Our teeth are rattling out of our heads...

[DieselMonk]

Folks, I gather your talking about the "ride". I gotta point out that your driving a damn truck, not a cushy soft car! It will ride hard, cause that is what it does.
Currently I'm driving a 2024 SPP 304A 4x4 3:73 gears. I have the tires at 43 lbs cold. It rides hard, not harsh. It handles well and my wife loves it. Smooth as glass @80mph do I notice when going across a joint in the road, of course. It is a truck it's how it is with a 4x4 drive truck. You want to feel hard, drive a vette with the Z51 non adjustable suspension. After a 1,000 mile trip I was ready to sell it. Enjoy it for what it is.

Exactly.

 

[young dude co]

Oh no, when did you write me? My bad im usually good at responding to quote replies and private messages but sometimes the app won't tell me.

As far as engineering, ford did say they changed the mounts and suspension connection points (slightly lower) to help tune the shocks better. I havent driven one without ccd, so i dnt know what the active or platinum without it drive like. As far as the ones we did drive, every single one drove like a dream, and all did a very good job at bump absorption and harshness control. To compare to the 4th gen, those were tuned to be somewhat firm, especially without ccd. The 25s are opposite, they are tuned very softly, almost to mimic an air suspension. There is 2 main critiques I had, which the air sprung trucks probably fixed(except armada/qx80). 1. Its still jittery, and the 24in wheels exasperated it greatly. On smooth roads and highways, you don't feel it as much, but on back roads or pattered pavement, you def do. It sucks because, outside the vibrations, you don't fell what's happening underneath you. The 22s are a bit better at hiding this. 2. The body control on back roads is somewhat lacking. It sways and rocks a good bit when the road undulates, but id take that over harshness and jarring. Overall its a good compromise, and you'd have to drive on a lot of backroads to rele feel the difference btw it and the tahoe or wagoneer. I do think they jitter slightly less though. Of note, we drove a black label navigator, they come with the tow pkg as standard. Most of the expys we drive didnt have it. Without the tow pkg, the ride is a ways softer. Also, the max rides firmer than the shorty.

As far as competition is concerned, the armada is too firm for us. The truck tries to mimic a sports car, which I wouldnt want in a truck. The coils are softer, but with air, though its absorbent, the body moves like a sports car, quick choppy exaggerated movements. The sequoia felt like a pickup truck, which makes sense since its the closest to its truck based roots. Still a smooth rider, but the back end moves around more than the others. I still haven't driven a gm with air, but I have driven every variant otherwise. The best ride is the escalade with mrc. The 25 tahoe with mrc is very close to it. It was very absorbent, but somewhat floaty and nautical. The wagoneer on coils is also a bit stiff, but with enough compliance to prevent harshness. However, the grand wagoneer was very plush, and has a better low speed ride than any other peer. It also felt like it had the most rigid body.

With all that said, ride is very objective, and people have different tastes. I like controlled cush, or balance between cornering and compliance. Some people like the tough but confident ride of the 4th gen. However, for a family car, I would want a softer setup. Even my nav could be somewhat harsh on some bumps, but I did like that it was more controlled and stable than my dads escalade. The new expy solved this problem, to the point that where we were close to getting one. If you haven't def drive one. But drive everything to make your own opinions.

You're good my man. It was in a thread, and you actually did respond. It was just a very brief convo both ways.

That's interesting. Do you recall where you happened to see the Ford announcement about the suspension upgrades? That might've potentially swayed my decision on a 24 vs 25. The lack of eLSD in 25 was the deciding factor previously. If the suspension/ride is objectively better without compromising handling, it would've been a much tougher decision weighing the pro/con.

Appreciate all the details! I was only ever looking at Ford because only GM (and variants) and Jeep offered the large SUVs with comparable cargo to minivans (Armada/Sequoia have no cargo). And Ford was the least problematic lol.

 

[dlcorbett]

The New Ford Expedition Is Here! Is The Price Increase Worth It? Tough Questions Answered!

( https://www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! Welcome back to TFL Talkin' Trucks podcast!...

youtu.be

This was the only video I remember upon debut where the engineer stated they made changes to the suspension.

