Autozone/Duralast shocks struts

[Jammer24]

I have been buying autozone parts for a long time and have had good luck with them, I was wondering if anyone has had an issue with the struts or shocks causing vibration/shake? I've been chasing an issue with my 2014 1500 ex for a year......just installed the second set of new tires after a year on the first set and WOW......way worse than it has been for a year. front struts/rear shocks/wheel bearing front and rear changed a year ago. Did I get hit with that another bad set of tires or could it be the autozone parts. I am not bashing the Zone at all......bad parts are found even when new. SO if your looking to bash AUTOZONE This POST is NOT the place.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Probably the first thing to do would be to get your tires put on a Hunter Road Force Balancing machine. That will detect if the rim is bent, the tire/s have flat spots or broken chords...etc. Notice I didn't say.... Coats balancer, or Chinese balancer .....you have to go with a Hunter Road Force Balancer. There's a lot that can be wrong with tires/wheels, and they are the primary cause of vibrations. The RF balancer will snuff any issues out because it is that high-tech (watch some videos).

And make sure you ask for 'Rim Matching" ...and stay there and watch through the window that they ACTUALLY do it. Don't go get a pizza, don't read news on your phone...stay and watch them for the full job. It takes 2x more work, but makes all the difference. Even if the tech come out and says, "Good news! They were so close after the initial balance, we didn't need to do that". That's totally BS!! Hit the STOP BUTTON and make them go back and do the rim-matching. They always say crap like that and I've literally stood there doing RF balancing and did the rim-matching...and the process would cut the amt of weight in half or 40% in almost all cases. The final balance often exceeds the machines own improvement estimate. So even if the machine estimates a small savings in weight ...DO IT. Tire guys always try to weasel out of extra work like 90% of the time. They have 20 creative ways of shortcutting tire balance jobs. I see it all the time. I've been changing tires since I was like 14..so I know. Make sure you get what you pay for...and get the BEST ...so you can eliminate tire issues from your mix of vibration causing possibilities. Then you're not chasing this that and the other blindly. You could have a tire with a broken belt that could be causing it to hop all over the place mimicking a bad shock. Happens all the time. A Coats balancer can balance a square tire...so do the Hunter machine.

Look for any oil leaking out of the shocks. That's a give-away that they are failing. They can still fail internally, but if you see oil seepage from the top, then you know that's a probelm.

Inspect any bushings which might be cracked or wearing. And lift up the tire/wheel and give it the ole back-n-fourth by vigorously shaking it with your hands at the 12:00 and 6:00 position. And then the 3.00-10.00 position (to check for worn tie rod ends).

 

[Jammer24]

Probably the first thing to do would be to get your tires put on a Hunter Road Force Balancing machine. That will detect if the rim is bent, the tire/s have flat spots or broken chords...etc. Notice I didn't say.... Coats balancer, or Chinese balancer .....you have to go with a Hunter Road Force Balancer. There's a lot that can be wrong with tires/wheels, and they are the primary cause of vibrations. The RF balancer will snuff any issues out because it is that high-tech (watch some videos).

And make sure you ask for 'Rim Matching" ...and stay there and watch through the window that they ACTUALLY do it. Don't go get a pizza, don't read news on your phone...stay and watch them for the full job. It takes 2x more work, but makes all the difference. Even if the tech come out and says, "Good news! They were so close after the initial balance, we didn't need to do that". That's totally BS!! Hit the STOP BUTTON and make them go back and do the rim-matching. They always say crap like that and I've literally stood there doing RF balancing and did the rim-matching...and the process would cut the amt of weight in half or 40% in almost all cases. The final balance often exceeds the machines own improvement estimate. So even if the machine estimates a small savings in weight ...DO IT. Tire guys always try to weasel out of extra work like 90% of the time. They have 20 creative ways of shortcutting tire balance jobs. I see it all the time. I've been changing tires since I was like 14..so I know. Make sure you get what you pay for...and get the BEST ...so you can eliminate tire issues from your mix of vibration causing possibilities. Then you're not chasing this that and the other blindly. You could have a tire with a broken belt that could be causing it to hop all over the place mimicking a bad shock. Happens all the time. A Coats balancer can balance a square tire...so do the Hunter machine.

