Stock BFG's wear pattern and noise

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azoufan

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Ok first things first, I admit that I have not rotated these tires at the proper intervals, nor have I rotated in the spare. I'm at 29.5K miles and all 4 tires have the wear pattern like this. Feathered or uneven wear, whatever you want to call it on both the outside and the inside. I ran them all at 44 PSI for the first 24K miles or so, but again, pretty bad rotation schedule. Maybe 3 times total in those first 24K miles. My dad was down and was just sure the pressure was too high, especially in the rears, and talked me into dropping them down to 35 front, 32 rear. Ran them a for a bit like that, wear got worse, so I pumped them all back up to 44 psi again.

The noise is horrendous, kind of a *** *** *** sound that seems pretty clearly is due to the uneven wear on the inside and outside tread blocks. Lots of people have told me that the rears especially would work themselves back even again but no, that's just not happening.

Any hope at all that these are going to come back or are they too far gone? I've seen other pickups with super big mud block tread that are literally worn down well into the wear bars, and the wear is completely flat across the tread. I have no idea how I can be driving any differently to make the wear patten better, but I've clearly put these tires past the point of wearing properly.

Probably 90% on road driving. Been out a few times in the mud and desert around here in AZ and we certainly didn't take it easy, but I can't see how that little bit of offroading could have caused all of this. Again, I've done my fair share of this with the rotation schedule, but it can't all be me right? I'm thinking I can get another 10K miles out of these before they need to be replaced, but I sure don't want to stuff new tires on if the wear is going to go like this again. Everything I read about alignment says it would wear either the inside or the outside, but never both. But this is clearly wearing / feathering / whatever both inside and outside on both sides of the truck.

Any thoughts on what to check / how to fix / how to avoid in the future?
 

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Prybar

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I see signs that they have been spun both on road and off. The rotation schedule is probably most of your issue next to that. The rears should come forward, and the fronts should be swapped and put on the rear. Over time, each tire ends up going forward and backwards and ends up on each corner of the truck to even everything out. I only put about 10k on every year and I rotate once a year.
 

Doc Constantine

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Looks pretty cupped.

Rebuild shocks and an alignment.

^^ This and balance.

I rotate every 5k, balance at 10k, run 44 psi and daily drive it. It's not uncommon to get 50k out of street driven KO's when maintained properly.

The spare has no TPMS, so it's not as easy to rotate in, unless you don't mind the dash light.
 
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azoufan

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As the tires have gotten more worn they have definitely started slipping in wet weather, but I'm not out here roasting them from light to light, have a Z06 racecar for those hijinks at the track, haha. I noticed driving to the airport on the freeway that there were a few spots where the suspension and tires were definitely "bouncing" a bit, not a normal smooth ride as I remember it from when it was new. I have not experienced any of the "floating" issues that people normally talk about with the shocks needing to be rebuilt. I guess I've seen most people getting 40-50k miles so I wasn't thinking I would be in so bad of shape that they'd need to be rebuilt at 30k miles. Not unheard of I suppose.

Does the bouncing feeling indicate shock rebuild time in everyone's eyes? I was wanting to get another 10k out of the tires but now I'm worried that if I try, I'll just be putting un-needed stress on the shocks after a rebuild. Thoughts? Appreciate everyone's help here.


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Five-O Donut Hole

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^^ This and balance.

I rotate every 5k, balance at 10k, run 44 psi and daily drive it. It's not uncommon to get 50k out of street driven KO's when maintained properly.

The spare has no TPMS, so it's not as easy to rotate in, unless you don't mind the dash light.


Living example here....

45,000 miles on original tires and brakes...Street King solid.
 

warrior

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I have never had luck with BFGs, having a Dodge power wagon and gen 1 raptor, rotated and ran proper pressure never got more than 25K miles on them. I do pull a trailer 200 miles per month. I like the tires, and hoping my gen 2 will get better wear.
 

Enigma94

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I had really bad wear and cupping on my stock BFGs as well, on the inside AND the outside just like yours. When I noticed it I had the tires rotated more regularly and it didn't help at all. My stocks only made it to 29k miles as well. I had the truck aligned at the dealer(long story short they didn't know wtf they were doing) before I got a new set of wheels and tires. After 3k on the new tires I started seeing some uneven wear again (only on the inside of the fronts, so I'm assuming the dealer alignment helped a little bit) so I went to an actual alignment shop and the front toe was completely out of spec which was causing my cupping/uneven wear. The shop did mention the shocks before they put it on the rack but the truck only has 33k miles so I told them I doubt it's that.

I'd suggest taking your truck into a actual alignment shop and have it checked. If it's not completely out of spec then I'd look into the shocks.

Off topic, but do you have any clunking noises from the front end when going over small bumps/cracks in the road???

Nice to see another raptor from AZ too!
 
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azoufan

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Thanks to everyone for the input. I will get the alignment checked right away and let everyone know if I find anything. Will look into the shock rebuild too. SDHQ is local so that's an easy decision on where to go.

On the clunking noises, no, nothing at all. I've never had any odd noises from the suspension even during fairly spirited off roading. Pavement cracks and bumps just get soaked up.


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