Hi All,

Sitting here at work waiting on the wife for ride. Took 2002 f150 Supercrew to dealer today to check out thumping noise from rear end at 20 MPH. Dealer just called and said they listened to diff. with a stethoscope device and assures me it's not a rearend problem. I ask if they dropped the diff. cover to which he replies, "no". I asked if they put another set of rims and tires off another truck on my truck just to be sure. He says "no". I inform him the truck only has 18,300 miles on it and I find it hard to believe the tires are worn out. I also tell him if I go and drop $500.00 to $600.00 on a set of tires and the noise is still there. I'm gonna be mighty pissed. He says "I'll call you back".

While I'm typing this message he calls me back and indicates they do not have another set of tires and rims to stick on the truck and the tech assures him it's a tire problem. I said "okay, if I buy new tires and the noise is still there the tech is going to reimburse me for the tires, right". He laughs.

Anyway, anybody have any similar experience with their tires. Of course there good old GY Wanglers TTTW's (T-errible T-raction, T-errible W-ear). I'm wondering what Goodyear will have to say. I'll have to pull my warranty information from Goodyear about the tires.

Thanks for letting me vent. The thought of dropping the money on new tires to replace tires that only have 18,300 miles on them is not sitting well. Oh well. One thing for sure. Unless GY is going to offer me a great deal on replacements (ie. credit for half used tread) it will not have GY tires put back on.

Gotta Go. Wifey's here. Gotta stay in her good graces seeing how I'm gonna be begging for tire money soon.

I'll follow up for replies when I get home.

 

had it happen once out in the desert with my old jeep with 33" punctured one of the tires all i had to fix it was atv tire green gew the stuff plugs anything well i put a ton of the stuff in the tire and it was fine untill i got about 40 mph it would start making a thump sound from that tire because the gew threw the tire out of balance, dosoent really apply to you i just like telling stories, and that was the only thing close to a tire making a thump thump noise

 

bigtruck311,

Thanks for the reply. Got a good laugh out of it. Getting ready to price tires. probably need to go into it with a humorous attitude.

Thanks

 

good luck, i hope everything goes your way

 

Actually, yes your tires can make a thump, tump, thump sound. It is often caused by an irregular wear pattern that I have heard referred as cupping or scallopping. I began to notice such a noise from the Generals on my '01 Screw at around 17,000 or 18,000 miles. A close inspection revealed that I could actually see the irregular wear pattern and feel it if I ran my hand over the inside edge or the tires. I took it to a dealer who aligned it and told me I needed to rotate the tires more often. Factory warranty on alignment is only good to 12,000 miles, by the way, so that was out of my pocket. I have tried to rotate them more frequently since then, and I now have 82,000 miles on the same tires, and they still go thump, thump, thump. I think I am recently starting to feel vibration, so I will be looking for a set of tires in the very near future.

SM

 

SM,

Thanks for your reply as well. Interesting to know this has happened to someone else. 82,000 miles on the same tires, wow, that's amazing. I don't know how you did it with that thumping noise the whole time. That would drive me nuts. I swear at 20 MPH, it sounds like the rear end is getting ready to lock up. It's just hard to believe that much noise could be coming from a bad tire. Dealer didn't mention anything about cupping or unusual tread wear. He just assured me it was a tire noise and nothing was wrong with the rear end.

Thanks

 

I had the same thumping sound and I noticed my old Wranglers were wearing uneven on the outside rib, I rotated every 5 or 6,000 mi. They ended up with 55,000 mi. and some tread left. Well anyway I bought a new set of Continentals from Wally World. They have an 80,000 wear out warranty and with thier road hazzard, free rotation I have less than $500 invested. These are the best riding tires I have ever owned. They now have 6,000 mi. and one rotation and can't hardly tell they have ever been run. Exellent wet weather to. mine are 17 in

 

My chevy malibu has 25K miles and is doing the same thing. Crappy firestone affinity tires. Im going to have them rotated and balanced (hasnt been done yet) to see if it helps.