Puke

Just had Firestone transforce A/T truck tires put on my truck 98 24 valve, 2wd quad cab,. Load range E, 245/75r16,.
Drove on the freeway about 20 miles and thought I was darn near going to crash (it was all over the place...very uncomfortable to drive)... I had thought he might have had the pressure at 35 or something so I just drove it home. Front tire pressure was only at 50,..so I put it at 73ish (back tires are at 80). Traffic is too bad right now to try the freeway,..I tried surface streets and it seems like upping the pressure may have only helped a little bit...if at all.
HOW CAN NEW TIRES DO THAT WHEN THE OLD ONES (EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE DOWN TO ONLY 1/16 TREAD LEFT) WERE FINE????????
So, I just checked my alignment. The toe in is maybe 1/32 of an inch...A teeny tiny bit less than recommended (except I think 4x4s are recommended at 0 toe in). My understanding is toe in should be about an eighth.
DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEAS?????? I changed all the tie rod ends and ball joints about 30,000 miles back. It can't be them. I really don't have time to go back to firestone and ask them what the hell is going on..(not sure they would even know).
Please chime in if you know something.

madhat

I have had some tires that, when new were 'wobbly'. After a week or so, they were good. Not sure why, but they were.

Tire pressure may have something to do with it as well. You also get used to the way it drove on the old tires.

I'd do a safety check- no bulges/bumps, separating tread, etc. If no issues are found, use some surface streets to get used to them.

patdaly

I second Hats advice......... I have seen it once or twice myself.

Puke

It's not wobbly. But, if you have ever driven a truck that had load range C when it should have had E,...(I have)..that's what it reminds me of.
If I turn a little,...it will veer over like I was doing a heavier turn.
I just tightened my steering gear,.. Not sure if that will help but freeway's too packed for a couple more hours. My first guess was pressure, second guess was toe-in,.. But I've checked my toe in two or three times and it usually comes in right around 1/16 of an inch..

I have no bulges, etc.,.. The wonderful guys at firestone put in a wacko valve stem (sometimes it leaks out the valve,..and other's not... I found that out when I was raising the front tire pressure to 77ish... Think I am going to leave them at 77ish in the front and 80 back.

OK, well, thanks for the replies. I don't think they are bad tires...but there is something that is fishy..and I hope it goes away after driving a couple weeks.

gorms

Take it easy for a couple hundred miles, and they should go back to normal. My last set of Firestone's were the same, felt real sketchy for 100 miles and then went away.

Once broken in they were a great tire.

KATOOM

Well first off..... I wouldn't hesitate for a second to take it right back and let them know. Especially if its as dangerous as you describe.

Maybe there's something wrong which they can address, or maybe there's something mechanically wrong.

As for alignment, toe should be about 1/8"-1/4" depending. Anything less and it will tend to wander.

And air pressure shouldn't need to be anywhere near that high unless you're towing.

Might just be terrible tires.

torquefan

As the others have said, I have also had a new set of tires that were real squirmy for the first few hundred miles; felt like they were all almost flat. The feeling faded away as they broke in and then they were fine.

Mike L

I have seen reports of this type of handling behavior before. Particularly on some RV boards that I hang around. It seems that after driving for a week or so the tires settle down and are fine. Unless you are towing at max loads my recommendation, FWIW, would be to lower your tire pressures to 65 in the front and rear tires and drive it for a few days. Adjust to suit your style after that.

Cheers!

Mike

madhat

I forgot to mention to check the load range, but you got it...

cougar

My rule with new tires is drive them on a rough road with a little less than normal tire pressure a while. It lets the tire reseat its self on the rim. The I nair it up and have it rebalanced. Rarely have I had a problem after that. When I did it was a bad tire.

VADSLRAM

it doesn't drive safely I wouldn't wait the week or two to see if it gets better. TAKE IT BACK!
Maybe they didn't seat the beads right, Maybe they didn't balance them right, Maybe they were defective from the start.
If tires were supposed to work in then all new vehicles would drive goofy, and that isn't the case.

VADSLRAM

I've had 4 different sets of tires including a set of the wrong load range and they all rode fine from day 1.
The only way I knew the one set was the wrong range was they wore out in 25k...Since Goodyear recommended and installed they replaced the whole set with the right range for $300. plus tax.

KATOOM

I couldnt agree more VADSLRAM.....

Can you imagine if people bought a brand new car/truck and it was all over the road, only to have the dealer say "well the new tires just need to wear in, give it a couple weeks".

Puke

OK,
I set the steering close to zero toe in,.. which made a tiny bit of difference for the better. Still wanders back and forth but not as scary as it was before I removed the toe in.

I have been about 1000 miles now. And have come to the conclusion that my steering box has too much play. I adjusted it a few years ago...tightened it up, which helped a lot at the time. I tried to adjust it a little tighter the other day and I adjusted the screw all the way in without it getting any tighter at all before it bottomed out. That leads me to believe that too much play is in the steering box and it should be replaced. I haven't changed one in a long long time. Maybe 40 years. I hope they are not that hard. Nowadays the hardest part is all the garbage in the way so you can't see anything to work on it.

Busboy

The hardest part of the steering box is getting the pitman arm off. On my 2001 2500 I had to remove the box with the arm still on and hold it in a vice to get it off. The steering box just laughed at the puller. I really did a number on the old steering box though a 10lb sledge will do that. You might want to check to ensure your frame is not broken around the steering box and also consider a "steering stabilizer" bar.