New Tires Now Truck Sways

tnwalkingred · February 7, 2011

I have a 2000 GMC 2500 4wd and I just bought a new set of tires this week. I went with the Goodyear Duratrac because I farm and am off road quite a bit. The size is 285/75/16 with a E load range. However I am noticing quite a bit of sway now when I drive and it's even worse when I'm hooked to a trailer. Can someone explain this please/ What tire pressure should I be running in them? Thanks for your help.

rebelman06 · February 7, 2011

I read the comments on the Duratracs on Discount Tire's website and it sounds like a common problem to me. It sounds like the sidewalls aren't as strong as some of the other A/T tires.

Stevens03 · February 7, 2011

2 things... The tires taller, so you gonna get more sway... and what tire pressure are you running. You need to run the pressure on the door if towing/carrying larger loads and in most cases, the tire places just put 35 psi in the tires.

I'd start there. Check the tire pressure.

8.1HD/ALLISON · February 7, 2011

The 2500 should run about 60 in front and 80 in rear. Check the door placard. I have the Duratracs in the same size and haven't had any sway issues. Even had a 25 foot gooseneck behind me with no problems. Probably low pressure.

tnwalkingred · February 7, 2011

I will check the tire pressure as soon as I get home this evening. I really hope that this is the case. The tires look great and performed well in the muddy field I was in this weekend. However the "sway" was really bad with our bumper pull horse trailer. Everytime I went around a curve or hit the brakes it felt like it was going to come out from under me.

hossmp2500 · February 7, 2011

As mentioned, the tire will probably feel a bit different due to height. However I would check the tire pressure. I have the Duratracs on a F-250 plow truck. I think they are great. We have 3 of the same exact trucks. The other two are still on the tires they came with and the truck with the Duratracs does much better when pushing snow. I have not towed with the truck but so far I am pleased. The GoodYear tire place did only put between 35-40 psi in each. They are E rated tires in a f250 diesel so they felt terrible on the ride home. I have a set of Trail Grapplers on my personal truck and I think the Duratracs feel similar the trucks are very different but I have no complaints with the Good Years and I would recommend them to anyone that wants an aggressive AT tire that intends to use the truck off road. They are amazing in the snow and did well the other day on our family farm just getting around a messy yard being able to stay in 2 wd while the other trucks could not.

sab316 · February 7, 2011

I'd definitely check the pressure when you get a chance. Most places like to jack the pressure up to 80 psi when you aren't towing anything and it feels like you're driving on ice. Lower them down some (if they are high) and you'll notice much better driving. I run 40 front and 35 rear on my 1500.

You will also notice some sway with larger tires/lugs like they've said before as well. Deeper lugs mean more flexibility. Just like a 50 story sky scrapper is going to sway more than a 3 story building.

Spurshot · February 7, 2011

If you're running those 285's on stock 6 1/2" wide rims, you have them on rims one inch below the minimum width recommended by Goodyear (and other makers). The proper rim width range for that tire is 7.5 to 9 inch. An 8" would be about in the middle.

I have seen many people running this width on the stock rims. I tried it with my 99 2500 and got so much sway, I changed them back to stock width tires right away, rather than buying new rims.

If the tire pressure is right and you still get unacceptable sway, I'd go with either wider rims or skinnier tires.

tnwalkingred · February 9, 2011

If you're running those 285's on stock 6 1/2" wide rims, you have them on rims one inch below the minimum width recommended by Goodyear (and other makers). The proper rim width range for that tire is 7.5 to 9 inch. An 8" would be about in the middle.

I have seen many people running this width on the stock rims. I tried it with my 99 2500 and got so much sway, I changed them back to stock width tires right away, rather than buying new rims.

If the tire pressure is right and you still get unacceptable sway, I'd go with either wider rims or skinnier tires.

Ok so I checked the tire pressure and I have 80 in the rear and 60 in the front. I have a set of aftermarket rims on the truck and the tires I bought or the same size I had on it before and it rode great. I'm taking it back to the tire shop to have them re-balance the tires as well as do a alignment. If that doesn't fix it I don't know what I will do????

Spurshot · February 10, 2011

My experience with some Kumho tires was that they had much more sway than other tires I had used on that truck. I imagine that some tires could have less stablity in their sidewalls. It kinda felt like I'd turn the steering wheel and there was a delay in the steering and then they would continue in the direction of the turned, even after I had straightened the steering wheel for a fraction of a second...a long fraction of a second.