GEN 2 Drive Quality Question - Vibrations

[GCATX]

How does the truck feel on a nice new asphalt road? Not concrete.

Long stretches of actual concrete road generally suck in any vehicle. Around here anyway.

 

[smurfslayer]

New to me raptor owner here (2018 with 40k miles) and had a question about the drive quality you experience with yours.

Took the truck for the test drive before I bought it and thought it rode great. Completed the purchase and headed home.

After driving it for a few days though the novelty has worn off quickly. The ride quality does not seem that great, and when on the highway I'm feeling some vibrations in the steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and driver seat at speed - even when going slow around town.

The tires are the first place to start but vibes through the steering wheel and accelerator pedal and seat could mean more.

Took it to get road force balanced, aligned, and rotated the other day and that seemed to help a bit, but I think the (now rear) tires are already cupped and may need replacing.

Did you check the tire pressure when you test drove it?

The larger bumps and ruts the truck handles like a champ, but the ride quality of vibrations into the cabin is not something I expected in a Raptor on all types of road.

at 75-80 mph, on pavement of average quality you should be able to have a full cup of coffee in the cup holders and it won’t vibrate out or spill.

I've owned F150's before and never had a thought like I do now.

that’s helpful, because a lot of Gen2 buyers in the first year were trying to replace their lexusinfinityhyundaimercedesbmw suvs and were similarly ... nonplussed.
If you have had previous trucks, this legitimizes your concerns a bit more.

I have the BFG K02's. These seem relatively new - they have about 12/32" of tread depth left on them. That said, the front tires did have some pretty bad cupping along that inner edge.

if you have 40k on the truck with that much tread depth, chances are they’ve been replaced. KO2’s are notoriously difficult to balance. You’ve addressed that, but, it’s not unheard of to have out of round / run out in the KO2 line.

If you have cupping on the inner edge, check the wear between center of the tire and tire edge at each corner. It sounds like you didn’t have a good alignment on the truck before you just did it.

Also, as previous posters have opined, the placard pressure of 38PSI is fine when you’re hauling a half ton of cargo, but it’s not optimal with no cargo. People who have run 38PSI diligently have reported the center of the tires wearing out before the edges.

Issues like these can be nettlesome to troubleshoot. you need to have a glass smooth surface to compare the truck to another vehicle on, preferably a known, good one.

Have you inspected the truck for crash damage?

 

[GordoJay]

Picture attached of what kind of concrete I'm referring too. The kind with patches that they set at a time.
View attachment 153895

That kind of interstate is very sensitive to build quality. Each patch of concrete has to be flat relative to the next or you can get terrible vibration and even a jackhammer feeling. I drove to the state Washington and back, and then to Tooele through SLC with no problems on concrete interstate other than the section between Denver and here, which made my truck vibrate all over the road. But Colorado contractors are known for shoddy workmanship. I've heard that both from a guy who works for one and from my BIL's brother who works for the Federal highway department. And I hear it from my ride every time I drive that road ... so my question is whether it's one specific section of road that gives you problems or whether it's all of them.

 

[Matthew Meier]

check your wheels, inside the rim behind the brakes. I did some off road stuff a few weeks ago and the ride at highway speed was pretty crappy the next week or 2.

Not untill i did a complete wash and got in there with a pressure washer multiple times did i notice a lot of caked on mud in the inner rim. Throwing off my balance.

Hopefully, they didn't due your road force balance when the rims were dirty. As the rims get clean, it would make it out of balance again.

just some things to check.

also...it is a truck....supposed to have a little roughness

I'll be sure to check on the inside. The thing is clean as can be and was power-washed when I got it, but you never know!

A little roughness is fine, full vibrations throughout the cab....not so much.

 

[Matthew Meier]

I have a 2018 with 40,000. I rotate every 8000 mi. I started to hear my tires at highway speeds at 27,000 mi, so i replaced them and sold the old tires to a Gen 1 owner that needed an extra swap tire set. Maybe you are feeling the cupping???

I REALLY agree with your assessment. I'm starting to suspect that inner edge cupping is the culprit. Can't say for sure without a size-able investment...and would hate to go through that with the amount of tread left and still have an issue.

When I know more (and eventually I'll get new tread) I'll loop back and let you know if you're right!

 

[Matthew Meier]

The tires are the first place to start but vibes through the steering wheel and accelerator pedal and seat could mean more.



Did you check the tire pressure when you test drove it?



at 75-80 mph, on pavement of average quality you should be able to have a full cup of coffee in the cup holders and it won’t vibrate out or spill.



that’s helpful, because a lot of Gen2 buyers in the first year were trying to replace their lexusinfinityhyundaimercedesbmw suvs and were similarly ... nonplussed.
If you have had previous trucks, this legitimizes your concerns a bit more.



if you have 40k on the truck with that much tread depth, chances are they’ve been replaced. KO2’s are notoriously difficult to balance. You’ve addressed that, but, it’s not unheard of to have out of round / run out in the KO2 line.

