Forum Discussion

covered_wagon's avatar
Nov 08, 2020

Road with uneven surfaces.......

My SRW Ram 2500 just got new M&S E rated Michelins. Wow, How they wandered until they got broken in. As long as the road is graded even with a newer surface its a butter cake to steer, but when you get to old surfaces that tilt side to side you really have to compensate the wheel. I suppose you could call it tilt steer. I hate it the first couple hours on a new trip. After that I'm sort of automated about handling it and becomes a simple difference between loaded and unloaded.

Any you guys with Duals experience some degree of a top heavy feel while on older surfaces?

BTW, my camper weights around 3,000-3400 depending on the trip.
  • The worst tires that I've had when it came to following ruts or any other pavement irregularities were Yokohama Geolander ATs.

    My current Michelin Agilis CrossClimate tires are hands down the best tires I've had on my truck so far and they are set number six.
  • Not the same but I think the cause is the same for all of us. A few months ago I put new tires on my Suburban and it wandered all over the place and was downright scary to drive down the highway.

    What I finally figured out is that tires all grip the road and handle differently. (Well I knew that part) Once you get used to how your tires handle you just instinctively or subconsciously move the steering wheel back and forth tiny bits as needed to keep straight in the lane. When you change lanes or take a corner you know how far to turn the wheel.

    When you put new tires on you hit the road and your muscle memory tries to use the same little subconscious moves of the steering wheel and those slight moves are all wrong for your new tires. Couple that with the new tires not yet being broken in and you can get a downright scary ride for the first hundred miles or so.
  • My F350 dually handles rock-solid with 6000 lb camper, but ordering for purpose of camper handling, I ordered RWD, so it is 3" lower than 4WD.
    Before I had F250 and that handled lighter camper rock-solid as well.
    What tire pressure do you use?
  • Well, not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I have RAM 5500 dually and got new tires and the first 200-300 miles or less, can't really remember it felt like the front end was floating...
    Went back, they let a little air out of the front ones and it did better.. Now don't notice at all and ride/steers like normal. All this with camper on.
    Don't know if I just got used to it or they corrected and started to wear the 'New-ness' down but good right now...
    Hope that helps..