Rims/tires for my Ford pickup

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I have not made a whole lot of progress resolving the stability issues in my Ford 4x4 F250. The dealer says the aftermarket rims are negative offset and the tires are BFGoodrich which have weak sidewalls that may be a partial contributor to the stability issues.

The dealer that sold me the pickup is trying to get me the original rims. Unsure about tires.

Anyone have comments on negative offset rims or BFG as weak rims??
 
Have you replaced anything with the trac bar / panhard bar?

I see these trucks all the time jacked up and with bigger tires - with absolutely zero thought given to suspension geometry and they don't death wobble.

Factory sized tires and factory wheels may prevent the problem from happening because they aren't loading the suspension parts in the same way as what you have now - but the underlying problem will not be fixed.
 
BFG All Terrains are great tires. Never heard of a weak sidewall with them, sounds like the dealer trying to make excuses.

I'd put those tires on OE wheels.

Can't the dealer just spend 20 minutes and unbolt the wheels and tires off of a new truck and put them on your truck for a quick test drive?
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
BFG All Terrains are great tires. Never heard of a weak sidewall with them, sounds like the dealer trying to make excuses.

I'd put those tires on OE wheels.

Can't the dealer just spend 20 minutes and unbolt the wheels and tires off of a new truck and put them on your truck for a quick test drive?


It's very likely the truck won't do it with a stock set of tires. The problem, ultimately, lies with the lateral link. Until the dealer replaces it, and checks that both mount points are good, the truck is going to death wobble with larger tires or poorly balanced factory tires.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
It's very likely the truck won't do it with a stock set of tires. The problem, ultimately, lies with the lateral link. Until the dealer replaces it, and checks that both mount points are good, the truck is going to death wobble with larger tires or poorly balanced factory tires.
I agree; I seriously doubt the tires/wheels are the issue--they never are when "death wobble" is concerned. You have a link, tie rod, or ball joint problem (or combination thereof) that will only be fixed by replacing those parts.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
BFG All Terrains are great tires. Never heard of a weak sidewall with them, sounds like the dealer trying to make excuses.

I'd put those tires on OE wheels.

Can't the dealer just spend 20 minutes and unbolt the wheels and tires off of a new truck and put them on your truck for a quick test drive?


I cant imagine a dealer doing that on a non-warranty truck bought from a third party and not from them... But I agree that the BFG story is a cop-out...
 
The issue is still a warranty issue as it was reported while it was still under warranty. I do not want to do anything to the suspension until I give up on Ford fixing it.

The Ford dealer I bought it from is trying to locate OEM rims. We will see if he comes up with any.

The guy who sells the super heavy duty (and expensive) track bar says that BFG tires have weak sidewalls and contribute to stability issues.
 
Have you ever called the 1 800 number and talked to a Ford corporation customer service rep?
 
I've used BFG TA's on my trucks and the sidewalls seemed plenty tough. At around 90K started getting a front wobble. turns out it was wheel bearings just a tiny amount of looseness. I replaced the bearings anyway and no more problem.

I've always understood that highly offset wheels stress the LCA bushings and balljoint. Good advice from all about the steering linkages too something is loose that should be tight.
 
I hate to keep harping on it- but the problem is NOT with your tires. Let me ask this - when you get this shake, does your steering wheel go left and right?

If you have a "bad" tire, it will make the truck shake, but assuming everything is tight in the front end, it should not cause the steering wheel to shake back and fourth.

The heavy duty trac bar guy is trying to help you mask the problem.
 
First, What is the problem? It should be stated in the first post.

After reading the entire post, I guess it is "death wobble". If so, what are the alignment values? Lots of negative caster can cause such things.

Aftermarket wheels? If I were the dealer, I would refuse to do any warranty work on it - and I certainly would not go digging to find OE wheels to test to see if that was the problem. I would tell YOU to find them and try them out BEFORE doing anything under warranty.

However, if you are willing to pay the dealer to work on the truck - including the diagnostics, that's different. Then it would be simply a matter of ordering the proper wheels and getting the OE sized tires locally and trying it out. But the dealer should be charging you for that.
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
First, What is the problem? It should be stated in the first post.

After reading the entire post, I guess it is "death wobble". If so, what are the alignment values? Lots of negative caster can cause such things.

Aftermarket wheels? If I were the dealer, I would refuse to do any warranty work on it - and I certainly would not go digging to find OE wheels to test to see if that was the problem. I would tell YOU to find them and try them out BEFORE doing anything under warranty.

However, if you are willing to pay the dealer to work on the truck - including the diagnostics, that's different. Then it would be simply a matter of ordering the proper wheels and getting the OE sized tires locally and trying it out. But the dealer should be charging you for that.

The thing is, he bought the truck from them with the aftermarket wheels.
 
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