It drives like my parents old 38" Chris Craft. Rides on what looks to be a 4" Pro Comp lift.

Step 1 - New Tires - Advice?
Step 2 - Advice?

Step 1
The Nittos on there now will not pass inspection. Hoping replacement tires will help. Currently run 325/60/20s. What would you suggest for best handling replacement on pavement? I was going to get more Nitto (not sure whether dune or terras) until I saw their handling reviews were not great. Any and all suggestions would be wecome.

Step 2
Advice here would be great as well. Will be giving Clay a call after the tires are done.

The challenge is to make it wife driveable on country back roads otherwise it will be listed on Craig's list in about 4 months.

Thanks,

Chris

 

If when you say "handling" you're referring to cornering ability you want tires that fit the rims so the sidewall is as straight as possible with no bulging. The shorter the sidewall the better. This will make the truck turn better but will also make the ride more harsh since there's less tire sidewall to absorb shock from uneven road surface.

 

Thank you for the tip. Never worried to much about my tires on the Explorer other trying to avoid firestone-like blowouts.

 

12 pages of good reading on this steering wander issue. A simple fix you can do yourself with an afternoon of trial and error.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...eering-11.html

 

Beautiful. Believe it or not I have typed in dozens of searches on the forum and could not find a comprehensive thread. Many thanks.
CP

 

What width/aspect would you recommend? I am probably going with the Nitto Terras but not sure which ones that fit my 20" rims are best. There are 325/60's on there now. I am sensitive to MPG but also want to improve handling. Is this a catch 22? Is there a sweat spot?

 

I think I saw on another thread that you went with Nitto Duras for tires. That is what I am running and they are performing well on the highway. For your part 2 if you want suggestions you could describe more about the handling issues and what the intended uses will be. The problem with buying a used vehicle is you have to figure out what all the issues are. Even mine with just 32k had bad ball joints.

Some of the common issues are:
Steering box needs to be tightened or replaced.
Ball joints, tie-rods.
Worn springs - may be hard to figure out exactly what springs you have.
Shocks.
Sway bar is undersized or non-existent.
Tire pressure.

 

Hey Red -

My plan on the handling is to replace the tires next week, adjust the steering this weekend per the forum thread, and then add RAS/Hellwig if needed. I have an appointment with the best ford diesel mechanic in the area next week (He has 17 trucks in his shop the day I called) to give the truck a look over and make recommendations. I believe this will fix the handling issue. Once that is done, the next on the list is improve 1performance, but I will leave that to another thread. Thanks for the help.