If you have cupping on the inner edge, check the wear between center of the tire and tire edge at each corner. It sounds like you didn’t have a good alignment on the truck before you just did it.

Also, as previous posters have opined, the placard pressure of 38PSI is fine when you’re hauling a half ton of cargo, but it’s not optimal with no cargo. People who have run 38PSI diligently have reported the center of the tires wearing out before the edges.

Issues like these can be nettlesome to troubleshoot. you need to have a glass smooth surface to compare the truck to another vehicle on, preferably a known, good one.

Have you inspected the truck for crash damage?

First off, thank you for taking the time for such a great write-up. Really appreciate it!

Tire pressure at test drive was 38 all around. Dealership was going off the door placard.

I love the rough and tumble of a truck, but the constant vibration is definitely something more.

The alignment wasn't TOO bad, but it was pretty off on the passenger front side. I'll upload a picture of the before and after. I think that and the lack of balance was the main culprit to the bad ride quality (gotten a little better on most roads).

I'm running 35/34 F/R now and it does seem to help. Warms up quickly though and before I know it it's 38/37 on the highway.

No crash damage, straight as an arrow frame. Very nettlesome indeed. In terms of troubleshooting, the tires and first and suspension next - neither a cheap option. Taking it to 4 Wheel Parts for a full suspension inspection to see if we can exonerate bushings and the rest. Not too much technically going on in the rear though which is where I feel most of the vibration stemming from - hence me going back to thinking it's the tires - though the vibrations happened there before moving the cupped tires to the back.

Thanks for the help. As I know more I'll definitely update!

Best,
digitalarchitect

 

[Matthew Meier]

That kind of interstate is very sensitive to build quality. Each patch of concrete has to be flat relative to the next or you can get terrible vibration and even a jackhammer feeling. I drove to the state Washington and back, and then to Tooele through SLC with no problems on concrete interstate other than the section between Denver and here, which made my truck vibrate all over the road. But Colorado contractors are known for shoddy workmanship. I've heard that both from a guy who works for one and from my BIL's brother who works for the Federal highway department. And I hear it from my ride every time I drive that road ... so my question is whether it's one specific section of road that gives you problems or whether it's all of them.

I-15 north to south here in Salt Lake City. I haven't tested other patches of highway, but even on I15 there are some patches where the vibrations stop, and then pick up again when it goes back to the picture above. Interested how the road can exacerbate this issue so much!

-DA

 

[wheelman55]

If you are feeling a mild vibration, it could be normal. If your Raptor was driven hard on/off road you could have worn suspension parts, including the tires and shocks. I’ve also had bad wheel bearings cause vibration.

I feel the road surface in the steering wheel in my Raptor. On pristine asphalt all is smooth. I felt the same in all of my Volvo vehicles. I’ve rented many vehicles for work. The Japanese cars drive smooth on nearly all surfaces.

The vibration used to concern me on the Volvo’s and I went through multiple balances. The Volvo’s use hub centric rings between wheel and hub. When those are missing the vibrations go way up. Raptor does not use these rings.

If SLC still allows studded snow tires, that’ll mess up any road surface.

So if the vibration is slight, it might be normal.

On the Raptor I use balance beads with great success. I use the “Checkered Flag” brand out of AZ, six ounces per tire. Like many of us, I use a 4 PSI difference front to back. Try 36 front, 32 rear. I run 32/28 much of the time. I’ll increase to 36 or sometimes 40 all around when towing a “heavy tongue weight for Raptor” trailer.

Best of luck!

 

[GordoJay]

I-15 north to south here in Salt Lake City. I haven't tested other patches of highway, but even on I15 there are some patches where the vibrations stop, and then pick up again when it goes back to the picture above. Interested how the road can exacerbate this issue so much!

I went east to west on I-80 through SLC. But I had 1,000lb of load in addition to myself and a nearly full tank of gas, so that might have smoothed things out. I think it must have on the section up to Denver. I don't recall being embarrassed about my fancy new truck in front of my hiking buddy. With that much load, I went with 38 all around. I'm running 36/34 right now but haven't had a chance(been forced) to drive up to Denver lately.

 

[codeman]

I have a brand new 2020 and just put the 1st 1,000 on her. I'm finding the same roughness. I dropped my tires down to 35/33 PSI front/rear and it helped noticeably versus the 38/38 from the dealer. However, it still feels like I can feel "chunkiness" in the tires, and stepping hard on the accelerator I feel like almost the tire is a bit out of round or like it runs over a flat spot in one of the tires or something.

Is this normal? Also feel a noticeable suspension adjustment when reversing, and what also seems like the rear of the truck leans to the left a bit.