How can I improve the ride quality on my Quad Cab Sport?

[Want to Drive]

I have a 2014 Quad Cab Sport with 74,000 miles on it. I brought the truck used in late 2018 with 44,000 miles on it, so I've owned the truck for 6 years and put 30,000 miles on it during that time.

More and more lately I feel like the ride quality is pretty bad over anything but nearly perfect road surfaces. On fresh smooth pavement the truck rides great, but on most of the roads where I live there are imperfections in the road surfaces life cracks that have been filled, small ridges in the road surface, areas where the top level of the road has been worn through. These imperfects cause the ride to become noisy with a lot of small vibrations and squeaks.

My tires aren't in great shape, so I'll be replacing them soon and I'm hoping that quiets down the ride some, but I'm wondering if there is anything else I can do to improve the ride?

I'm on the stock 20's with Cooper Evolution (on the truck when I bought it) in stock 275/60R20 size. I don't do any off-roading.

I'm aware it's a truck and not an S-class Mercedes Benz, but I like a smooth quiet ride and anything I can do to accomplish that would be great, short of moving to a different vehicle.

 

[IDSandman]

Find all the rattles and squeaks and fix them. Sound mat the cab. Go to a XL rated tire to have lower air pressure or even an LT. If a 20” wheel you could go to a 18” which would give more side wall and a softer ride. replace your shocks with quality ones like Bilstein or Fox.

 

[Want to Drive]

Find all the rattles and squeaks and fix them. Sound mat the cab. Go to a XL rated tire to have lower air pressure or even an LT. If a 20” wheel you could go to a 18” which would give more side wall and a softer ride. replace your shocks with quality ones like Bilstein or Fox.

My concern with the Bilstein or Fox shocks is that they would be more firm that stock and make the ride worse.

 

[crash68]

My concern with the Bilstein or Fox shocks is that they would be more firm that stock and make the ride worse.

^^^ yeap
I think some people have described Bilstein shock as being able to drive over a coin and know it'd it was heads or tails.
The OEM shocks will probably give the best ride. Also set the tire air pressure by chalk testing them, it will probably be slightly lower than the door inflation pressure. Certainly don't use the cold max inflation pressure.

 

[Want to Drive]

That would be a great way to describe how it feels now when driving on anything less than perfect roads. It feels like I feel every imperfection or pebble in the road.

I know my tires are an issue. They are 2018 date code and have edge wear, but I'm not sure new tires are going to completely solve the ride.

I'm wondering if the stock shocks are worn out due to age/mileage?

Are you aware of any shocks that are know to provide a softer ride?

 

[IDSandman]

My concern with the Bilstein or Fox shocks is that they would be more firm that stock and make the ride worse.

Bills will ride a little stiffer but more damp due to better valving. Fox are softer riding IME but have more body roll. I prefer my bills over stock as it also has less body roll but absorbs bumps way better.

 

[Zoe Saldana]

I have a 2014 Quad Cab Sport with 74,000 miles on it. I brought the truck used in late 2018 with 44,000 miles on it, so I've owned the truck for 6 years and put 30,000 miles on it during that time.

More and more lately I feel like the ride quality is pretty bad over anything but nearly perfect road surfaces. On fresh smooth pavement the truck rides great, but on most of the roads where I live there are imperfections in the road surfaces life cracks that have been filled, small ridges in the road surface, areas where the top level of the road has been worn through. These imperfects cause the ride to become noisy with a lot of small vibrations and squeaks.

My tires aren't in great shape, so I'll be replacing them soon and I'm hoping that quiets down the ride some, but I'm wondering if there is anything else I can do to improve the ride?

I'm on the stock 20's with Cooper Evolution (on the truck when I bought it) in stock 275/60R20 size. I don't do any off-roading.

I'm aware it's a truck and not an S-class Mercedes Benz, but I like a smooth quiet ride and anything I can do to accomplish that would be great, short of moving to a different vehicle.

Rancho 9000xl adjustable shocks.

New steering stabilizer

Look at bushings and isolators for replacement

 

[Want to Drive]

Thanks, I'll check these out.

 

[Nick@GotExhaust]

Eibach Pro kit would be a great option. The secret sauce is in the coils. The Eibach kit rides smoother than stock plus you can get a little lift from it!

Message me if you would like a quote on the Eibach kit or anything else. We offer most brands

 

[62Blazer]

The factory shocks are 10 years old with 70k miles, so I'm sure they are pretty worn out.

 

[Want to Drive]

I was thinking the same. I'm not sure what kind of life the stock shocks have. Something for me to consider changing out for sure.

 

[mopar68]

You could always install a air ride system.

 

[RamDiver]

Smaller rims and Michelin AT-2s or Defenders or equivalent will add considerable comfort.

18" for 6 lug or 17" for 5 lug hubs. I bought steel OEM 17" rims from the dealer for $60 Canadian each, a couple of years ago.

All the dealers up here had steel take-off rims from all the new buyers upgrades to fancy new rims.

Or, buy fancy aftermarket rims if your budget supports that move.

.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I'm curious if maybe (and don't take this the wrong way) if maybe it's actually YOU...maybe you've just become more sensitive and once you zero'd in on the roughness, you notice it more, and it's getting under your skin? IDK..just a thought. sometimes that happens to me in one of my other rougher-riding vehicles.

