Tire age=harsh ride?

[Jimmy9190]

Just curious here, this is about my 2001 Dodge Dakota, 133,000 miles on it, 3.9 V6 and a 5-speed. I have a set of Firestone Destination LE P235/75R15's on my truck. They have about 35,000 miles on them now, supposed to be a 60,000 mile tire. I have noticed over the last month or so the ride quality in my truck has gotten progressively worse. There is a lot more road noise and I can really feel the bumps and bad spots in the road.

The tires were quiet when new, and up until maybe 5 or 6 weeks ago. I understand I have a pickup truck with 133K on it, it is not going to ride like a Cadillac or Lexus but the ride has gotten more and more harsh in the last month or so. I have Monroe Reflex shocks, they have about 25K on them, new front brake rotors, calipers and pads, and upper and lower ball joints were all done in the last few months.

The tires have about a little less than half the tread depth left, and are wearing perfectly even across the tread. I keep them rotated every 5000 miles and the alignment is perfect, I have a 3 year alignment policy at a tire store here, have always had it re-done any time the steering was off. My truck steers and drives just fine, but lately it is starting to ride like a buckboard wagon. Is it possible for tires to give a worse ride quaility at only half their service life?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yes, it is not unusual for rubber to become more stiff, less pliable with age. How old are the tires (based on their manufacture date, not when you put them on)?

However, this change in properties should be very gradual. It's not something that happens over night. If the ride quality has gotten worse all of a sudden, then I would suspect some suspension components rather than the tires.

 

[FL_Rob]

Yes, thats why I usually never make it to the full mileage term on tires, they do just wear out from a ride standpoint .In fact I think most tires lose the new ride feel after 20k,it just happens slowly so its not noticed until you get new tires on then its like driving a new car again ...for awhile anyway.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I bought these tires in December 2008. I don't know how old they were before they went on my truck, but I will check the date codes when I get home tonight.

Thinking about it now, the change in ride quality has been becoming more apparent over the last few months. I have really begun to notice it in the last 3 or 4 weeks I guess. I don't think it is from suspension problems.

I had Michelin LTX M/S before I bought the Firestones. They went about 55,000 miles and were really quiet and handled well. Michelins were not in my budget when I got the Firerstones, and Michelins are not in the budget now, even though there is a $70.00 rebate.

I will start shopping and researching for a good quality tire. Any suggestions in the less-than-100-bucks-each category? My truck is a 2 wheel drive and I never go off road or tow anything.

Thanks for the help here.

 

[Geo_Prizm]

I would look for US-made Yokohamas.

 

[JimPghPA]

Leaf Springs = Harsh Ride

Higher Weight Capacity Leaf Springs with vehicle not loaded down = Really Rough Back Damaging Ride

Torsion Bar Front Suspension (Plymouth or Dodge) = Rough Ride

Coil Springs = Good Ride

Independent Suspension with Coil Springs = Very Good Ride

Expensive Shocks = Rough Ride

Cheap Shocks = Good Ride (but they do not last as long). If you can when replacing shocks, only do the front. If you do the rear even with cheap shocks you will notice a rougher ride. In general I get the second from the cheapest shock.

I learned about shocks and rough ride the hard way. I bought some expensive shocks and had to pull them and get cheap ones because they made the ride too rough. Sure it made the vehicle corner like a Porsche, but the enjoyment of handling curves on windy hills was not worth the constant aggravation caused by the rough ride.

As for tires besides age and pressure (the higher the pressure the rougher the ride) also look at the number of plies (actual, more than rated) in the sidewalls. The more plies the stronger the tire and the rougher the ride.

I Do not mean to insult anyone by repeating information you probably already know. And I realize that often the amount of load you must carry dictates the suspension, number of plies in the tire, and tire pressure.

 

[UncleS2]

Discont Tire NE TX stores show Kumho Solus and Prodigy for well under $100/ea in your size. They also show Mich LTX for $116- after $70 back on 4, if stores in your areaq have the same price, that'd put you under $98 each for something that worked great on your truck previously. Just a thought.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the replies here. I checked the date codes on my tires, they were built in the 38th week of 2008, so they were about maybe 4 months old when I bough them, and they should be about exactly 2 years old now.

I did the penny and quarter tread wear tests. With the penny, everything id OK but with the quarter I can see the top of Washington's head so I know I have somewhere between 2/32 and 4/32 of an inch of tread left.

Getting a good look at the tires though, they are more worn in the center tread than the outside tread, which I know is a result of my over-inflating them trying to get better gas mileage. I quit doing that and keep them at 35 psi now.

The tires are worn, but not so that I have to get new ones tomorrow. I will shop around and keep looking for a good new tire. I may even try to squeeze another set of LTX's into my budget, depends on what I can find. I think my shocks are worn in very well and should be OK. Truck passes the bounce test anyway.

