Tires and Comfort of Ride

[Hexa Fox]

Hey guys just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the help from this community. I have recently made a couple posts and got a lot of great advice. I was deciding whether or not I should go through all the maintenance on my truck or trade it in, with the help of this community I have decided to keep the truck.

 

Anyway one of my biggest concerns is the ride quality of my truck. I recently went from the following tires (link) to a pair of Michelins that I am not even sure how to describe. I was talked into putting them on my truck at Costco. My truck has rode terrible ever since then, I am sort of avoiding driving it now and hate that. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055BPSGK/?coliid=I3L4IPRVNULZ1P&colid=1GQFQXGWZEWEY&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

I took it to a certified Goodyear dealer today and he said they were all terrain tires and designed for the road. You will be able to see this is true from the pictures that I am about to post. They look more like "highway" tires than the previous ones I had from the link provided. So my door recommends that I run 35 PSI in the tires and right now they have around 40 PSI if I am not mistaken. That might have a lot to do with it. However, my tire pressure sensors are already telling me to check them and believe that they are probably have at least 37 PSI in them. The following link I found will show you what they are.

 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Defender+LTX+M%2FS

 

So I know there is a way to program the location of the sensors, but can I program them for a different PSI reading? 

 

Also what why would these top of the line tires be riding much rougher than the previous linked ones?

 

As always and advice is greatly appreciated gentleman!

[sefiroxx]

Follow door specifications. Set pressure when cold. (Pressure can vary +/- 4 psi from cold to hot)

[volfan84]

I agree with sefiroxx.  always follow door specifications.  I had some mud tires that say to run a max of 60psi and when it left the shop, that's what it had in it.  the ride was stiff as shit and it wanted to walk all over the road.  I deflated them to run what my door jam said it the ride was night and day difference.  the tires still wore evenly and I never had any problems with them

[greatmizzou]

Make sure your wheels aren’t out of balance and your alignment is good

 

michelin is a good tire! It’s a unusual choice for truck IMO, but you should be getting excellent highway performance and low road noise.

[Hexa Fox]

4 hours ago, greatmizzou said:

Make sure your wheels aren’t out of balance and your alignment is good

 

michelin is a good tire! It’s a unusual choice for truck IMO, but you should be getting excellent highway performance and low road noise.

Hey Mizzou,

 

Not sure what is going on, I got them lined up right after I got the tires. I am actually getting worse mileage than I was before as well. It has actually gone down at least a couple MPG since the swap. I thought with how badly worn my previous tires were I would be looking at some kind of increase in MPG. 

 

I took it to a Good Year shop and the guy said to look into my suspension. I am getting a nice tire pressure gauge tomorrow and I am going to drop them down to about 36 PSI and see if that makes a difference. 

[Hexa Fox]

13 hours ago, volfan84 said:

I agree with sefiroxx.  always follow door specifications.  I had some mud tires that say to run a max of 60psi and when it left the shop, that's what it had in it.  the ride was stiff as shit and it wanted to walk all over the road.  I deflated them to run what my door jam said it the ride was night and day difference.  the tires still wore evenly and I never had any problems with them

Yeah I noticed that when they drop down the tire pressure light comes on. So I hope when I drop them down I hope all the lights are not going off. Does anyone know how the tire pressure sensors actually work? For instance, do they detect what the average PSI is and notify when one is drifting away from the others? Because I am fairly certain they have 38+ in them now and the light is on for two of them. 

[volfan84]

not sure exactly how it works but my light only comes on when the pressure is dropped below 30psi and over 50 I believe.  that's with street tires or mud tires.  I see you mentioned getting worse gas mileage.  are the tires the same size?  even if they are, some manufacturer's tires run truer to size than others.  if the sizes vary even a little bit, it can throw your mileage off.  going up in size usually decreases your mileage.

[pronstar]

The OEM tire is P-rated with a soft sidewall.

Your new tires are LT-rated, with a lot more rubber/plies and a much stiffer sidewall. It also weighs a lot more. None of this improves ride quality.

They’re gonna ride somewhat stiffer regardless of what you do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[rkj__]

Slightly off topi Hexa Fox, but what are you using for lug nuts with those wheels?  I have the same ones.  I used to run them on my Canyon, and now want to run them on my Sierra, but the bore around the lugs is very small, and it does not look like the stock M14 nuts will work. 

