$70k Truck Falling Apart at 38k Miles

[pacofortacos]

That is the only part I'll disagree with you on. No way should any new factory tires - or any aftermarket tires, for that matter - wear out at only 38k miles. I have never had a set of tires last me less than than the warranty. Since I have never bought anything less than 50,000 mile tires, I have never gotten less than 50,000 miles from a set. And I'm talking about Big-O tires, not some set that ran me $2000.

edit: Maybe not "any, but most "decent" factory or aftermarket tires. I'm not talking about tires you can get for $300 a set.

I get a new fleet vehicle every 3-4 yrs, not one has made it to 20k on the tires, most were shot at 15k mile.
My wife gets about 15k miles out of her tires.
Has a lot to do with where you live, your driving conditions, roads and driving style. My truck tires have lasted to the point that they are too old - but it is only driven on the highway for the most part.

Currently have Wildpeaks on my 2022 traverse - by far the worst performing tire (from new) in rain or slush that I have ever had the displeasure of driving on. They are quiet and handle well, but just hydroplane and float in almost any pooled water at all.

 

[tron67j]

That is the only part I'll disagree with you on. No way should any new factory tires - or any aftermarket tires, for that matter - wear out at only 38k miles. I have never had a set of tires last me less than than the warranty. Since I have never bought anything less than 50,000 mile tires, I have never gotten less than 50,000 miles from a set. And I'm talking about Big-O tires, not some set that ran me $2000.

edit: Maybe not "any, but most "decent" factory or aftermarket tires. I'm not talking about tires you can get for $300 a set.

My OEM Firestones lasted about 22k miles before they got slick and were scary in rain. Tread wear was faster than I expected even for OEMs.

 

[Green_Manalishi]

Wow... still have my first purchased new Dodge, '96 4WD 360. My second purchased new Dodge, a 2006 Charger R/T. My third Dodge a used 2017 2500 6.7, and the last purchased new Dodge, a 2022 Chally. The only one I owe on is the '22, but it's zero %, so...

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones? They've all been great!

 

[Scottly]

"decent" factory ... tires.

Is there such a thing? Every new truck I get seems to come with square tires. Good-for-a-year is my favorite. Never had a good set.

 

[Riccochet]

I made it 30k on the stock Firestone's before they were downright dangerous in the rain.

But I agree with OP about the leather dash bubbling. My truck has almost 42k miles on it. The leather dash is bubbled up and getting worse. I didn't want leather at all, but this truck was what was available when I bought in 2021 during the "great truck shortage" of the scamdemic.

 

[markabby]

The dash issue seems to be somewhat common. There was a post here from another who claimed that Ram agreed to fix his dash (free) even tho his warranty expired. Don't recall the name, but a search should bring it up.

As far as the front end or tires, sounds to me like something happened to that truck prior to you buying it. It could have fell off the transport ( it happens), it could have been damaged by a dealer employee using it. With that much wrong with it, i'd consider getting rid of it. No new vehicle should have that many issues. I think the dealership sold you a known lemon

 

[DanAR]

It’s not too unusual for a new vehicle to arrive with an alignment issue. In 2003 I bought a new Lightning with probably 10 miles on it. I doubt anyone drove it except the transport guy and whoever set it on the lot. They wouldn’t even let me sit in it and drive until they did a credit check on me. I do my own garage alignments on my old cars so for grins I put my camber/caster gauge on it and lo and behold it appeared to be off significantly. So I pulled into the service lane with what was a brand new truck and told them I had spot checked the alignment at home and it appeared off. The service tech looked at me like I was an idiot but said he would run it through just to pacify me.

I sat in the waiting area for quite awhile - figuring they were just trying to annoy me. After about 2 hours he comes back and says it’s ready. I ask him what they did. He kind of sheepishly said, well they found it was off. As a matter of fact it was off so much they had to put a camber kit in it to get it in specification. So much for that.

 

[zrock]

just wondering how all these issues started just after warranty? and if they did not why was the truck not sitting on the dealer door getting warranty work done.. Especially if the alignment was off since day one..

