Well I got a set of new 235-85R16 Michelin LTX M/S mounted and balanced a little expensive it cost me 558.00 dollars
CND

I guess I should get a year out of them hopefully I can beat the 20,000km (12,428 miles) mark if I get 30,000 (18,642 miles) I will

I also picked up a new steering stabilizer that drained another 78 dollars out of my wallet it is a Gabriel unit. I got it home and compared it to the one that was one the truck man what a size diffrence. The one on the truck is a factory motorcraft I have a feeling the original from 95 it was never changed.

The Motorcraft stabilizer was quite smaller in diameter prolly 1/4 inch or more I'am really surprised if it did anything brandnew. I got the new stabilizer installed fit good and doesn't bind it should keep the death wobble to a minimum. I wondered why I had a flat spot in the steering when I got the old stabilizer off I could see it was bent there was one of the problems.

Its nice now no more shaking the Michelins are expensive but they are worth it the drive home was nice and smooth no more thumping. I thought about buying a set of D661 Bridgestones which are 33 dollars a tire cheaper I have had them before but I really liked the way the Michelins improved the handling of my 89 F-450 so I bought the M/S again.

The first thing I noticed on my way home was no more wandering those Sport King A/Ts really made the truck wander all over the road they gave me a few scares.

A commercial fisherman I was talking too over the summer hauls his seafood through the community I live in with his a 88 F-350 dually IDI flatdeck. He is a first time Michelin user he put LTX M/S on the front of his truck. I said to him hey new tires the first thing that came out of his mouth was the truck doesn't wander anymore. All the things he said is the same things I noticed when I put them on my 89.

So its not my imagination must be the tread pattern or the rubber compound or something that makes the tires track straight.

I just gotta stop driving the truck like a sports car the steer tires might last abit longer. With my 95 weighs 8400lbs and the old 89 was only 7800lbs and less power (IDI) the 95 will wear out the tires faster. These F-Superduty (F-450s) cling to the road my 88-89 and now my 95 are all the same it must be the mono beam front axle and heavy springs.

To sum it up I spent a good chunk of money today but its well worth it the truck is even nicer to drive now. I don't have to worry about death wobble now. I was going to replace the A/Ts but I didn't think it would be so soon.

 

I will totally back you on the Michelins. I was lucky enough to get a set during the recall. It was the first time I had ever had them because I was always to cheap to purchase them myself but what a difference it made. Won't buy anything else now...

 

Good deal. Those are some high end tires, I hope they last for you.

 

I hope so I don't think the price of tires will go down with the price of oil being so high. The tire man said I should get 40,000kms out of them 24,856 miles but I think I will get 25,000kms 15,535 miles just gotta not drive this truck so hard a 8400lb truck will be hard on tires.

What surprise me was the death wobble was caused from the tires I will know for next time

 

That is surprising to me as well. I've recently developed a little shimmy in the front end, which I believe to be a tire problem.....seems even more likely now. You guessed it, they're sport kings. Looks like I'm in the tire market too.

 

have you tried rotating your tires or having them re-balanced? i have found that works 80% of the time!

-cutts-

 

The tires under the Cavalier-Sport King-Medalist-Allseason King and Traction King umbrella all have the same problem I have had trucks with the Allseason Kings and Sport King tires they are all the same. They are okay for drive axle but for steering the cheap construction of the tire they just are not a balanced tire.

The scary thing I seen was I had a Allseason King mounted as a spare it sat out in the sun for a week and the SOB exploded

I have been reading they are made by Uniroyal which I think is part of BFG and part of the Michelin enterpire.

My first experience with the Medalist line up is the Allseason kings that were on a 77 F-350 dually flatdeck I had I couldn't figure out where the thumping and bumping was coming from. The first thing I replaced was the steer tires with Uniroyal Ribs the bouncing partially went away then I changed the drives with Bandag recaps viola the thumping was gone. I had another truck with them I think they were A/Ts I replaced them same problem.

I actually won't buy the cheap budget tires anymore its just not worth it because you will prolly have problems with them and end up replacing them.

Another tire to avoid is the Radial Baja A/T aka Timberline A/T made by Bridgestone/Firestone its their budget tire it grows lumps and bumps in the tread. I also try to avoid Uniroyal and Goodyear I have had troubles with those brands they had internal damage and lumps growing out of the sidewall. My dad had a set of the Goodyear Workhorse allseason for steers on his 3500 Chevy dually flatdeck the tires pretty much imploded (belts broken).

To sum it up if your looking for a decent reasonable priced decent tire look at Hankook I thought about going with a set of Z-36 Dynamic Radials (A/T tire). The only place that carries them is a service station they have to order them in which usually takes couple days plus I have to wait till they have time to mount them. They can't balance my wheels they don't have the adaptors for the center hole they can't do their tow truck either (3500HD).

I was in a hurry needed the tires changed so I went to the tire shop I usually deal with they always have Michies in stock and I get prompt service in and out and done.

 

Hey Kenworth.

thought i would let you know that i took the orig. Firestones off of my 2000 cc 250 when i had 38,000 on them. Went back with Michelin LTX MS 265/75R16, I now have 117,350 miles on truck, 79,350 miles later and i still have probably 8 to10 thousand left on them. Love them and would not put anything else on.

Balanced and rotated every 6,000 miles, and pull a 9 to10,000 fifth quite alot with them. i hope you enjoy them as much as I have , ggod luck

 

This is my second crack at the bat with Michelins I went back to them again because I did like the way they improved my 89's steering and handling so I have a feeling I'am a Michelin man now

 

that was a good price on the michelins's thats all i run on all my trucks and trailers it dosnt get any better than that. they dont make much of a mud tire thats the only thing i dont like.......

 

Hate to be a nay-sayer...I have Michelins on my F-350 4x4 CC. They were where I discovered the out of balance being the cause of the death wobble.

I do a lot of off road work and am not happy with their grip in mud. I have used a lot of brands and these are not at the top of my list. Sorry to not be on the band wagon.

Glad to hear you got the wobble conqured. I know how bad it can be! Only way to stop it is to stop the truck, and in traffic that can be a problem. Had mine do it once in a constuction zone with bumper to bumper traffic. Did not make people happy, having to stop in the middle of the road.

 

I had the wobble problem on my 93 f-250 and did alot of troubleshooting. Heck, I was scared to tow with the truck and that really got my goat cause it was a great truck to tow with. I finally rotated the tires and viola, wobble gone.

 

Oh yes. Many times over. They require rebalancing at every rotation.