Tread squirm is for real!

I experienced that same effect with a new set of Michelin LTX/MS tires. After a few months of driving it seemed the squirming went away, but It was nerve wracking. It was a first for me, and all my friends thought I was nuts when I was describing the way my truck was handling.

Not as uncommon as you might think. Back when I used to work on semis, we would put a set of 8 steer tires on the drives of a truck and run them for about 10,000 miles, then pull them off. Now we had 4 sets of steers that were broken in and we wouldn't get complaints from the drivers!

I know this doesn't help much with a pickup, but it is a real issue.

It's pretty well known by motorcyclists to be careful on new tires. Mold release compounds are the culprit I've heard in that case.

wrgrs50s wrote:
I experienced that same effect with a new set of Michelin LTX/MS tires. After a few months of driving it seemed the squirming went away, but It was nerve wracking. It was a first for me, and all my friends thought I was nuts when I was describing the way my truck was handling.

Same here with the same tires. It was the first time I really noticed the squirm with new tires.

New tires always feel a little squirmy to me, especially more aggressive AT or MT type tires. They always seem to settle down pretty quick, although I don't know how much of that is the tire versus my own comfort level with how they feel on the truck. Probably a little of both.

Same here. Replaced my stock tires last fall and had a horrible feeling while towing. My truck is used mostly for towing, very occasionally around town, so it didn't get used much for anything but towing when I first swapped tires. I felt like they were low on air they felt so soft and got pushed around so much.

Fast forward to this February, took a trip down to Florida and back, about 3000 miles total and the truck felt infinitely better. Took a little while to get the tires "broken in" if you will, but much better now.

I had a similar issue last summer. I heard others had new tire squirm and I know personally all LT tire brands are not the same. Had that experience years ago with LT's on Michelin LTX M & S.

My saga. In this case I am on my 3rd set of Continental ContiTrac TR's LT275/70R18's LR E.

The first set where the originals on my F350 in my sig. I bought the truck used with 25,000 miles on it. This is 2007 time frame. I had no problems whatsoever with truck stability with my current camper.

At around 53,000 miles, DW picked up nail in the front tire a week before a 1,000 mile camping trip. Oh man... They are almost gone, so I replaced all 5 tires with new Continental ContiTrac TR's LT275/70R18's LR E. and we set out on the trip with only about 500 miles on the tires. No issues at all. Nothing. This was 2009/2010 time frame.

Then last summer, 2017 time frame I need 5 new tires again due to wear and we have a 1,500 mile camping trip comeing up. Not wanting to change brands or styles I again bought Continental ContiTrac TR's LT275/70R18's LR E. 1 ton truck, 10,000# camper, long wheel base, I know what works and no brand changes if I can help it.

Oh boy, this is very different. We went to a local camping 50 miles from home and their was for sure an instability in the truck. I checked the WD hitch, pressure and it all came up good. I had to deal with it the whole 1,500 mile camping trip. Well, after around 1,500 to 2,000 miles on them, the truck is now back to stable again. It is like they need 3 to 4,000 miles on them to become known stable again.

Something changed in the rubber makeup as in 2009 I had zero issues, now I have a problem.

For us towing campers, we really need a sidewall stiffness index or something as buying new tires can be free for all on brand, style and thread. And now the squirm factor on new tires makes this all that much worse. It's like you have to find someone with about the same truck, camper size and weight and see what they have that works.

Thanks

John

Had the same thing when my truck was new. After several hundred miles everything settled down.

bluie5 wrote:
Had the same thing when my truck was new. After several hundred miles everything settled down.

What tire brand, tread type and tire size do you have on your 2016 F350? This would be good to know.

I suspect all this is about the mold release compound used in the manufacture of the tires. This is sprayed into the curing (aka vulcanization) mold just before the tire is put in. I can easily imagine that it penetrates a few molecules into the tread rubber and takes several hundred miles before it wears off.

I think this is plant specific and not brand specific, but I am willing to concede that maybe a particular manufacturer uses the same mold release compound in all its plants. There will be multiple brands made in the same plant, so if my conjecture is correct, all those brands would be affected.

So the word is: When replacing tires, before careful the first few hundred miles. (I think this might apply to passenger car tires as well!)