I just replaced the stock Michelin 265-70-17 with Nitto Terra Grappler 285-70-17. Just slightly bigger, and still E rated for towing the fifth wheel.

Noticed on the highway that the truck squirms when you turn. If you wiggle the wheel back and forth a little it feels like the tires are squirming on the road. Steering response is sluggish and floaty. Almost like the truck is pivoting in the middle instead of turning.

Now hook up a trailer and things get real interesting. And not in a good way. Point the whole thing down a long curvy hill and hang on with both hands.

So I guess my question is, is this normal for larger "off road" tread tires? These aren't even all that big.

 

Its just because they are new. My kumho, Toyo's and Nitto's all did it when they were new. Let them wear in a little.

 

it must be the new tire thing becuase the last two set i have had i noticed the same thing. so i either got use to it or they got broken in and handle better. give the a 2-3k miles and i bet they will fell better. i thought my toyos i just put on a few months ago were junk at first but now i love them

 

Noticed the same with the Toyos. After about 500 miles with some good heat cycles the loose feeling is gone.

MikeyB

 

Larger tire size may have affected the "feeling"

Are you running the same or similar tire pressure?

 

I am considering changing over to the same tire. What do you think of them otherwise? Are they noisy or relatively the same as what you had? How do they ride vs. the old tire size?

 

I started at about the same pressure, but bumped them all up to 80 PSI to see if I could get them to stiffen up. Made it slightly better, but still odd feeling.

 

Other than the squirm, they are great. Slightly noisier than the stock Michelins, but no annoying hum or drone going down the road. The ride might be slightly softer, but I would consider this squirming as part of the "ride quality" and so far it's making me crazy

 

I just went through the same with a set. Not Nitto, but a cheaper brand. The first 500 miles they saw was with 12,900 behind my truck. Long story short, you couldn't put a pin up my @%# with a jackhammer for about 7-8 hours. The more they wear, the better they seems to get, give em some miles.

Dave

 

Thanks for the input. I am pretty sure this is going to be my next tire in a 285 or 295, but D rating. I don't tow heavy stuff.

As for the squirm, sounds like break-in what's needed. Might have something to with tire preservitive they use. Similar to the slime on a new motorcycle tire. The first couple miles on a new sportbike tire are.... interesting. Put her through some corners at high rates of speed and make them heat up and work. I have no idea if that will work for a truck tire, but it might be worth a shot... and fun too.

 

I am on my 2nd set of 295 Nitto's the first set I got 50k mi. out of them before the ware bars. I haul a 420 gal. water tank in the bed once a month that's about 3400# I run 65psi in the back tires. Great tires

 

I had the same problem with my pro comps, I had a steering stabalizer from skyjacker ($67.00 installed) cured the problem right away.

 

I put a set of Nitto terra grapplers (265 70 17 E) on a month ago and noticed the same thing at first. I now have about 2k on them and its gone. I guess it was them being new. I do like the tires and they look great.