 

[mikeru]

It’s not too unusual for a new vehicle to arrive with an alignment issue. In 2003 I bought a new Lightning with probably 10 miles on it. I doubt anyone drove it except the transport guy and whoever set it on the lot. They wouldn’t even let me sit in it and drive until they did a credit check on me.

That's one of the red flags that car buying experts warn about. If a dealership won't let you test drive a vehicle without first doing a credit check, that's not a dealership you want to do business with.

car edge if a dealer does this, leave immediately at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[dtru1222]

just wondering how all these issues started just after warranty? and if they did not why was the truck not sitting on the dealer door getting warranty work done.. Especially if the alignment was off since day one..

The alignment was done at 10k and I had to pay for it. I bought the truck in 2020 and hit the 3 year mark at the beginning of 2023. All of this has happened AFTER the warranty expired (except the turn/hop).

 

[leftchevybehind]

You'll be alright bro. You just got a bad unit off the assembly line. Now is the time to start modifying your truck in my opinion.

There are no vehicle manufacturers on Planet Earth, nor in our Laniakea Supercluster, and especially not in our observable universe, who can build a 100% defect free vehicle.

I've never had major issues with Chevy or Ram trucks since 2012. However, there have been recalls and some folks have had catastrophic failures since then with both makers.

 

[Docwagon1776]

That's one of the red flags that car buying experts warn about. If a dealership won't let you test drive a vehicle without first doing a credit check, that's not a dealership you want to do business with.

car edge if a dealer does this, leave immediately at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

I'd agree if he was buying a vanilla F-150, but a Lightning in 2003? Not uncommon in the slightest to make sure you're a serious buyer and can afford it (or afford to be sued over it) for high end performance cars or uniques. Too many joy riders otherwise. Especially if you don't already have a relationship with the dealership.

 

[mikeru]

I'd agree if he was buying a vanilla F-150, but a Lightning in 2003? Not uncommon in the slightest to make sure you're a serious buyer and can afford it (or afford to be sued over it) for high end performance cars or uniques. Too many joy riders otherwise. Especially if you don't already have a relationship with the dealership.

I don't care what kind of car or truck it is. I'm not filling out a credit app just to go on a test drive. I've test driven some pretty expensive cars without ever doing that. Plus, it negatively affects your credit rating every time you fill one out. If my credit is taking a hit I had better be buying the car they're running my credit on. If that's what's required to test drive their vehicle I'm walking.

 

[ramffml]

I don't care what kind of car or truck it is. I'm not filling out a credit app just to go on a test drive. I've test driven some pretty expensive cars without ever doing that. Plus, it negatively affects your credit rating every time you fill one out. If my credit is taking a hit I had better be buying the car they're running my credit on. If that's what's required to test drive their vehicle I'm walking.

Credit check for a test drive? That's a little nuts.

I've never done more than a photocopy of my license.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Credit check for a test drive? That's a little nuts.

I've never done more than a photocopy of my license.

I don't think I've ever even had to show my license before a test drive.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I get a new fleet vehicle every 3-4 yrs, not one has made it to 20k on the tires, most were shot at 15k mile.
My wife gets about 15k miles out of her tires.
Has a lot to do with where you live, your driving conditions, roads and driving style. My truck tires have lasted to the point that they are too old - but it is only driven on the highway for the most part.

Currently have Wildpeaks on my 2022 traverse - by far the worst performing tire (from new) in rain or slush that I have ever had the displeasure of driving on. They are quiet and handle well, but just hydroplane and float in almost any pooled water at all.

My OEM Firestones lasted about 22k miles before they got slick and were scary in rain. Tread wear was faster than I expected even for OEMs.

My last truck was a 2000 Silverado 4x4 that I bought in Oct 1999. I sold last year when I bought this RAM and I had about 190,000 miles on it. Other than the factory tires that came on it, I bought 3 sets during those 23+ years and they still had probably 25,000 miles on the last set when I sold it.

