Interesting thread. Try using some fluid film to keep the rust down.

I have broken leaf springs before. But was due to heavy loads. Yours should not have broken.

Did they break near the U-Bolts? That is where mine did.

 

I have an appointment for all three vehicles on November 15th for the annual Carwell oil treatment... Yep, use it in spots... I am going to start a new thread at one point about what I've done, post pics and what is coming...

As to the rear springs, yep, near the u-bolts... asked my mechanic buddy and he said it's common for leaf springs to break. One of my rear leaf springs broke on 96 F250 as well, no heavy hauling just heavy plowing during winter time... My appt is next week for the left side to be replaced... this warranty really paid for itself and then some... then with ball joints/bearing replacement upcoming, after they check it out, get approval, and order the parts during this visit next week, on the driver's side, I'll be set for another 100k miles.

So the ceramic balancing beads kit came in today but late. Off tomorrow so hopefully will get 'er done, take her for a test drive and get the impending regen done because it's coming up close to 500 miles and the SL% only at 85%, with those hills I drove to the closed amusement park for the EVOC course in the big parking lot had the regens out to 496 miles.

Stay tuned...

 

To update this for the time being, the tires ride great... Have fronts at 70 PSI and rears at 75 PSI. I am getting a vibration, which is probably due to a very slightly out of balance tire, out of the rear.

I've had this issue before when I first bought my truck with an out of balance tire... The dealer just added more weight but I took it to a place where the kid pulled the tire, spun the tire 180 degrees and rebalanced it with less weight...

I also just re-installed my transfer case slid plate which I removed to install my FS2500 oil bypass filter on the driver's side... I always assumed to had to grind of material to get it to fit but I did not...

I still have my original shocks which seem to still ride okay but do have a set of new Monroe's to install.

It helped some... Seemed to tame it down a little bit still there. The vibration, or hop, which the thread on this was recently resurrected, is a common problem with the 08 to 16 trucks, starts at 47 and goes to about 49 mph... At 50 it's gone...

I feel if it was the tire, I'd feel it at speeds.. If the tire was out of round.

I have about 1200 miles now on the tires. They ride well and hum slightly due to their aggressive nature but it's a one ton truck with 10 ply tires right? I like them... They look great and can't wait to try the winter kedge rubber mix in the snow and ice.

My buddy wants to rebalance them when I have 3k miles on them. I told him about the vibration and i also ordered Innovative Balancing ceramic beads... More on that soon.

 

I got into a huge battle with TW over tires they sold me (same as OP got) that had Zero sidewall stiffness, they were dangerous on street. BBB got involved and in the end they told me where to stick it. Never again, and I really had high hopes. I wish you luck, but I am not optimistic. I sold those tires to some fool really nice guy who put them on a BBQ trailer. I can't even imagine that handful.

 

Appreciate the insight... How long ago was that?

I have a rear end hop, posted in the rear end bounce thread that was recently resurrected, but i also had it with new tires when the truck was brand new... Those were the Michelin LTXs that the truck came with. So I'm not too worried about this because my hop was caused by an out of balance factory Michelin tire.

I'm about 1500 miles in on these tires... So far so good. When I get 3k miles in, my buddy wants to re-balance them. I bought balancing beads so more on those at one point.

 

I bought mine about 5 years ago. I honestly believe it all comes down to the carcass they select. Some are winners, some losers. Mine also took a ton of weight to balance.

 

Yeah mine took a ton also... For the price I wanted to give them a shot. I'll see what happens... Since you mentioned the sidewalls, they now shave down the sidewalls and they are remolded from the sidewalls down, so i don't know if that's what they were doing when you bought them because i heard the new owners started the new process...

 

These tires have just about 2K miles on them and so far so good. Just had some lake effect snow here and they handled well... Once they hit 3k miles, my buddy will re-balance them and then see how they do. I do have those four bags of 8 oz each of ceramic beads, from Innovative Balancing, on stand by. I'll see what my buddy wants to do, if he wants me to run them re-balanced and rotated first to see how they do... or if he wants to crack the bead at one spot and drop them in each tire after he re-balances them. Stay tuned.

 

Truck just over 118k miles... They were mounted and balanced on truck at 113385 miles. They were re-balanced by my buddy at 117696 miles. I still get a slight vibration in the rear between the same speeds of around 45 to 49 mph. I do have a plan though for future purchases of these tires. I purchased 8 oz each of ceramic balancing beads but couldn't use them because I couldn't pour them through the air valve stems because of the pressure sensors in the wheels. So for this set, I'm just going to put up with the annoying rear end hop that the 08 to 16 trucks have at times until the next set. I plan on buying EZ Open bags to put inside the tire that will open when the truck starts moving... more on that later... I have to talk to my friend first to get all the info correct on what he did (was it static or dynamic?), then call Innovative Balancing in Las Vegas and get their take on these tires and what to do.

As to the performance of their "Winter Kedge" rubber blend, I believe these are probably the best performing snow tires I have had on my truck. I have had Cooper Snow Claws on this truck and thought they performed well also and also had an import tire with a severe snow rating as well that performed well, but time will tell on these with life. I do think the rubber mixed with broken glass and walnut shells is performing very well in the snow and ice conditions. They seem to stick to the snow better and push through better than other snow tires as listed have in two wheel drive when the snow isn't too deep yet but do very well when in four wheel drive. For the price, I couldn't go wrong in trying them out. I did buy the warranty on these when I bought them.

 

Pics of the ceramic beads...








Bottle and hose, along with filtered cores and their stainless steel valve stems caps that can be used with an air hose, used to pour beads into the valve stems.

 

I have had it with Gooodyear tires. Every set I have owned has developed a issue. I have BFG KO2's on there now and love them

 

Funny you mention that Bone because these have a similar tread design to the KO2s. Anyone I've talked to who have had the BFG KO2s love them.

 

When I was scrolling through this thread and I saw your pics, I could've sworn they were BFG's; the tread looks almost identical to mine (only yours are deeper and the lugs larger).

I don't have any complaints about traction (and recently in the dusting of snow we had here in the metroplex), but man, my BFG's *suck* in wet conditions. No siping channels, so lots of slippage.

But yours look like they could handle the deep snow you have up there, for sure.

 

The remold process adds 12 pounds to each tire as they incorporate the remold into the sidewall.... I paid just under $700 for 4 tires... that includes a per tire warranty charge and a per tire charge for the "Winter Kedge" rubber mix. I figured WTF... I'll give them a shot.

These are for winter only. They will be coming off in the spring time as I have the stock 275/65R20s that the truck came with for summer use. I went through some water across the expressway the other day, it's been above freezing now and the snow is melting some, had cruise on and she slid a little bit and got a little funky but nothing crazy. I think that was because the water was across the whole surface but I really haven't noticed anything crazy when the water is in the grooves made by traffic. My buddy bought a set for his F150 in the 275/60R18s in the Premium wear rubber, two sizes down from my 275/70R18s. I'll ask and see what he thinks of the wet traction.

Their treads seemed to be deeper than a newly manufactured tire are. They also seemed a little higher than the worn 275/65R20 Snow Claws that came off... but those treads are at the minimum though.

 

This video just came up in my You Tube feed...


thought I'd post it here since I bought the ceramic balance beads and posted about...

I'll give an update at one point, once the Treadwrights go back on for winter this year... but I think my buddy had the pressures too high... they wore in the middle some on the rears... I'll post more info and pics come winter time..

But so far so good. When I need new 20s for summer time, as I have a used set of Michelins in the shed now, I'm thinking of going with the Treadwrights in a different tread than those TKOs style I have for the winter. They have a more mild all terrain style tread... Stay tuned.