Tires causing wander

[mjmsprt40]

There's one thing I really hate to have to do and that is getting new tires. This past Friday I had to get new rear tires--- the old ones were worn. The front tires are reasonably new, so they stayed on.

Now, the problem is that every time I get new tires the vehicle handling gets squirrelly for a few hundred miles until the tires wear in. Yesterday I had a job going to Waterloo, Iowa--- and the handling at times was positively terrifying. Ever see a car towing a badly loaded trailer, and the trailer is weaving from side to side? Yeah, something like that only no trailer. It's the van itself handling like that.

On the trip back, I could tell she's stabilizing so it'll be alright on the next trip.

I got curious, Googled it, and --- there's a lot of this sort of thing going on. Seems that steel-belted LT tires are more subject to this than passenger car tires, but squirrelly handling after new tires happens to cars and trucks alike.

I do not like getting new tires.

 

[TruckingSurv]

Would this be a non issue if all four tires were replaced at the same time? I have never experienced this with LT tires or any other tires, BUT I always replace all of them at once.

TS

 

[mjmsprt40]

Would this be a non issue if all four tires were replaced at the same time? I have never experienced this with LT tires or any other tires, BUT I always replace all of them at once.

TS

I'm having to pull this from memory-- it's been awhile since I replaced all four. I do seem to remember some wandering--- not as bad as the other day, but still there. Problem I remember most from then was that the tire shop put on Chinese tires, and within a few thousand miles I was replacing tires piecemeal because of belt-separation issues. One of the belts would separate, get twisted and form a knot in the tread. Fun to ride on, not. I ended up replacing all four of those tires one at a time.

 

[TruckingSurv]

I have only run either Goodyear and now Michelin for over 25 years on my personal vehicles, so maybe that is why my experience is different? Getting harder to avoid "Chinese" tires, last set of Goodyear trailer tires I bought for my Wells Cargo utility trailer were made in China, just a shame! I don't run Michelins on the trailer because they don't make a trailer tire, everything else got swapped to Michelin starting about 15 years ago and I have had zero issues. Off the road right now, but we swapped the large straight truck to all Michelin too during my time with the company and had already outlived anything else ever put on the steer axle, the jury was still out on the drives because they were fairly new, but they were far smoother and quieter than the tires we took off.

TS

 

[mjmsprt40]

My last purchase was Goodyear--- the tires on the rear now. I made a point of making sure they're "the real McCoys"--- even to the point of going to a different shop than the one I usually used for tires. I've run Michelins before, they're good tires. The only problem is trying to get a tire shop to put those on a 16 year-old van with close to 600 K miles on it--- they think the van will quit before the tires do, and advise against wasting the money.

 

[Treadmill]

My last purchase was Goodyear--- the tires on the rear now. I made a point of making sure they're "the real McCoys"--- even to the point of going to a different shop than the one I usually used for tires. I've run Michelins before, they're good tires. The only problem is trying to get a tire shop to put those on a 16 year-old van with close to 600 K miles on it--- they think the van will quit before the tires do, and advise against wasting the money.

It's your money not theirs.

 

[vandriver2]

Is an Alignment needed?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

well my Sprinter is like that with these Michelins...MS2's.....they seem to roll more over on the shoulder of the tires as they are made of a softer compound then my old Firestone...it takes awhile to adjust to the new "feel" I found....
more of a mushy, squishy feel, then a wander......now overload this thing and you'll feel real wander...

 

[mjmsprt40]

The good news--- both from my personal experience and from what I've been reading on the subject-- is that new-tire wandering is a temporary thing. It may take a few hundred, up to maybe 2,000 miles for the tires to "wear in" so the wandering completely ceases, but it does cease. Already my van handles better than it did a couple of days ago when the rear tires were brand-new.

About needing an alignment--- it wouldn't surprise me if it did. However, reading other's experience on the subject shows that alignment issues are NOT necessarily the problem. The tires themselves squirm when new, this causes strange handling until they wear in. I note that before I replaced the rear tires, this van tracked straight and true with no "funny handling", so I'm not absolutely sold on alignment being an issue.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

The good news--- both from my personal experience and from what I've been reading on the subject-- is that new-tire wandering is a temporary thing. It may take a few hundred, up to maybe 2,000 miles for the tires to "wear in" so the wandering completely ceases, but it does cease. Already my van handles better than it did a couple of days ago when the rear tires were brand-new.