Look for any oil leaking out of the shocks. That's a give-away that they are failing. They can still fail internally, but if you see oil seepage from the top, then you know that's a probelm.

Inspect any bushings which might be cracked or wearing. And lift up the tire/wheel and give it the ole back-n-fourth by vigorously shaking it with your hands at the 12:00 and 6:00 position. And then the 3.00-10.00 position (to check for worn tie rod ends).

SO last sept I bought the truck. Got it on the road and had a shake. the tires needed to be replaced. Replaced them (on line walmart) shipped to me, installed at firestone. went back they re balanced them and it improved but not cured. went back they RF balanced them and made more improvement but no cured. I put them on my spin balancer at home (snap on) they were off. went back spoke the manager who spun balance them again and found a bent rim. replaced it check all again and sent me home........still had the issue. I put back on my spin balancer added weight to what was already there and that made a big improvement. During this long process I changed the rear shocks, front struts,rear axle bearings from (auto zone) front bearing hubs (detroit axle) checked for bent axles as well as all bushings front and back. up till now i just lived with it. at times the truck was smooth and the shake would come and go. this time bought different tires (walmart) had them delivered to the store and installed same store......worse its ever been. also noticed non of the painted dots line up with the valve stem.....Now i had them installed there because prior conversation with TLE said I had 90 days to return for any reason. Oh also the road noise sucks. all reviews claim no road noise. the ones they took off are more aggressive yet way less road noise. So my original issue from day one is back and twice as bad........ not so sure buying this truck was a good idea. love it as it has twice as much towing power as my fords I have had for 15 years.

 

[Sherman Bird]

I have been buying autozone parts for a long time and have had good luck with them, I was wondering if anyone has had an issue with the struts or shocks causing vibration/shake? I've been chasing an issue with my 2014 1500 ex for a year......just installed the second set of new tires after a year on the first set and WOW......way worse than it has been for a year. front struts/rear shocks/wheel bearing front and rear changed a year ago. Did I get hit with that another bad set of tires or could it be the autozone parts. I am not bashing the Zone at all......bad parts are found even when new. SO if your looking to bash AUTOZONE This POST is NOT the place.

Gabriel was the vendor who made AZ's shocks at one time, but I'm not sure if they still are. I've never had good luck with them and invariably switched to Monroe Matics. I've had great luck with those. Get them at NAPA and O'Reilly's.

 

[Jammer24]

Gabriel was the vendor who made AZ's shocks at one time, but I'm not sure if they still are. I've never had good luck with them and invariably switched to Monroe Matics. I've had great luck with those. Get them at NAPA and O'Reilly's.

I replaced all four corners because when I bought the truck the RF was leaking......

 

[nlambert182]

None of the things you mentioned included a Hunter road force balancer. Firestone doesn't RF balance tires using Hunter machines... at least none of the ones I've ever visited.

As JW said... that is the ONLY true balancer I would trust. I would absolutely rule out the tires before I went anywhere else. I would expect vibration the way you describe it probably be a tire/balancing issue over shocks. What brand tires did you buy? Good ones can have a defect, but lower end tires will typically have more.

If you have a Discount Tire near you, they exclusively use Hunter machines.

 

[ExpressRules]

You throw so many parts at same problem it makes it more difficult to figure out real problem. Lots of issues with new parts being bad out of the box and you are correct it isn't an issue with the retailer. Go back and start with the basics, Check all tires for balance and if ok get a four wheel alignment. After all that, if problem still remains, start thinking about possible frame issue.

Since the problem existed from the time you bought the truck maybe you should take it to a collision repair shop and have them check to see if they find any damage as a result of previous accident.

