Stiff riding tires

[JMcTaggart]

I put some Toyo Open Country H/T tires on my 2500 soon after I bought it in 2017. These have been some great tires, but the truck has always seemed to ride very rough. I did a lot of research, learned about proper tire pressure for the load, put new Bilstein shocks on. Still spent 60,000 miles getting beat to death pulling our travel trailer across the country on some of the roughest Interstate highways in the country. I just assumed that a 3/4 ton would be a stiff ride.
Then one day I was riding with a friend in his F-350 SRW, and it was noticeably more comfortable when hitting rough patches in the road. I checked what tires he was running, and then got myself some Michelin Defender ATX M/S (stock wheel size).
Wow!! What a difference! This thing rides like a half ton.
So my question is- how can you find out what the ride quality of any make of tire is? This doesn't seem to be a category that is rated or much discussed.

 

[AEdelheit]

There is no category for ride quality in a tire but you can look at the load rating and tire weight. The reality is a smoother riding tire will not handle weight as well, a load range F tire will ride much stiffer but handle weight much better then a load range D tire that wont handle weight as well but be smoother.

Suspensions are also very different, I have never been impressed with the rear coil setup on the 2500s and Bilstiens are pretty terrible for ride quality , I know many on here thing they are the best thing ever, but point being its not really a direct apples to apples comparison.

 

[Tuesdak]

Michelin makes "soft" tires esp the tire under discussion. They are also squirmy vs. a stiff tire. Most love the ride softness and ignore the extra body roll and the extra input in the steering before they break out of a worn road rut. It's like the "green" tire feeling never goes away. They do wear well.

One of the notable better rides out there is the air ride suspension on the 3500. Drove a 2020 Tradesman SRW normal suspension and a DRW with the air ride option. Even with overinflated tires on the DRW it rode better than the standard suspension unloaded. Less "kick" from the rear going over bumps.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Toyo makes one of the best tires out there. I run nothing but Toyo. Yes they are a stiff strong 10 ply tire. They are also very accurate. One time one of them needed no weights at all.

 

[seafish]

Tire sidewall stiffness contributes more to ride quality then we often realize.
And that said there is ALWAYS a trade off between softer ride and safer load capacity.
I have invested money in a much higher quality carli suspension system to get a better ride but as soon as I swapped to commercial 19.5 G rated tires my truck went from riding almost like a caddy back to riding like a truck. While I do miss the softer ride I also much appreciate the safer and higher load capacity for what I bought and use my truck for.... hauling heavy !!!!

 

[Wiredawg]

My 2107 Ram 5500 with 19.5 Gs rides great on smooth road and bumpy on bumpy road, but we like it fine and it is the most capable truck we ever owned. Worst riding truck was 93 Ram W250 Club Cab Cummins 4x4 closely followed by our 03 Ram QC 4x4 SB Cummins.

My wife's 19 Ram 1500 has best ride of any truck we've owned, despite 20" tires.

Good luck balancing ride and load in a tire. Ron

 

[Regcabguy]

Toyo makes one of the best tires out there. I run nothing but Toyo. Yes they are a stiff strong 10 ply tire. They are also very accurate. One time one of them needed no weights at all.

Yeah,my Toyo 35-12.50-17's ride like rocks but the stability they afford is worth it. They always balance well with minimal weight. I run 55 psi all around. My front axle load is 4650#,rear 4200# with my 2200# Northstar popup.

 

[AH64ID]

Toyo makes one of the best tires out there. I run nothing but Toyo. Yes they are a stiff strong 10 ply tire. They are also very accurate. One time one of them needed no weights at all.

Personally I hate Toyo, and won’t run them again.

They have been the worst performing tire I’ve ever ran. The 10 plys didn’t last and weren’t as stable as they should be for being rated to carry 3750 lbs.

The 14 plys were stable, smooth, and wore like they were made of butter. Nearly worn out in 25K miles on a 5 tire rotation. If they had lasted I would have been more impressed with them, but for the cost it was ridiculous.

They are also about the most expensive tire I could buy.

No more Toyo for me.

 

[Regcabguy]

Personally I hate Toyo, and won’t run them again.

They have been the worst performing tire I’ve ever ran. The 10 plys didn’t last and weren’t as stable as they should be for being rated to carry 3750 lbs.

The 14 plys were stable, smooth, and wore like they were made of butter. Nearly worn out in 25K miles on a 5 tire rotation. If they had lasted I would have been more impressed with them, but for the cost it was ridiculous.

They are also about the most expensive tire I could buy.

No more Toyo for me.

What are you wearing now?

 

[AH64ID]

What are you wearing now?

Cooper AT3 XLT’s.

By far the best tire I’ve ever ran on a pickup.

 

[Regcabguy]

They look good.Rated pretty well on the offroad sites too.

 

[AH64ID]

They look good.Rated pretty well on the offroad sites too.

They have been great empty, loaded, snow, light mud, ice, chained up. I have ~17K miles on them now. As long as they keep wearing great I’ll have no issues meeting the 60K warranty. I’m pretty hard on tread thou with all the gravel road towing I do, but at this point my Toyo’s would have been 50-60% worn down.