Hey Guys,

I had a friend of mine look at my alignment up in NJ. He gave me yet another front end alignment, with pretty good results. Although I must say that it seemed "really good" initially but has seemed to get a bit worse over the past few weeks.

By worse, I mean that my steering wheel is still not centered perfectly. It is most prevalent, at highway speeds. I did measure
up all four tires with a depth gauge to find out that all of my tires are wearing unevely. I mean it goes from 5 to 6 32's from one side of the tire to 11 to 14 32's. Two of the four tires are really bad, the other two are just OK.

So my question is, could THIS be part of the reason why my steering wheel is not centered? Especially at highway speeds? I have had so many alignments performed by differerent shops that now I am confused.

Could it be something else entirely like at suspension component. Ball joints, idler arm etc???? I dunno guys, please chime in with your thoughts.

I have two separate requests as well. Could you guys give your opinions on what kind of tires I should get to replace the Goodyear AT/S that are on my rig now?

Secondly, I noticed that my passenger side front axle seal is starting to leak. Is this normal for a truck that is not driven off road with about 19,000 miles on it?

Thanks in advance to all,

Jag

 

No thoughts on this one guys?

 

Hello Jag, yes your tires can definately affect your steering and alignment. Especially if they are feathered or have uneven pressure in them.

Before performing alignment on a vehicle the pressure, wear, and condition of the tires should evaluated. Also the entire front end should be inspected for worn parts. Ride height should also be checked along with suspension components.

If all this was done before the alignment the condition of your tires would have been noticed. Sometimes if the tires are not too feathered or worn badly it's OK to move the front tires to the rear and vice-versa.

You may need to get tires and do it all over depending on how bad they are. If not, ask them to at least double check everything again.

Good luck.

 

LE PEW,

Thanks for the feedback. I may get new tires cos the current ones suck.

I will keep you all posted.

Jag

 

Are you currently running Goodyears ATS???

 

The reason I asked this is because I had the same problems with my Goodyear ATS. I was constantly having problems with vibration and alignment. I'd take it to one shop and they'd say it was shocks, next would say it was ball joints, next would say it was out of balance drive shaft and so on and so on. I spent about $2500 trying to get this problem resolved to no avail. After I put the BFG All Terrain TA/KO's on the problem was immediatly solved. The Goodyear ATS suck it up!!!!

 

rjkjoe,

Yes unfortunately I have the Goodyear AT/S tires. So it was really and truly the tires that were causing all of your grief?

I want to get rid of mine too, they are crap IMHO. Know anyone that wants to buy a set of four?

 

Same problem here all, I have the RTS on my FX4 and three of them have worn fine but one is cupped AND about twice as worn as the others. This causes both vibration (all the time) and uncentered steering (when the bad tire is on the front axle). When the tires are rotated and the two good tires are on the front axle, the steering centers. It took me FOREVER to figure it out. I will never own another set of Badyear Wranglers. I curtrently am waiting on getting some Nitto Terra Grapplers from Discount tire... last I heard, three have arrived at the store but one of them was lost in shipping. Anyone have any experience with these good looking tires? I will mostly be on-road, with the occasional off pavement jaunt.

 

I had the same problem with my AT/S's and took two of them back to the tire store and got two new replacments. Just did an oil chage and tire rotation and my rear end feels like its going to vibrate right off the back end. These tires were ballenced on a new hunter wheel balencer. Even had the tire broken from the rim and remounted to find the best balence. Seems like alot of effort for tires. I will defenitly never get these tires again. But will have to wait till they wear out before they can be replaced. Good luck!

 

I had 2 Goodyear AT/S tires replaced under warranty because they were out of round. After I got the 2 new tires, I dumped all 4 and got a set of Hoosiers. They're cheap tires, they do well in the mud, but they are a lot noisier than the GYs. I've also found that the white under the black sidewall is easily exposed from scuffing the sidewalls (i.e. - driving over rocks, curbing it, etc...)

 

Any of you guys have any recommendations on what kind of tires to replace my Goodyears with?

TIA,

Jag

 

I have heard tons of great things about the Bridgestone Revos, but I was not about to fork out the money that they wanted for their tires. They quoted me $840 out the door to "have the priviledge of owning" those tires on my '02 FX4. I shopped around, which is the best recommendation that I can make. I found the best deals on either Tirerack or tires.com.

The day I went to the Bridgestone dealer, I saw another F-150 outside with Nitto Terra Grapplers on it and thought, those are probably too expensive too. BUT I priced them around and found out that you can get the 265 70R17 for 135 each out the door! I put them on my truck yesterday. I cannot say how well they will hold up, but the ride is SO much smoother and quieter than the Goodyears they replaced, and they look really sweet. I will post a pic if I ever make it home from work this evening.

 

johnyb777,

Thanks for the heads up about the tires. Please post a pic if you can.

Thanks,

Jag

 

Let's see if I can figure out how to post a pic...





They are a little shiny right now. I put Meguire's tire hot on them in the dark after I washed it last night... oops! Didn't get to dry them off before the pic this morning... I will try to post a less shiny pic sometime soon.

Anthony

 

I would check my idler arm if it kepts going bad. You might have some cam bolts that are messed up to.