 

[Daviddnv]

I have to agree with the Hunter Road Force Balancer. Had the same issues, 4 times at different places trying to have new Toyo tires balanced. There's a thread on here about it. Finally made it to a Discount Tire... $40 and 30 minutes problem solved! I'll never have tires balanced any other way.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

Road force balancing is the best way to ensure that the tires and rims are true and solid!
Worth the extra $$ to find a shop that knows what they are doing and only utilizes this methodology of ensuring the job is done correctly!

 

[Jammer24]

I agree that road force is the best way. The first set was summit A/T trail climber the second set Advanta ATX-850. They don't look as aggressive but the road noise is much worse.......

I called today spoke to a manager and agreed to recheck them and once again he know what RF was but the guy I first talked to had NO clue. If rechecking don't work I'll have them swap them out for something different I guess.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Yep...Road Force. But you "Gotta" let the mgr you want them rim-matched...and make sure it gets done. And here's another thing:.... you can run a Road Force Balancer in regular spin mode. There's a quick mode that bypasses the main analytical mode. I had a tire shop tell me they usually use the quick mode on balanding. Like I said before...there's a hundred ways tire guys will shotcut jobs. NEVER just drop your truck off! The Walmart by us is the worst. Their guys are next to incompetent. I don't say that lightly. I usually have to usually bark out instructions while they're doing the install. Their install is free and disposal is cheap. Then I take them to the Chevy garage for balancing.

A good example of Walmart guys' incompetence is when they hosed down my last set of truck tires. Hosed them down to wash the paint off the white lettering ....BEFORE they installed them. I just turned my back and they did it before I could say stop. And then the guy went to install the tire (with a couple cups of water in each) onto the rim. I stopped & explained to the guy...you can't put on a tire with water in it, it'll never balance out. He looked at me funny, like "Why??" And then he wiggled the tire and dumped out about a cup, to satisfy me ...and went to reinstall it. I had to hit the hard-stop button and had him bring them over to me (the shop bay doors were open), and I dried them out with rags in my truck. And let them sit in the sun for 5-10 minutes. And he's like, "Why bother drying out?" (like he puts them on wet all the time). I could go on... I have more Walmart stories ...but you get the point.

Heck...maybe you have a half a cup of water in one of your tires?? You can't balance out a tire with water in it. That might explain your balance issue.

Something else. I went to the gas station this summer on a hot humid day. I've gone there before and gotten air. After I removed the tire inflation wand the valve (in the wand) stuck open....and it sprayed water all over my tire. Easy to see....tire was black and it blew quite a bit of water out. It had a nice steady spray coming out the end. I was flabergasted! I'll never get air there on a hot day. Cold, dry day..ok.

Have someone check your tires for water too. You can balance out a tire, but if there's water in it, it shouldn't balance out right a second time.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Obviously check the wheel bearings, center driveshaft bearing (if your tk has one), and engine mounts too. And of course shocks/bushings/steering parts. Sure love to hear what it turns out to be.

I'm sure it's not the truck per'se. Most guys love their Ram trucks. Mine is smooth as butter. You will find and solve that shake ...just keep on it. Happy Holidays!

 

[Jammer24]

I mount truck truck tires a ton. I used to work in a tire shop years ago changing tires. As for a cup of water I would loose it...... I only had walmart install because of the 90 day no hassle return.... there is a local tires shop that does truck tires and They do road force. as for what machine they have I don't know. 13 months ago all was replaced NEW. front struts,rear shock,rear axle bearings,front hubs, checked all joints and bushings. also a four wheel alignment. compared to the f250's i have had for the last 15 years this truck out performs them buy a long shot. don't want to give it up.

 

[nlambert182]

Assuming that all of the suspension work was done properly it really doesn't leave much to check aside from a bad tire.

Find a company that specifically uses Hunter machines and make sure they properly RF balance the tires. If they can't get one into spec, then I'd consider changing out to a higher quality tire. Both the choices you listed earlier are more of an economy tire. You get what you pay for with them.

 

[brad byron]

bought 4 KYB Gas-Adjust shocks few years back from Rockauto for my 2015 RAM1500 2WD. . not expensive but really are nice. i just drive highway........