I was skeptical as most people were because it didn't seem like ford could do anything better to make the drive better, but they found a way. I will say, the Navigators ride is a small bit from class competitive, the expedition is a lot closer and exceeds its peers. This hurts me because I've always been a navigator kind of person and i adored the 4th gen nav, to include the one i owned. The 09 nav i had is still one of the best cars ive ever owned.

 

[SL0MAR]

Folks, I gather your talking about the "ride". I gotta point out that your driving a damn truck, not a cushy soft car! It will ride hard, cause that is what it does.
Currently I'm driving a 2024 SPP 304A 4x4 3:73 gears. I have the tires at 43 lbs cold. It rides hard, not harsh. It handles well and my wife loves it. Smooth as glass @80mph do I notice when going across a joint in the road, of course. It is a truck it's how it is with a 4x4 drive truck. You want to feel hard, drive a vette with the Z51 non adjustable suspension. After a 1,000 mile trip I was ready to sell it. Enjoy it for what it is.

I didn't put in my original post that I also drove a 2018 F150. That truck rode like a dream compared to this and could tow way more. So yeah, it's a "damn truck"... but way shittier ride than my 18... but back to my question... any new solutions you can offer? Aside from 18" hoopty wheels and possibly suspension upgrades (king/bilstein) I haven't heard any.

 

[rd618]

I didn't put in my original post that I also drove a 2018 F150. That truck rode like a dream compared to this and could tow way more. So yeah, it's a "damn truck"... but way shittier ride than my 18... but back to my question... any new solutions you can offer? Aside from 18" hoopty wheels and possibly suspension upgrades (king/bilstein) I haven't heard any.

There are only 3 things that will affect the ride that you can control
- suspension components
- tires
- wheels
Unfortunately the ride itself is a combination of all that plus the frame rigidity, body mounts, and frame/body shape and design.

 

[Fastcar]

I didn't put in my original post that I also drove a 2018 F150. That truck rode like a dream compared to this and could tow way more. So yeah, it's a "damn truck"... but way shittier ride than my 18... but back to my question... any new solutions you can offer? Aside from 18" hoopty wheels and possibly suspension upgrades (king/bilstein) I haven't heard any.

I take it that the ride changed from the time you test drove it to now that you find it so horrible. I'm sure that you test drove it or kept it overnight before you purchased it and found the ride just fine or you wouldn't have bought it. So what changed on the truck? Wheels, tires or suspension?? I ask because nobody would knowingly buy a truck as horrible as the one's that I read about every day here.

 

[GixxerJasen]

Hoopty wheels = better ride
Ghetto wheels = harsh ride.

Pick your poison.

 

[mgmgrand]

Yes suspension is key as we came from A 21 odyssey with a soft suspension but it had low profile tires so it wasn't that great on crappy SC paved roads. Tires make a huge difference in ride quality and the expedition has a nice suspension with independent rear linkage so it should ride smooth.
The problem here is that people want a fancy look with a large 22in rim.

I have a 24 expy max platinum and the ride was pretty harsh with the 22s and the crappy general grabbers. The main problem with the grabbers were that they were a 45 sidewall height at 114t load index.

Now I found a pair of F150 take offs with Goodyear Wrangler Territory AT tires in a 275/65r18 with a 116t load index. I went down in rim size and increased my sidewall height. The ride feels like your floating on a cloud, the tires just soak up the crappy roads and small potholes and bumps. Yes I have CCD but I had the same suspension with the 22s and I FELT everything, even the wife complained saying the van rode smoother.

Sidewall height makes a huge difference, your tires are apart of your suspension too. I don't plan to tow anything heavy so I don't need a stiff 10ply tire and now we enjoy a very plush ride.

 

[Fastcar]

I have the same tires and wheels on our 2024 SPP. Same size tires and wheels. It rides nice for our needs. Of course we have driven 4x4 trucks for over 40 years in different configurations. Speaking for myself As I said in another post I'm bewildered by those who purchase these things and then complain about the ride. I don't get it. Not at 80K +.

 

[CDNRabbit]

For myself I'm not complaining about the truck handling and stiff ride. I even expected the bounce in the back end, can't be setup for towing and comfort at the same time. My complaint is the constant shaking and vibration even over generally smooth roads. Tracking is a little squirrely and it's also getting worse.

I'm willing to spend on upgrades to improve the ride, but the basic setup for a truck that cost me more than 100k cad should be better..