Ordering Falken Wildpeak A/T3W's, P or LT?

[turkeybird56]

Wow Boird, those tires still look new, do the shoes on your Hausie last that long, I miss pics of the Hausie!!!

I wish the shoes last longer. The mare has some pretty hard rear feet, but her front feet are just finicky. SO, every 6 weeks the Farrier comes. He cleans up the rears, pulls the front shoes, cleans the hooves up and resets. He spends maybe an hour on this, and that is a cool Ben Franklin every time he visits. The mare is at that age where she is really not ridden any more, she was Momma's hoss ne way and never liked me up on her.

Got those new shoes on RAM in 2020, but I also do not drive a lot. Further, I always check the PSI and insure proper inflation, and make sure I keep track with the up and down temps currently. Also, they R rotated every 5,000 miles also, along with OCI.

Newest pic I have of the mare on PC, 9-23-2023, not too bad for a Hoss just turned 25.

 

[BuschLatte420]

Thanks! Did yours come stock with P tires, and assuming so when you switched, did the road noise or ride become noticeably worse? Seriously worse? Appreciate that you prefer the tougher tire regardless, just curious if you experienced the downsides, but the tougher tire is worth it.

Yes P tires that required 40 psi, when I put on the LT E’s I bumped them to to 48. Truly smooth to me. Sure bad bumps in the road might be a little rougher but hey the tires not gonna blow out! MPG wise I never cared, it’s a hemi, it’s gonna get ****** mpg, and when I wanna have fun with it I have fun with it! I never see 20 mpgs on a highway but I am usually running 70mph + with 3.92 gears. Crew Cab Standard Box. Always put the same LT E on my Tahoe as well

 

[Rome X]

Got the truck back with the LT wildpeaks. The ride is definitely rougher than the Cooper P tires, but not extremely so. The tire shop filled them 50psi in front and 45 in rear (max 65psi for reference) and said thats what both the shop owner and tire tech run theirs at, with the same tires.

Took it to the highway to test if I still have any shake, and unfortunately I do, although different from the Coopers. The fact that it changed makes me continue to think it is the tires/balance and not something mechanical on the truck.

These Wildpeaks dont really have any serious shake until about 65mph. From 70-80 the shake is pretty bad, like your voice is bouncing when you try to talk. Shake is felt 90% in the seat and floor, indicating rear tires as the culprit. At 85mph, the shake gets noticably less severe. So theres a band of 65-85 with shake, worst between 70-80mph.

I don't really have a choice but to go back to the shop and ask them to try a rebalance on the rear wheels. I'll also ask what weights they had to use as apparently that can be a good indication of things? I have read about "rotating the tire on the wheel" helping, but don't understand what I would be asking them to do?

 

[KYPOTLICKER]

Rome - X I believe that you need to ask for a road force balance. That should be the correct terminology .

 

[brian42]

I had a shake at higher speeds on my car. Several rebalances did not help much so had the shop pull the tires, put them on different wheels, and do a road force balance.

Most shops have these machines - it's the same one they do the regular balancing on. You just have to pay a little more for them to go that extra step for the road force balance.

Make sure they show you the results because that test will also show you if your wheel is the problem.

I thought I had an out-of-spec wheel but none were. After the road force balance it solved 95% of my issues. Now I don't get any vibration/shake until "moderately" above freeway speeds .

 

[Rome X]

I had a shake at higher speeds on my car. Several rebalances did not help much so had the shop pull the tires, put them on different wheels, and do a road force balance.

Most shops have these machines - it's the same one they do the regular balancing on. You just have to pay a little more for them to go that extra step for the road force balance.

Make sure they show you the results because that test will also show you if your wheel is the problem.

I thought I had an out-of-spec wheel but none were. After the road force balance it solved 95% of my issues. Now I don't get any vibration/shake until "moderately" above freeway speeds .

That's great. The shop said they will do a road force balance for me, but all that does is "put a drum against the tire and give you a number in pounds that will tell you if something is basically out of round."