Thanks for the help, and suggestions here.

 

[mrsilv04]

Jimmy-

For kicks, try inflating them to what Dodge specifies, and see what happens. For example, on my Silverado, i believe that it is 30 front and 35 rear.

It might just get you enough of your ride quality back, that you can get the last miles out of these tires... instead of yanking them off and replacing them.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Dodge spec is 35 psi, front and rear. Ride is better at 35 psi but still harsh. One of the rear tires has a thin layer of rubber peeling across the surface of the tread, like it stuck to the hot pavement when I parked my truck today when I had to stop at CVS on my way home. I have never seen anything like this before:



Hers's another shot of the same tire:



Never seen anything like that, don't know if it's a bad tire or normal from the high temps we have here right now. It's only on the left rear tire, I didn't see it on the other 3.

I think it is time for tires pretty soon, but I have time to research and shop around. Maybe Michelin, or I have read online that Hankook is a good tire that is made by Michelin. We have a Discount Tire here, and I read online their stores are usually pretty good and have fair prices. I'll check them out too.

Any other advice is very much appreciated. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ken2]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
also look at the number of plies (actual, more than rated) in the sidewalls. The more plies the stronger the tire and the rougher the ride.

?????

All tires have two or three plies of cord in the sidewalls...well, some passenger car tires have one ply. Yes, higher Load Range tires do have stiffer sidewalls for a harsher ride. Load Range E tires will certainly ride more harshly than Standard Load tires, which are the right tires for a Dakota, even though the Standard Load tires have two plies of cord and the LR-E tires have three plies. Unsure?---read the fine print on the tire sidewall.

To the OP--I have the same experience with both the Firestone AT on my truck and Goodyear TripleTred on the car. Both ride harsh and are about four years old. Maybe Michelins will be in the future.

 

[CapriRacer]

A couple of thoughts:

The photos seem to be some chip/chunk. This is usually the result of driving over gravel, but occassionally the result of .... oh.... let's call it "aggressive" pavement.

Has there been a change that might account for this?

Plus, sometimes there is an uneven wear pattern developing that starts off as a noise and some loss of ride quality before you can detect it visiually. This is caused by misalignment and aggravated by insufficient rotation practices and insufficient inflation pressure. Just keep in mibnd that even alignments "in spec" aren't perfect and it's just a matter of "when" the alignment will cause a wear pattern.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the info. On the turnpike the truck rides fine, pretty smooth for a pickup truck but there is still more noise from the tires than I had even just 2 or 3 months ago. We do have some pretty bad roads around here and there is always a lot of road construction going on. The 15 mile stretch of turnpike I drive on is in good shape though. I haven't driven over any gravel at all.

I think I have time to look for a good deal on a good set of tires. Just from looking online, I like the Yokohama Geolandar at Discount Tire. $115.00 each and even less if they will price match Tire Rack.com. And there are a lot of good reviews on the Yoko's.

I keep the tires rotated every 5 to 6000 miles, at every other oil change. I just rotated them last Saturday. I have had the alignment done probably 4 times in 3 years (again, we don't exactly have the best roads around here). I think the alignment is as close to specs as it can be, and the truck steers and tracks straight, and has no wandering steering or other steering problems.

If I do get the Yoko's at Discount Tire, I can get them to check the alignment, I think they will check it for free. I had the other alignments done at Tire Kingdom. Maybe a different tire store with a different alignment machine would show something the other machine/alignment tech missed.

Some of this problem is definitely due to bad roads here in Florida. Some of it is due to the fact I have about 35K on these Firestones. Firestone may not have been the best choice I could have made on a truck tire. And some of the problem is probably due to my own misconceptions. The tires were quiet up until a couple of months ago when I noticed they were becoming noisy, then I began noticing ride quality problems. I don't think it's my truck causing the problems though. It's in great shape and I take very good care of it. I will shop around and keep my eyes open for a good deal on a new set of tires, and get the best quality tire I can afford.

Thanks for the help here.

 

[bxd20]

I think we're overlooking the simplest thing here.

Tread = cushion. I would argue that more of the stiffness of ride is coming from the fact he has ~3/32" of tread left, whereas a new tire has 9/32 to 11/32 typically, than the age of the tires. Yes rubber stiffens with age but the rubber itself is a cushioning agent that isolates the impacts and you've lost a significant part of what you started with.

 

[Quattro Pete]

True, but none of it really explains why he only started noticing it all of a sudden. The loss of cushioning due to decreased tread depth or due to rubber age are both very gradual occurences.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
True, but none of it really explains why he only started noticing it all of a sudden. The loss of cushioning due to decreased tread depth or due to rubber age are both very gradual occurences.


It's human nature, once you notice something you look for it at the next opportunity so you keep noticing it.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: XS650
It's human nature, once you notice something you look for it at the next opportunity so you keep noticing it.


Well stated!