About needing an alignment--- it wouldn't surprise me if it did. However, reading other's experience on the subject shows that alignment issues are NOT necessarily the problem. The tires themselves squirm when new, this causes strange handling until they wear in. I note that before I replaced the rear tires, this van tracked straight and true with no "funny handling", so I'm not absolutely sold on alignment being an issue.

yep...mine settles down after a few hundred as well....

 

[Turtle]

Do the tires really and truly settle down after a few hundred miles, or does the driver just simply get used to the new steering characteristics of tires with more tread on them? Inquiring minds wanna know!

This reply was brought to you by the Gates Rubber Company, maker of
fine rubber belts and hoses, and have nothing to do with tires or Star Trek.
What?

 

[mjmsprt40]

Do the tires really and truly settle down after a few hundred miles, or does the driver just simply get used to the new steering characteristics of tires with more tread on them? Inquiring minds wanna know!

This reply was brought to you by the Gates Rubber Company, maker of
fine rubber belts and hoses, and have nothing to do with tires or Star Trek.
What?

The tires DO settle in. If you could have ridden with me Sunday evening as I headed out to Waterloo, and then rode with me today on the Battle-Creek trip--- you wouldn't even have to ask. Partly because, after getting off of I-90 Sunday evening and being able to get out at the first truck-stop--- you would have been so busy kissing the ground and thanking God that you were still alive (I said that trip was terrifying).

There's no way you "get used" to that kind of handling. Today--- the van tracked true. Nary a stray wiggle. The tires are well in now. Good thing too, there's a stretch of I-94 in Indiana that's under construction, and the clearances between the concrete barriers and the truck in the other lane are uncomfortably tight as it is without my vehicle behaving strangely.

 

[tknight]

Ponder this kids , why isn't this a complaint on a brand new vehicle?

 

[mjmsprt40]

Ponder this kids , why isn't this a complaint on a brand new vehicle?

Brand-new vehicles come with 4 brand-new tires for one thing. As the vehicle ages, you do sometimes have cause to replace the tires on one axle but not the other--- in my case, I replaced the rear tires this time.

For a real nightmare-- I looked up this stuff on Google, there are of course other forums where these things get discussed. One guy replaced 4 tires on his pickup truck. Problem: It's a 6-wheel pickup, and he replaced the 4 tires on the rear axle. According to his story--- THAT was a fun ride until the tires got a few hundred miles on them.

Hmm... I dunno about you, but I for one can't afford to replace my entire van every time I need a tire change. If the outfit you drive for pays you that kind of money---- where does the line start for signing on?

 

[fastman_1]

Ponder this kids , why isn't this a complaint on a brand new vehicle?

New car everything is new, used car the suspension isn't new. Might have something to do with it?

 

[mjmsprt40]

One other thing: On a brand-new vehicle all the tires are identical. On older vehicles--- there may be some mixing and matching. I'm running new Goodyears on the rear-- identical tires on that axle. On the front--- some Chinese crap-fest Sentinels that haven't had the usual belt failures yet. Those tires were put on the front as a matched pair, and with only 15,000 miles on them they're still good until they (A) wear out or (B) have belt-separation issues like the last set of Sentinels.

 

[Turtle]

I dunno about you, but I for one can't afford to replace my entire van every time I need a tire change.

I can't either, but I can generally afford 4 tires.

On older vehicles--- there may be some mixing and matching.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner!

Tell him what he's won, Johnny!


He has won a braaand neeeew! Bunny Bidet!
Bend over!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Ponder this brainiacs.....ever see balance weights on a brand new car/van? Nope....

your brand new $200+ tires are not the most perfect.....the automakers get those ones....

 

[tknight]

I see them all the time usually very small weights

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I've seen truck tires....there is not 1 that ever came out of the mold perfect....we always took a grinder to them and buffed them down where the computer said to..and used patch filler and re baked the rubber into the grind hole...