An update on ride quality

[FX4Offroad]

Lariat FX4: There's been lots of talk about the ride being bouncy... especially on the FX4. I never seemed to feel that. When I picked up my truck (August 26), I noticed the tire pressure was set to 40 lbs for all 4 wheels. I loved the ride and have had no complaints so I left it alone.

Last night, I decided to air them down to 32 lbs...just to see if there was a difference in ride quality. There definitely is!

The better, softer ride helped me understand the "bouncy" feeling others have talked about. I would describe it as a "Hard" ride rather then bouncy. I definitely noticed the tires when they were at 40 lbs...they seemed to feel every little road imperfection.

I'll test the air pressure/ride quality again when I get my A.R.E. topper. I may have to play with the air pressure a little with the permanent added weight in the rear.

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[Deleted member 1634]

One thing I noticed on mine:

The ride was actually pretty nice for the first 10k miles. A little bit of the wallowing from the front as other people have noted, but not something that bothers me. But at my 10k check-up, they rotated the tires and now the ride is much much worse. The rear end is bouncing all over the place and I get a near consistent live axle shake at freeway speeds that was never there before. All the pressures are the same between the 4, and the same as they were before I brought it in. Maybe the tires just need to be re-worn down in their new places. I'm not sure. But it's annoying.

 

[Kataphrakt]

I've noticed since i dropped my tire pressure from 47 to the door sticker 30 my truck bounces around a lot more than i'd like. It almost feels like it's under damped now.

 

[soloer]

I’ve had my tires set to 32 for a few days and it seems decent. I imagine I’ll try different settings for a while before I just pick one and stick with it.

 

[Ranger Danger]

I have the Lariat 265/60R-18's and my first ride home with the truck I noticed a vibration at 63MPH and it was very pronounced. Got home and sure enough my tires were inflated as follows, FDriver 32PSI, FPassanger 41PSI, RDriver 42PSI, and RPassanger 42PSI
Toyota used to do this to my TACO, though the highway stutter was less pronounced, same speed though at 63MPH. Dropped them to cold 30PSI and hot they run 32-33PSI on the Ranger and no more stutter at 63MPH. I do notice though a vibration or stutter when at highway speeds and taking your foot of the gas. Otherwise the ride is improving as a I go and smoothing out nice.

 

[SemperVee]

I've got the Hankook 18's on my XLT Sport and I lifted the pressure to 32 all around from the 30 PSI and have become quite comfy with it. Took it on a 200 mile ride this weekend to test. Rides like a truck.

 

[heavily_attenuated]

I've got the Hankook 18's on my XLT Sport and I lifted the pressure to 32 all around from the 30 PSI and have become quite comfy with it. Took it on a 200 mile ride this weekend to test. Rides like a truck.

I found 32-33 psi cold to be the best ride so far with my XLT, 3000+ miles in. I agree it drives like a truck.

 

[Deleted member 773]

One thing I noticed on mine:

The ride was actually pretty nice for the first 10k miles. A little bit of the wallowing from the front as other people have noted, but not something that bothers me. But at my 10k check-up, they rotated the tires and now the ride is much much worse. The rear end is bouncing all over the place and I get a near consistent live axle shake at freeway speeds that was never there before. All the pressures are the same between the 4, and the same as they were before I brought it in. Maybe the tires just need to be re-worn down in their new places. I'm not sure. But it's annoying.

I’ve noticed/ been yelled at by our tire shop that 10k is too long of an interval for tire rotation with truck/all terrain/mud tires. They have told me 5k is good and as a general rule, the more space between tread blocks, the shorter the interval. Regardless of how you drive you will get cupping and at a certain point it’s hard for the tire to recover. Find out if they rebalanced when rotated, with bigger tires with more tread, uneven wear can happen quickly and unbalance even a brand new tire. If they didn’t, rebalancing the tires may help.

 

[TexTazManiac]

I had a very bouncy ride on my 2015 F150 King Ranch FX4. It was a bit annoying because, well, it was a King Ranch, and it annoyed my wife. It got worse when I had it leveled with front spacers... The spacers would extend my front suspension when driving down our beautiful pot-holed roads to the point where I thought the front inner drive shafts would be pulled out of the differential. So I called around, read forums, talked to my son (a very good 'wrench') and followed his suggestion to get a coil over leveling kit. Evidently, it doesn't mess with your front suspension geometry as much.

So I bit the bullet and bought a Fox Leveling kit -- came with rear shocks and replacement front struts. Put Raptor wheels, Yukon 4.10 gears and BFGoodrich KO's (bigger side walls, slightly lower PSI) on the truck and voila... rides like the 'cowboy cadillac' that my wife was expecting. The Yukon's help me keep my performance when the 6 speed transmission and stock gearing was a bit overcome by the larger wheels.