So it doesn't sound like it is a different balance job than standard? I'm confused by that. What in your experience does a "road force balance" do differently that would make it a better balance?

Thanks!

 

[Rome X]

They said they did a road force on the rear tires since that's where I'm feelings the shake. 6# and 26# was the result which he said is "exceptionally good ,and fine, respectively". And that there's nothing left to do for the tires. He recommended a mechanic take it up to speed at 75 to feel it for himself and see if there's a mechanical reason for the shake besides tires.

This truck...

 

[Curmudgeon]

Definitely something going on there Rome X. It sounds like that tire shop has done all they are capable of doing.

I have had 3 sets of tires on mine, the Goodyear SRA from the factory, a set of Bridgestone ATs from one tire dealer, and my current Wildpeak from yet another tire dealer.

I have had my truck up to, *ahem* let's just say "triple digits" in miles per hour, with all 3 tires. It's like riding on polished glass at every speed.

A good mechanic ought to be able to locate the issue for you and discuss possible solutions. I hate that you are going through all this. Good luck.

EDIT: my truck has just under 105,000 miles, 2014 1500. All suspension components are original and unmodified, if that helps.

 

[brian42]

That's great. The shop said they will do a road force balance for me, but all that does is "put a drum against the tire and give you a number in pounds that will tell you if something is basically out of round."

So it doesn't sound like it is a different balance job than standard? I'm confused by that. What in your experience does a "road force balance" do differently that would make it a better balance?

Thanks!

By applying that pressure against the tire (similar to your car sitting on the ground aka "road force") allows for a more precise calculation to place the weights. It also allows the machine to measure the runout to identify if there is wheel or tire out of round that might be causing the issue.

I don't know if the tolerances in the tire(s) were mounted in alignment with the tolerances in the wheel(s) or if it was a better weight placement but 2 tries with standard balancing was unsuccessful. I would have loved to have done it in two steps to see what made the most difference (swapping tires around or road force balance) but that would have been almost double the price...and the boss shot that down before I could finish asking .

 

[Rome X]

Literally all articles and forums posts I can find online talk about tire balancing being the culprit for shaking in the steering wheel and seat when at specific speeds, such as a band of highway speeds like mine (70-80 for example).

So I truly can't understand how it can be this bad after getting new tires and have it not be tires. But here I am after 2 different sets of new tires with similar problems

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

There's weights spot welded on the drive shaft if one of those weights got knocked off you will get a vibration, look into rebalanced the drive shaft, or possible rear differential problem, have the plug pulled and check the condition of the fluid is there any noise in the rear end?

 

[Rome X]

There's weights spot welded on the drive shaft if one of those weights got knocked off you will get a vibration, look into rebalanced the drive shaft, or possible rear differential problem, have the plug pulled and check the condition of the fluid is there any noise in the rear end?

No noise in rear end. With the new set of Cooper tires the front end was shaking badly at 70mph, felt mostly in the steering wheel. With the new Falkens that is mostly gone in the wheel and is now felt in the seat. So there was a change from one set of tires to another, and neither front nor rear shake was a bad with the original tires it came with last month. So hard not to think something's going on with the tires.

However this driveshaft idea is finally something else that could be a culprit. Not that I wish this new truck to need another costly repair, but not having an answer is driving me nuts and maybe this is hope for a fix. I'm pretty close to buying cheap used tires on Facebook and driving this to a lot somewhere to trade in at this point...

I'll get it somewhere to have them check the driveshaft and ujoints and see if there's a potential answer there. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Another thing i was thinking you mentioned a problem with your wheels could that be a problem when they were balanced maybe a different set of wheels, try hitting the pick&pull yards for a used set of wheels.

 

[Rome X]

Another thing i was thinking you mentioned a problem with your wheels could that be a problem when they were balanced maybe a different set of wheels, try hitting the pick&pull yards for a used set of wheels.

Not sure I mentioned a wheel problem. The original tire shop mentioned they have trouble balancing Rams because the wheels use a plastic cover and they are hesitant to tighten the balancer too much and crack that wheel skin. But no wheel issues I'm aware of, and the road force balancer didn't find any issue. They only did the road force balance on the rear wheels though.

