spoke with an agent who said he would message the store manager. Waited about 20 mins with no follow up. Had to get home due to some pressing work, so planned to drive at 50 mph. Turned on my TPMS monitor once I got on the interstate and pressures were all over the place. And 2 of the 6 showed no signal. Overfilled, under-filled, differences of 10 psi between the rear left pairs. Fortunately, sort of, I was stuck in construction traffic and was traveling at 10 mph or less for most of the way home. I had a ViAir with me, but nowhere to pull over since shoulders were closed. And was in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. All I needed was some hail. Limped home.

Pulled into driveway to inspect more closely. Got out my digital air gauge. Noticed one of the valve extenders was not secured. They didn’t replace the retention nut. All sensors were in the wrong positions but most tires were still under-filled by 5-10 lbs (relative to door sticker recommended pressures). They even asked me what pressures I wanted.

Then noticed a 15” deep gouge on right front wheel. Receipt indicates no scratches or wheel damage on pre install inspection.

No wheel weights on any of the six rims. Was supposed to have been road force balanced. Can’t imagine all 6 tires were perfectly balanced. Contis required weights. Alignment was also to be checked. Nothing in the paperwork about that either.

Finally, valve core on right front was damaged or got dirt in it since the spring loaded pin will not seal.

Detailed all of this, with photos of everything including my TPMS monitor, in an email to Discount Tire. Waiting on a response.

Moral of the story - don’t have tires installed late in the day and check EVERYTHING before leaving. Or watch the install closely.

I am so sorry to hear about this experience you had at Discount Tire. I had the start of something similar when I began searching for tires and I was so turned off by how it was going, I began searching for a truck tire type shop. In NC, we have several and they knew all about G & H tires, how to align large vehicles and balance them properly. I watched the work through the window and it was exceptional, but I gotta say, I did watch for a while to get comfortable with their work. I was very impressed, and hate not only that you had your issues, but that you have/had to go back. There is nothing worse than needing a repeat trip and a shaking/vibrating vehicle. It triggers me so much when my car shakes, that I fixate on it, so I know when my tires are not right and I hate that feeling.

Hope you get your issues resolved. Please keep us up to date on the thread as to your journey and as to how you like those tires.

Best-
Jason

 

[Fsalmy]

I am so sorry to hear about this experience you had at Discount Tire. I had the start of something similar when I began searching for tires and I was so turned off by how it was going, I began searching for a truck tire type shop. In NC, we have several and they knew all about G & H tires, how to align large vehicles and balance them properly. I watched the work through the window and it was exceptional, but I gotta say, I did watch for a while to get comfortable with their work. I was very impressed, and hate not only that you had your issues, but that you have/had to go back. There is nothing worse than needing a repeat trip and a shaking/vibrating vehicle. It triggers me so much when my car shakes, that I fixate on it, so I know when my tires are not right and I hate that feeling.

Hope you get your issues resolved. Please keep us up to date on the thread as to your journey and as to how you like those tires.

Best-
Jason

Thanks, Jason. I got all the TPMS sensors into the correct positions - all 6 were in the wrong positions with both fronts on the right rears. Inflated to correct pressures with some being 15-20 psi low. The tire with the bad valve stem core was down to 40 psi mostly because I fumbled around trying to get the sensor cap on. Took the ViAir awhile to get that one back up to 90. Fortunately, I had an extra set of valve extenders which I raided for a bracket retention nut to replace the missing one. The other three nuts took 5 or 6 full turns to tighten them down. Just sloppy work all around. After I got all that finished, called the store manager to let them know I was on my way. He asked if I could wait until he can get some other tires in next week since there is concern one or more of Yokohamas are out of round. Said they recently installed those 115R tires on a tow truck which also had the same shimmy and shake. Changed out to another brand and shake resolved. For me, they are ordering a set of Goodyear G622s and the commercial Firestone Transforce AT2s and told me I can try them both.

One other huge negative was they charged me $460 more than the OTD price for the Yokohamas quoted on the website. I was in the store when they showed me the OTD price of $2898 for the Yokohamas. I told them I could get them from Southern Tire mart for $2609. They sold them to me for $2600 even. Online OTD price is $2140. I took a screen shot of that and will be sharing it with store manager when I head back.