Time for Tires for my 2017 2500 Tradesman

[Turbo Terry]

Our all weather roads eat tires pretty fast her. Like a very hard gravel road. Potholes galore in town . Our snows are heavy and wet. We live on the low part of the mountains 220 ft at are house rarely do we go in the hills or up the side of the mountains in the winter. If you live up there you need studs. The studs wear ruts in our roads that fill with water etc. snow plows do the main roads pretty fast and good . Getting out of our neighborhood can be a real challenge sometimes. They might take days to be plowed out . We had 11 ft last winter and it all stayed till early April. We are retired and can stay home . I will see how these tires do soon enough. We have term dust at 5000 ft and it will head down soon enough. The snows will begin in another 3-4 weeks .hohoho

 

[Markh1254]

Well, a month later and I like the quiet ride. But I have another issue now. A week after having the Cooper Discoverer tires put on, at higher speeds it's acting like I have a bad or out of balance tire. It begins at around 60 mph and worsens as the speed increases. I left the truck with the tire shop and they rebalanced the tires and told me that I have a slightly bent wheel on the right rear. Seems odd that I never noticed this before with the old tires. I called the tire shop and made an appointment to go back again. The manager at the tire shop told me that he believes I have a bad torque converter. I pointed out that if I had a bad converter, it would have shown up when pulling the 10,000 lb trailer, under load. I'll keep the group posted. Anyone know where I can buy a replacement steel wheel?

 

[Tuesdak]

Use the spare to eliminate that tire and rim as the cause. Watch em spin it on the balancer. Then with no tire on. It will be clear if something is bent.

Otherwise the Coopers have a 45 day ride guarantee.

 

[Markh1254]

I had to take a mechanic for a ride to convince him. He agreed that it seems to be a tire problem. He recalibrated his balancing machine and used a different adapter on the machine and found that the tires WERE out of balance. After rebalancing for the third time, the truck rides smooth and I am quite pleased with these Cooper Discoverer HT3 highway tires. Quiet and a nice smooth ride.

 

[promisedland]

I had Cooper discover at3s & while I liked them, they got louder as they wore down.
I bought a set of Continental Terrain Contacts now, (all terrain) & so far quieter but they seem to carry (& release) stones.

 

[Grumpy8811]

I had to take a mechanic for a ride to convince him. He agreed that it seems to be a tire problem. He recalibrated his balancing machine and used a different adapter on the machine and found that the tires WERE out of balance. After rebalancing for the third time, the truck rides smooth and I am quite pleased with these Cooper Discoverer HT3 highway tires. Quiet and a nice smooth ride.

sometimes you have to ask the tire guys to Road Force balance the tires.

 

[Turbo Terry]

Well we have two foot of snow on the ground now. New tires (Duratrac RT) s perform well in the snow. I can go places now in 2 wheel drive that took 4 wheel drive to do it with the factory Firestone tires . They are a little stiff for ice. I have them at 50 lbs front and 40 lbs rear in the warm garage. 8 f now outside That changes when you take them outside. They don’t hold rocks which is good. Lots of gravel is used on our streets in the winter. All and all a good tire for me as I will have them rotated once a year and not change to winter summer tires ever again. I think I like them

 

[Axel]

Happy you like them! I love mine and keep them year round on the truck. Lots of snow here in Canada each year.....

 

[RL7836]

Based on web research (including this forum), I purchased a new set of Goodyear Duratrac RT's a few days ago. Today, I looked for the inflation vs load chart that is used to 'properly' set pressures under varying loads. Unlike searches for other brands, the Goodyear RT search came up empty.

Have any other Duratrac RT owners located these Goodyear charts? If not, what pressures are you using?

I'm also getting a significant vibration @ 40 mph. I plan to go back to the Goodyear Center & have them re-check the balance. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[AH64ID]

Based on web research (including this forum), I purchased a new set of Goodyear Duratrac RT's a few days ago. Today, I looked for the inflation vs load chart that is used to 'properly' set pressures under varying loads. Unlike searches for other brands, the Goodyear RT search came up empty.

Have any other Duratrac RT owners located these Goodyear charts? If not, what pressures are you using?

I'm also getting a significant vibration @ 40 mph. I plan to go back to the Goodyear Center & have them re-check the balance. Anyone else have this issue?

Load and Inflation tables are not specific to a tire manufacturer, rather to the size and load index.

I use the Toyo chart for all of my tires, inclining my Duratrac RT LT’s.

https://www.toyotires.com/media/2125/application_of_load_inflation_tables_20170203.pdf

 

[Topzide]

@RL7836, If after re-balancing, you still have a vibration, maybe look into Centramatics. They were able to smooth out the slight vibrations that drove me made chasing down! They have been a great investment in ride quality! If they also help in tire wear, and front end component wear, well worth the price. Good luck with balancing.

 

[Turbo Terry]

500 lbs weight in the back 3500 srw regular cab long box 50 lbs front 40 lbs rear Goodyear Duratrac rt works well for me

 

[RL7836]

I'm also getting a significant vibration @ 40 mph. I plan to go back to the Goodyear Center & have them re-check the balance. Anyone else have this issue?

Update: this past week has been pretty much a nightmare - partially due to some flawed tires & partially due to working w/ Goodyear.
- the harmonic vibration occurred consistently between 38-40 mph & over 70 mph
- took the truck back to have tires re-balanced - did no good - no change in vibration
- took the truck to an independent shop for them to assess. After rebalancing again with no change in the vibration, they told me the tires definitely had an issue
- took them back to the place where the tires were purchased and asked to have them replaced with Falken Wildpeak AT4's - a less expensive tire. They agreed if I would eat the difference.
- the Falken's are smooth at all speeds

I'm happy that this is over. In hindsight, my life would have been much simpler if i just had them swap out the Duratrac RT's with another set. However, they were on backorder everywhere & I couldn't fathom replacing the tires & having the same issue.

In our conversations, the owner of the independent shop shared two interesting tidbits:
- he replaces Goodyear tires more than most other brands (warranty issues)
- the long wheelbase of my truck magnifies vibration issues so I feel issues that might not be noticeable with a short wheelbase truck (the truck wouldn't fit on alignment machines in 80% of shops in Gainesville area due to length)