Fast forward to last month. I bought a 2019 Ranger Lariat FX4 and thought I'd bounce my head through the roof driving around our roads here in Houston. I know it's a truck. I know it will ride like a truck. But I also know that my afore-mentioned angel of a wife would not enjoy the ride.

I bought the Icon Stage 1 leveling kit, Ranger Raptor wheels (ebay), 285/70/17 BF Goodrich KO2's, and .... voila, rides like the 'cowboy cadillac' that, hopefully, will make my bride happy.

I believe the bounciness is a result of 'lack of jounce control' from the stock FX4 shocks. The Icon and Fox shocks removed that from both of my trucks.

 

[MTB-BRUH]

To me 30 psi seems like not enough for a pickup, even a small one. I’m running 16” rims with the stock Bridgestone duelers and I think the flimsy tires have something to do with it. I changed the stock rims with some nice aftermarket ones and mounted the tires myself, these factory tires are super thin. Not a fan, getting BFG K02’s ASAP

Edit: by the way I found 38-40 psi to be my happy place

 

[Deleted member 773]

To me 30 psi seems like not enough for a pickup, even a small one. I’m running 16” rims with the stock Bridgestone duelers and I think the flimsy tires have something to do with it. I changed the stock rims with some nice aftermarket ones and mounted the tires myself, these factory tires are super thin. Not a fan, getting BFG K02’s ASAP

Edit: by the way I found 38-40 psi to be my happy place

I’ve been running the same psi on the hankook all terrains, firmer ride but I think it’s better than mushy. Check out how your tires wear, too little psi, edges will wear faster, too much, the center will.

 

[AzScorpion]

To me 30 psi seems like not enough for a pickup, even a small one. I’m running 16” rims with the stock Bridgestone duelers and I think the flimsy tires have something to do with it. I changed the stock rims with some nice aftermarket ones and mounted the tires myself, these factory tires are super thin. Not a fan, getting BFG K02’s ASAP

Edit: by the way I found 38-40 psi to be my happy place

I've been running 38 psi and have been happy with that too. I'm changing out my tires this week to the Nitto Ridge Grapplers but leaving the stock sport wheels for now.

 

[Noseoil]

Haven't played around with tire pressures yet, but I'm wondering about wheel base & the ride "feel" on the Ranger. After looking at the different models of Ford, Chevy/GMC, Toyota & Nissan, it seems the Ranger has the shortest wheel base of the bunch.

Granted, an inch or two isn't much (1% shorter) but I'm thinking the combination of a shorter wheelbase, much stiffer frame than others in the class & a heavier payload rating (spring rates) may all combine to make for a completely different ride & feel. I guess that's where the cheap tires come into play more with air pressure & ride quality. It ain't a car, it's a truck!

 

[JoedOH]

I’ve noticed/ been yelled at by our tire shop that 10k is too long of an interval for tire rotation with truck/all terrain/mud tires. They have told me 5k is good and as a general rule, the more space between tread blocks, the shorter the interval. Regardless of how you drive you will get cupping and at a certain point it’s hard for the tire to recover. Find out if they rebalanced when rotated, with bigger tires with more tread, uneven wear can happen quickly and unbalance even a brand new tire. If they didn’t, rebalancing the tires may help.

I was told the same thing about rotating the tires every 5k. I've adhered to that for 10 years now and was wondering if I should have the Ranger rotated every 5k. I will probably stay with that recommended 5k.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

I’ve noticed/ been yelled at by our tire shop that 10k is too long of an interval for tire rotation with truck/all terrain/mud tires. They have told me 5k is good and as a general rule, the more space between tread blocks, the shorter the interval. Regardless of how you drive you will get cupping and at a certain point it’s hard for the tire to recover. Find out if they rebalanced when rotated, with bigger tires with more tread, uneven wear can happen quickly and unbalance even a brand new tire. If they didn’t, rebalancing the tires may help.

I actually have noticed since posting that, that the ride has gotten better. Not that it was terrible in the first place, but after a couple hundred miles they've smoothed out again.

I'm always a bit cautious of a shop telling me I need to come in more often or that I need to change this out sooner than I should. I'm not an expert on vehicles by any means, but I'm certainly not an idiot either, and when the place I give money to says I need to come in more often to give them more money, I'm not always on board. I'm definitely going to take good care of my truck, but that doesn't necessarily mean being over cautious on things. I'm not saying they aren't wrong or that you are either, but I just take it with a grain of salt is all. Multiple different shops have tried to con me on things before, so I've learned to just look into things before going along with it.

That being said, this is something I'll look into and keep an eye on though. Thanks!

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