Tires/Rims: The 20" wheels have narrower and probably stiffer (per amount of sidewall), vs a 17" whee with more sidewall. OTOH, it give better handling. Hence the "Sport". What kind of tires does it have? Are they load-E rated? Or 10-ply rated? Let us know what the load rating is. Have you played with reducing the air pressure a bit? Everybody raves that Michelin tires ride the best. I've run them on cars and they do make a great tire. So you might consider getting a set of those. If you know someone (a buddy?) who has 17" - 19" wheels, you might see if they'd let you swap and do a test. I run 17's and a somewhat low load range tire. I like the smooth ride. I have another vehicle I run a 10-ply (rated) A/T tire and yeah, it's a lot stiffer ride.

Shocks: Worn shocks typically ride 'smoother' not rougher. Smoother because oil has either leaked out, or is bypassing the internal orifices. But I agree with others that an OEM shock for a regular Ram, not necessarily a "Sport" might be the way to go. I run OEM's because they ride nice. Mine are original on my 2012 BTW ...175k mi. But your 'sport' might have a more firm shock. Something to check out.

Seat: Is your driver's seat foam good? They wear, collapse, disintegrate and so on. There are a couple replacement versions available. The common one a lot of people buy is an aftermarket one which I tried and is like 2x denser (stiffer) foam than OEM. I sent that back and bought a Mopar replacement which has the original seat foam density. IDK if that's a factor on your truck??

Springs: Another person (above) mentioned springs. You might do some digging. And/or look at your truck's springs. There's probably a tag on them with a part number. You could cross-reference that number vs a normal non-sport truck on the Mopar parts page. If you replace shocks you could also replace the springs with a lighter-sprung non-sport truck ...if you deemed them to be a softer ride. I'm not sure the difference. I'm just speculating. Something to look into though.

Compare: Maybe go to some car dealers and drive some used Rams on roads you know, with different wheel tire combinations, and see how they compare to yours. Pay attention to what tires are on them, what wheels (size etc) and shocks too. How did they ride compared to your truck? Is it all in your head, or did they have something that you really like?? That's a cheap way to compare w/o first buying.

Best of luck. Keep us informed what you find, what you do, and how it turns out.

 

[Want to Drive]

I'm curious if maybe (and don't take this the wrong way) if maybe it's actually YOU...maybe you've just become more sensitive and once you zero'd in on the roughness, you notice it more, and it's getting under your skin? IDK..just a thought. sometimes that happens to me in one of my other rougher-riding vehicles.

Tires/Rims: The 20" wheels have narrower and probably stiffer (per amount of sidewall), vs a 17" whee with more sidewall. OTOH, it give better handling. Hence the "Sport". What kind of tires does it have? Are they load-E rated? Or 10-ply rated? Let us know what the load rating is. Have you played with reducing the air pressure a bit? Everybody raves that Michelin tires ride the best. I've run them on cars and they do make a great tire. So you might consider getting a set of those. If you know someone (a buddy?) who has 17" - 19" wheels, you might see if they'd let you swap and do a test. I run 17's and a somewhat low load range tire. I like the smooth ride. I have another vehicle I run a 10-ply (rated) A/T tire and yeah, it's a lot stiffer ride.

Shocks: Worn shocks typically ride 'smoother' not rougher. Smoother because oil has either leaked out, or is bypassing the internal orifices. But I agree with others that an OEM shock for a regular Ram, not necessarily a "Sport" might be the way to go. I run OEM's because they ride nice. Mine are original on my 2012 BTW ...175k mi. But your 'sport' might have a more firm shock. Something to check out.

Seat: Is your driver's seat foam good? They wear, collapse, disintegrate and so on. There are a couple replacement versions available. The common one a lot of people buy is an aftermarket one which I tried and is like 2x denser (stiffer) foam than OEM. I sent that back and bought a Mopar replacement which has the original seat foam density. IDK if that's a factor on your truck??

Springs: Another person (above) mentioned springs. You might do some digging. And/or look at your truck's springs. There's probably a tag on them with a part number. You could cross-reference that number vs a normal non-sport truck on the Mopar parts page. If you replace shocks you could also replace the springs with a lighter-sprung non-sport truck ...if you deemed them to be a softer ride. I'm not sure the difference. I'm just speculating. Something to look into though.

Compare: Maybe go to some car dealers and drive some used Rams on roads you know, with different wheel tire combinations, and see how they compare to yours. Pay attention to what tires are on them, what wheels (size etc) and shocks too. How did they ride compared to your truck? Is it all in your head, or did they have something that you really like?? That's a cheap way to compare w/o first buying.

Best of luck. Keep us informed what you find, what you do, and how it turns out.

Thanks for the thorough response. I actually think some of it may be "ME" and being more sensitive to the ride quality. I think another issue is the MDS rumble on imperfect roads. The MDS rumble really annoys me and feeling it when driving on bad roads just compounds the issue. I've been paying closer attention to the ride and overall it isn't bad. I would describe the ride as "annoying" on a few specific roads I frequently drive on. Luckily the bad part of the roads isn't really long, it's just that they are near my house and I have to drive on them almost daily. I suppose the ride quality is probably on par for a 10 year old truck.

I'm going to start with the tires first. The ride isn't bad enough that I'd consider going to a smaller wheel size. While it's a valid suggestion, I like the look of the 20's and I think I the 275/60R20 has enough side wall to where that isn't the MAIN issue. I'm going to research if a 275/65/R20 may fit also.

I'll monitor it after new tires and if it isn't satisfactory I'll look into some of the suspension components to see if there are any "softer" alternatives.

 

[huntergreen]

If you you look at shocks, may want to look at KYB shocks.

 

[Want to Drive]

If you you look at shocks, may want to look at KYB shocks.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely look at them.