Tires question

[Ian McIvor]

I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this but…

I have a 2011 Expedition Limited.

I have Goodyear Wranglers on the front but due to budget restraints, bought some cheap Chinese bombs for the rear.
Ever since I did, the handling of the truck has gone to pot and seems ‘sloppy’ if that makes any sense. The Chinese tires are holding up well as far as tread on the lake, however when I’m at high speed it seems to want to travel a little bit and like I said it seems sloppy. Is it some thing as simple as mismatch tires?

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this but…

I have a 2011 Expedition Limited.

I have Goodyear Wranglers on the front but due to budget restraints, bought some cheap Chinese bombs for the rear.
Ever since I did, the handling of the truck has gone to pot and seems ‘sloppy’ if that makes any sense. The Chinese tires are holding up well as far as tread on the lake, however when I’m at high speed it seems to want to travel a little bit and like I said it seems sloppy. Is it some thing as simple as mismatch tires?

Goodyear Wranglers have pretty awful handling. It's hard to imagine there's something out there that much worse. I ran the Wrangers for several years simply because they were on my Explorer when I bought it and were also on the replacement vehicle (Mountaineer) when I bought it.

 

[Hamfisted]

Unless it's worn inner tie rods and lower ball joints. How many miles on the Expy ? The tires are all the same size right ?

 

[Ian McIvor]

Unless it's worn inner tie rods and lower ball joints. How many miles on the Expy ? The tires are all the same size right ?

Hi there. 137K. Two front tires are Goodyear’s and the back two are Chinese from Amazon. I took the size from the front Goodyear when I bought the Chinese.
Hard to explain when I say sloppy. For example, driving at speed and you give the steering a little semi hard correction…it takes the body a second to catch up with the sway. Make sense? I’ve never noticed that until I put the two on the back.

 

[Plati]

swap em & see how that works

personally i only run 4 identical tires cause i dont wanna die

 

[Ian McIvor]

swap em & see how that works

personally i only run 4 identical tires cause i dont wanna die

Well, I didn’t have the money to put two Goodyear’s on and this is the spare vehicle…but I understand what you’re talking about…thus the reason for for the question.

 

[Trainmaster]

Like ManUp, I've found the Wranglers to be very noisy and poor handling. I've had some Chinese tires that were so bad I wouldn't ever consider running ANY of them. Some are outright dangerous.

If I were you, I'd check my suspension for wear (as mentioned above) and if all's okay, as also mentioned I'd swap the tires front to back and see if it makes a difference. I'd also check my pressures with the ones on the door jamb using a real (not a $3) pressure gauge.

You haven't mentioned alignment. Was the truck ever hit? Are the tires wearing evenly? Poor tracking can be caused by alignment or wear in the REAR suspension parts as well as the front ones. Go over the suspension well, checking every busing and moving part.

And yes, mismatched tires can but not always cause poor tracking. You may have a bad combination of completely different tire designs that aren't working well together.

If all else fails to find a problem, I'd start saving for a set of newish real quality tires take-offs from an F-150, Tahoe or Suburban or new tires.

As they say, the laws of physics aren't subject to the laws of economics. Sometimes if you can't afford the stuff to make your truck run right; it just won't, eh, run right.

 

[tommyddsr]

The problem you are describing sounds like front sway bar links/bushings are bad. Will give you the exact issues you are having.

 

[JasonH]

I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this but…

I have a 2011 Expedition Limited.

I have Goodyear Wranglers on the front but due to budget restraints, bought some cheap Chinese bombs for the rear.
Ever since I did, the handling of the truck has gone to pot and seems ‘sloppy’ if that makes any sense. The Chinese tires are holding up well as far as tread on the lake, however when I’m at high speed it seems to want to travel a little bit and like I said it seems sloppy. Is it some thing as simple as mismatch tires?

I had this issue with Hankooks. They're generally decent tires to my knowledge, but at speeds above 75 the vehicle felt very unstable. The problem went away completely when I upgraded to Cooper AT3s. If you only noticed the issue after replacing the tires, it's probably the tires. Perhaps try adding some air and see if that helps.

 

[Ian McIvor]

I had this issue with Hankooks. They're generally decent tires to my knowledge, but at speeds above 75 the vehicle felt very unstable. The problem went away completely when I upgraded to Cooper AT3s. If you only noticed the issue after replacing the tires, it's probably the tires. Perhaps try adding some air and see if that helps.

Ok. It’s super weird that it started out the blue. It’s almost as if the sideways on the Chinese tires are not strong and ‘give’ to much. In any case, still frightens me. I’ll look around and see what I can find. This truck doesn’t get a ton of use so I always find it hard to spend a ton of money on it to see it sit.

 

[JasonH]

Ok. It’s super weird that it started out the blue. It’s almost as if the sideways on the Chinese tires are not strong and ‘give’ to much. In any case, still frightens me. I’ll look around and see what I can find. This truck doesn’t get a ton of use so I always find it hard to spend a ton of money on it to see it sit.

True, but you also want to feel safe. The tires are the only thing keeping you on the road. Try altering air pressure and getting them balanced first. If that doesn't help, maybe start socking away some cash for a tire upgrade.

 

[sctom1]

I had a similar situation with my 87 IROC and Goodyear Gatorbacks. It seemed to wander down the road and body would sway even after tires were straightened out. Turned out to be the not very stiff sidewalls of the tires. They made for smoother driving but it did constantly sway & wander around in the lane. I just pumped about 10 pounds of air above the limit on the door to reduce it. Center of tires wore quicker but drive was better. Check what is a safe limit first. Some tires can go 10-15 pounds above what is listed on the door. Perhaps a short test drive first. Also try rotating. And more importanly, get that front end checked for safety’s sake. Good advice given by others here.

 

[AnarchyOutlaw]

Poor handling usually indicates low tire pressure, or possibly a suspension issue. Mismatched tires alone should not matter, as long as they are the proper size for the vehicle and properly inflated. In your case, 35 PSI. Lower air pressure will cause sway, higher tire pressure will cause bouncing. Any wobbling at lower speeds usually indicates a broken belt in the tire treads. Vibration at higher speeds indicates the need for spin balancing. If you do not rotate your tires regularly, or your wheels are in need of alignment, you may have excessive wear on the inside-facing tread. This would also be indicated by wobbling at low speed. The only other thing is to make sure you don't have one-direction tires mounted in the wrong direction.

 

[jimz]

Sounds like cheap quality tires. Increase tire pressures to see if sidewall flex is reduced. Cheapo tires give cheapo ride.

 

[David Verzilli]

Above 75 mph? Wow. I only do that in my Jetta!

 

[JasonH]

Above 75 mph? Wow. I only do that in my Jetta!

I just drove to Las Vegas, New Mexico from Dallas and completed a return trip to the Houston area. My father is visiting from New York and was surprised to see the 75 mph speed limit along most of the trip. When passing on a truck on a two-lane highway, you're definitely going to exceed that speed to ensure you complete the pass safely. There are stretches in West Texas where the speed limit is 80 mph. I don't find the absolute speed is as much of an issue as disparities in speed, and the biggie...inattentive driving.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Above 75 mph? Wow. I only do that in my Jetta!

I feel pretty comfortable doing up to 90 or so in my EL w/ Michelin XLTs - provided that it's a well maintained highway. There are some stretches of interstate here where anything over 70 makes me uneasy.