Better ride quality - 2WD mainly city driving

[John Lyman]

I know another thread - but I've looking through the past few days and see a lot about 4x4 but not as much on the 4x2. So my 2019 ranger is a stock XLT sport model. I mainly drive in the city with some limited off road (nothing major). I'm in need to replace the OEM tires so I'm starting there I was leaning toward Michelin Defender LTX M/S 255/65/R17. I have also been reading about rough country 2.5 level for the front end does that help with the ride quality? Any thing else - and thank you in advance.

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[jflogerzi]

Look at Eibach Suspension.

 

[rang19ca]

Also check out Fox 2.0.

 

[underwhelmed]

Bilsteins all around. 4600s for 2wd.

 

[Clank]

Typically spacer levels would make ride quality worse. But as others above have mentioned, swapping shocks does the trick. Many have done the rears only and have improvement.

 

[Frenchy]

For starters you are in a 2WD truck. I certainly hope you don't go Off-road with it. Also I suspect you do have the intentions to load the bed and tow from time to time. It is a truck after all.

Now understanding that you most likely plan to stay on the street I can say the tires you are thinking of are a nice set overall. I have driven on them in two other vehicles and they did well overall including with winter driving.

Another good choice would be the Firestone Destination LE3. It's another street tire that I feel would compare to the Michelin overall.

Since you are looking at replacing tires I would suggest going to 265/70-17. It is available with both tires and should fit with no modifications. Also with the extra sidewall it can help with the overall ride of the truck.

Now to suspension. Assuming the tires don't completely take care of the job this is where shocks come into play. Being that it is a street vehicle I would say go with Eibach or Bilstein. Both are good brands and I have experience with Bilstein 4600's from my Old Frontier. As for the leveling part..... I would not recommend doing such just because from time to time you will be loading the bed or towing and that will affect the stance.of the truck as well.


There is my input for you. I hope that helps out

 

[John Lyman]

Thank you so much

 

[Joeiconic]

I would start by just replacing the rear shocks. That alone will greatly improve your ride. Lots of threads you can read on that. And those Michelins are good tires and about as good as you can do for highway driving.

 

[qwerth]

Eibachs & global leaf pack

 

[Cinci36]

My Ranger is a 2wd xlt one that is a road queen, it will get mulch, antiques and gets washed every week. My wife complained so much about my truck being a vehicle for abortions. I replaced the shocks for eibach coilover 2.0 up front and eibach 2.0 in the back. Replaced the springs in back with the icon springs and left the extra helper spring out (all from stage 3 motorsport). That cured 50% of the issue. The last fix after many hours of research is Firestone Destination le3 (Michelin tire have a harder side wall from test and reviews and the Firestone tire was in the top 5 tires for mainly road use, they rated better than the Michelin by a little). For me road use 99% , the other 1% is the wife going off road as she misses the driveway.. The real test was driving 100 miles from the house and telling her I put new tires on the truck and tell me how the truck rides, she said she didn't notice anything for the last 100 miles, so she declared big bertha officially lost her titlte of abortion machine at that time.. cost 1500 for suspension, 1200 for tires best money i spent on the truck...

 

[John Lyman]

My Ranger is a 2wd xlt one that is a road queen, it will get mulch, antiques and gets washed every week. My wife complained so much about my truck being a vehicle for abortions. I replaced the shocks for eibach coilover 2.0 up front and eibach 2.0 in the back. Replaced the springs in back with the icon springs and left the extra helper spring out (all from stage 3 motorsport). That cured 50% of the issue. The last fix after many hours of research is Firestone Destination le3 (Michelin tire have a harder side wall from test and reviews and the Firestone tire was in the top 5 tires for mainly road use, they rated better than the Michelin by a little). For me road use 99% , the other 1% is the wife going off road as she misses the driveway.. The real test was driving 100 miles from the house and telling her I put new tires on the truck and tell me how the truck rides, she said she didn't notice anything for the last 100 miles, so she declared big bertha officially lost her titlte of abortion machine at that time.. cost 1500 for suspension, 1200 for tires best money i spent on the truck...

Did you stay with the 255/65R17 - really thinking of moving up to 265/70R17 tire size. My first item will be changing the tires as they need to be done this month. I will look at the shocks for later this year.

 

[Cinci36]

I got the 255/65R17, stock tire, this change alone made a huge difference, my tire guy explained vehicles made from 19 to 22 have tires designed for outside the US like Vietnam, China, Thailand, due to covid-19, manufacturers where scrambling for any parts they could get.. he said my tires where made for roads that where 90% not paved, this is why they were so hard and rode rough.. i had 3 Bridgestone of one model and 1 of another, tread was the same but sidewalls and compounds were different..

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