Edited November 2, 2018 by rkj__

[intheburbs]

First of all, get a tire gauge and figure out what pressures you're dealing with.  Your DIC doesn't show tire pressures?  Hell, go to a gas station or oil change place and have them set the tires to 35.  How can you drive around not knowing what pressure is in your tires?  If they're overinflated, of course the truck is going to ride like crap.

 

I got the LTX M/S2 from Costco late last year for my '09 Sierra Denali.  Tires are great, I noticed no difference in the ride.

 

 

[Hexa Fox]

2 hours ago, rkj__ said:

Slightly off topi Hexa Fox, but what are you using for lug nuts with those wheels?  I have the same ones.  I used to run them on my Canyon, and now want to run them on my Sierra, but the bore around the lugs is very small, and it does not look like the stock M14 nuts will work. 

Hey RKJ,

 

I wish I could tell you, I bought my rims off of eBay. You probably figured it out but they are ATX and I am very, very happy with them. They are eight years old now I believe give or take a year. So I found out the place had a nice little physical business and called them over the phone. When I found out my regular lug nuts would not work I called and asked which ones would go best with mine and I paid then he shipped them. I will see if I can find any records of the transaction. 

 

Also I am the master of being off topic here so no worries. It is how people genuinely know it is me. 

[Hexa Fox]

1 minute ago, intheburbs said:

First of all, get a tire gauge and figure out what pressures you're dealing with.  Your DIC doesn't show tire pressures?  Hell, go to a gas station or oil change place and have them set the tires to 35.  How can you drive around not knowing what pressure is in your tires?  If they're overinflated, of course the truck is going to ride like crap.

 

I got the LTX M/S2 from Costco late last year for my '09 Sierra Denali.  Tires are great, I noticed no difference in the ride.

 

 

I have plenty of tools for that. I just bought another really nice one I am suppose to get today that I am going to use. I have nice Ingersoll Rand air compressor that is worth every penny. The air gun can literally cut through dirt on my zeros truck and everything else. I also have a tire inflator with it as well but it is sort of cheap. 

[rkj__]

1 minute ago, Hexa Fox said:

Hey RKJ,

 

I wish I could tell you, I bought my rims off of eBay. You probably figured it out but they are ATX and I am very, very happy with them. They are eight years old now I believe give or take a year. So I found out the place had a nice little physical business and called them over the phone. When I found out my regular lug nuts would not work I called and asked which ones would go best with mine and I paid then he shipped them. I will see if I can find any records of the transaction. 

 

Also I am the master of being off topic here so no worries. It is how people genuinely know it is me. 

I'm mostly just interested in the style, so a simple picture would do.  Are they the spline type, or a hex pattern for a standard socket?

[Hexa Fox]

2 hours ago, pronstar said:

The OEM tire is P-rated with a soft sidewall.

Your new tires are LT-rated, with a lot more rubber/plies and a much stiffer sidewall. It also weighs a lot more. None of this improves ride quality.

They’re gonna ride somewhat stiffer regardless of what you do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yeah that is what I thought and still sort of think. When I took them out to the Good Year shop he said they were not LT tires. He said if they were true LT tires it would be before that first number which is 265 on my truck. The last tires were P265/17R70 there are 265/17R70 and the LT is written somewhere else. He said that means they are not true LT tires, not sure if he knew what he was talking about or not.

 

However, he said the same thing you just did, that there was a great deal more rubber in the sidewall of LT tires. He said he is 100% sure mine are mostly highway tires and he is pretty much right. You can look at them and see that there is nothing on the sidewall for griping snow/mud. Then if you look at the pattern you can clearly see that it is a highway pattern. When I bought them I was told they were manufactured with towing and payload in mind. However, I would not lose ride quality. I thought both of these are true, but only one is. 

[Hexa Fox]

2 minutes ago, rkj__ said:

I'm mostly just interested in the style, so a simple picture would do.  Are they the spline type, or a hex pattern for a standard socket?

Ryan,

 

Sorry about that, I was thinking that I already had a photo up of the rims for some reason. Here it is, and for anyone wondering this is the old tires as well.