 

[DanAR]

Lightnings were only sold through SVT licensed dealers so they considered themselves sort of special to begin with. But at the time they were real jerks annd basically treated us with indifference and it sort of pissed me off. We have always had excellent credit and after they ran it they fell all over themselves to let me drive it. But the only other SVT dealer in the State was up in the NW of the State about 3-1/2 to 4 hours away. The car I picked had a bed liner in it that wasn’t on the sticker. We struck a deal before I pointed that out to them. They didn’t want to remove it and I didn’t want to pay for it so they just agreed to forget it which gave me one small victory.

 

[tron67j]

My last truck was a 2000 Silverado 4x4 that I bought in Oct 1999. I sold last year when I bought this RAM and I had about 190,000 miles on it. Other than the factory tires that came on it, I bought 3 sets during those 23+ years and they still had probably 25,000 miles on the last set when I sold it.

I can't figure it out, it is garage kept. Don't drive off road except our dirt road, but they just didn't last.

 

[Docwagon1776]

I don't care what kind of car or truck it is. I'm not filling out a credit app just to go on a test drive. I've test driven some pretty expensive cars without ever doing that. Plus, it negatively affects your credit rating every time you fill one out. If my credit is taking a hit I had better be buying the car they're running my credit on. If that's what's required to test drive their vehicle I'm walking.

Soft inquiry is nothing to your credit, and hard pulls are so negligible that unless you're trash tier credit it's nothing anyway. Of course now, it's easy to have your own soft pull (giggity) and most banks or credit cards offer a free one routinely.

It's not expensive cars, generally, it's cars that are rare and are going to sell someone quick even if it isn't you. Double bonus if it inspires hooliganism. You can tart up an F-150 Platinum to the point it's way more expensive than two Broncos, but it's not rare. When Broncos were super constrained and dealers were at $10k ADM, you couldn't test drive one even if you had one paid for, the only exception being "mannequins" that Ford specifically provided for test drives. Dealerships would only let you drive 2-3 miles in those because they knew at the end of 6 months it was their car to sell and it'd still be worth thousands over MSRP, people were lined up to buy it, and they wanted to keep the miles off it. Any dealer will toss you the keys to the more expensive, but more common F-150. I drove several Raptors on test drives...but only one Bronco. Of course the market has turned now, so the Bronco isn't the example it was a few years ago.

Ford made maybe 4,000 Lightnings a year and they had no problem selling them, so that's why I'm saying it's not a sign of a bad dealer in that case. It's a rare vehicle that is going to command a premium, that the buyer will not want a bunch of test drive miles on, and that inspires hooliganism. I'd not be shocked if a dealer didn't want an agreed upon price, with the condition you like the test drive, before letting you drive one. Saw that on higher trim Corvettes and ZL1 Camaros a few times, and I was in the position to simply write a check for it so nothing to do with credit or ability to buy, and I pulled onto the lot in one, so no concern I couldn't drive one etc. Just making sure I wasn't a looky-loo. I told him I couldn't talk price because I didn't know how much I would value the newer one over what I had and that, frankly, I may like it less than what I had and at that point price wouldn't matter. I was not the buyer they were looking for, but they still sold it within 48 hours...and likely for way more than I would have went.

 

[DanAR]

I agree that with vehicles like that you don’t want to be looking at vehicles that they have let people just walk in off the street and take joy rides in. It was more their attitude and indifference when we first were approached that pissed me off. I remember thinking, geezz maybe I should have swapped my jeans for slacks before we came down here. And then after they ran our credit the complete 180 degree turn around just made it all the more irritating.

I thought I was having a repeat of this when we went down to the Dodge dealer last Fall to seriously look at RAMs with the intent of buying. We parked, walked around and looked at trucks for 15 - 20 minutes, climbed into several to get a feel for them, more or less figured out what we wanted, and not a salesman in sight. So we eventually wandered into the showroom where we found another truck that caught my eye and looked it over good. Still, no salesman in spite of many obvious employees sitting around and in cubicles. Finally, somewhat irritated after 30 minutes or so and having looked at about everything we could, I walked up to a receptionist desk and somewhat irritably asked if there were any salesman working today as we sure haven’t stumbled across one and we were interested in possibly buying a RAM. That got us a salesman finally and everything went well after that but it kind of makes you wonder.