tread squirm on new tires?

[The motor guy]

Ok so I got new tires for my truck and I just realized today the handling isn't very good. On my way to work I was doing about 65-70mph and I noticed there was about a 1 second delay in the steering. I would turn the steering wheel slightly in my lane and the truck would get kind of squirrely on me. It's like it would go one way then the other with only on movement of the wheel? Is this normal? I'm assuming it's all the extra tread on the tires.

 

[FL_Rob]

Yup ..it feels like you have gummy bears between the tire and road.

 

[JimPghPA]

While it could be the tires, check that the rims are the proper width for those tires, and of course that the pressure is proper.

Years ago, many many years ago, some of the sears tires would steer like that if they were put on rims of the wrong width.

 

[147_Grain]

New tires have a slick substance on them from the factory and take a few hundred miles to break-in. Drive cautiously and if necessary have the tire retailer inspect and retorque the lug-nuts.

Any vibration - like the wheels are out of balance?

 

[WishIhadatruck]

What you describe sounds like tread movement/squirm. You turn the wheel one way and get a spring like action, it does what you say after a delay and then you feel a spring back in the other direction? I've had this before, can take a few thousand miles to improve. I've also had tires where the feel improved in just 500 miles, but that wasn't tread squirm as much as they just seemed slick from being new.

 

[cathy]

I get this on our low mileage 15,000 mile (5,000mi a year) car.
So the tread hasn't gone down. In our case, I would look for a short-wearing tire. We are mostly in traffic.

 

[Shannow]

Been there recently

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...&Search=tru

10,000km, and they are really good.

 

[Danh]

Originally Posted By: 147_Grain
New tires have a slick substance on them from the factory and take a few hundred miles to break-in. Drive cautiously and if necessary have the tire retailer inspect and retorque the lug-nuts.

Any vibration - like the wheels are out of balance?


Not sure this is your problem, but as 147_grain notes, there are oily substances on the surface of new tires that take a little time to wear off. Just went through this myself: was disappointed with steering feel with new tires, but it got much better with a bit of driving.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

What tires did you get?

 

[147_Grain]

Also, don't forget that your truck likely suffers from understeer and your new tires probably have more air in them than the old ones did.

Slick new tires, understeer, and higher air pressure are all involved here.

 

[The motor guy]

I got the same tires that were on it when it came from the factory so it's not on the wrong rim size.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
What tires did you get?


michelin LTX A/S2 tires.

 

[Rand]

I wasnt aware that was an oem tire?


Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I got the same tires that were on it when it came from the factory so it's not on the wrong rim size.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: FL_Rob
Yup ..it feels like you have gummy bears between the tire and road.

This is most likely. I'd also check air pressure, though. I haven't had an installer actually put remotely close to the correct amount of air into a tire for several years (and several installers).

 

[FL_Rob]

This will tighten up after a while, usually tires with semi aggressive tread or deep highway tread will do this till the molecular pattern stiffens up, plus some UV to help.

I actually like the Quiet-isolated feel of new tires ..at least initially.

 

[Ken2]

MOM, how many miles on the truck? Have you checked the front end for worn suspension and steering parts? Worn parts plus the tread squirm effect will add up to a delayed reaction you're describing. The worn parts were there before and the wear accumulated, but combine this with new tires and you're now noticing something different.