 

[Rome X]

There's weights spot welded on the drive shaft if one of those weights got knocked off you will get a vibration, look into rebalanced the drive shaft, or possible rear differential problem, have the plug pulled and check the condition of the fluid is there any noise in the rear end?

I called up the original tire shop that mounted the Coopers. I asked him about the driveshaft and U-joints, he said he checked both of those when he replaced the brakes and rotors all around and there was no issue with them mechanically. I mentioned I'm tempted to just trade the thing in and he noted he still has my old nearly bald tires in the pile, he could mount them for me so I could trade it and keep my new Falkens for the next truck lol

 

[Rome X]

Another thing i was thinking you mentioned a problem with your wheels could that be a problem when they were balanced maybe a different set of wheels, try hitting the pick&pull yards for a used set of wheels.

Been looking for pick & pull type yards within 150 miles of me and little exists, and unfortunately somehow no rams at the 3 places I found.

 

[jmc921]

Some of what I see that you posted and some of the other postings sound a little off. My 2014 had P-rated new and they have been replaced with 2 different sets of P-rated. The second set was a highway tread and I had that up to and cruised at 85-90 MPH through OK and it was absolutely smooth (so was the road - Will rogers Turnpike). The third set that I just installed is a P-rated AT tire and it is definitely not as smooth but I don't have any shakes, mostly heard rather than felt. I did drop the pressure from the 39 psi recommended to 38 and that seemed to cause a significant improvement in the ride and comfort. For me, I stayed with P-rated just to keep the unsprung weight down (easily 10 to 15 lbs less at each wheel) and also the cost. Just my opinion. Good luck with your "new" truck.

 

[gwilburn]

I called up the original tire shop that mounted the Coopers. I asked him about the driveshaft and U-joints, he said he checked both of those when he replaced the brakes and rotors all around and there was no issue with them mechanically. I mentioned I'm tempted to just trade the thing in and he noted he still has my old nearly bald tires in the pile, he could mount them for me so I could trade it and keep my new Falkens for the next truck lol

They need to turn the wheels around backwards.... putting the "cone" on the other side. Same thing happened to me.
Not sure whether you went with LT or P rated... I had P rated for the longest time. 25K miles is all i ever got out of them. The LT tires ride a bit rougher, but will outlast P-rated simply because of tread depth. Look at the specs of the tires.

 

[Rome X]

They need to turn the wheels around backwards.... putting the "cone" on the other side. Same thing happened to me.
Not sure whether you went with LT or P rated... I had P rated for the longest time. 25K miles is all i ever got out of them. The LT tires ride a bit rougher, but will outlast P-rated simply because of tread depth. Look at the specs of the tires.

Tell me more please. put them on backwards meaning putting the cone against the inside of the wheel? Is that how it works/what you mean?

Truck came with P rated. Bought new P rated Cooper discoverer AT3. They had the bad shakes at 70mph although very smooth up until 65. I returned those and got LT Falkens. The ride is less smooth in general for sure but I dont mind that, I mind the shakes, which these Falkens have at 40mph exactly, and then bad again from about 65-80ish

 

[Curmudgeon]

Some of what I see that you posted and some of the other postings sound a little off. My 2014 had P-rated new and they have been replaced with 2 different sets of P-rated. The second set was a highway tread and I had that up to and cruised at 85-90 MPH through OK and it was absolutely smooth (so was the road - Will rogers Turnpike). The third set that I just installed is a P-rated AT tire and it is definitely not as smooth but I don't have any shakes, mostly heard rather than felt. I did drop the pressure from the 39 psi recommended to 38 and that seemed to cause a significant improvement in the ride and comfort. For me, I stayed with P-rated just to keep the unsprung weight down (easily 10 to 15 lbs less at each wheel) and also the cost. Just my opinion. Good luck with your "new" truck.

off topic - "howdy neighbor!" /off topic