Alan L.
Elite Member
After replacing the tires on my wife's GMC Yukon XL to Michelin LTX 275/70/16, and driving it about 2000 miles on vacation was SO impressed with the ride, quietness, and overall drive of these new tires, that I put a set of the same tires 255/70/16 on my 2003 GMC Sierra extended cab 2WD pickup. All the reviews I read for use in this vehicle were nothing short of excellent.
The truck originally came with General Ameritrac tires and made it 42K miles. I thought they drove fine the whole way also.
After putting the new tires on, the truck now seems a little squirrelly in the front end, makes sort of a roaring noise (sounds like its coming from the back), and seems to have a much harsher ride than before. Whereas on the Yukon, everything about the drive was better after putting these tires on there.
This is an expensive tire. Usually, when I have had a tire problem it has been a vibration, or sometimes pulling one way or the other. In this case, I don't detect a particular vibration, just a noise, but it just doesn't feel confortable to drive like it did before. Doesn't pull, but the steering seems to always need correction of some sort, mostly on more uneven roadways.
The front end alignment has never been checked, but the old tires wore evenly, and the steering wheel is lined up when going straight ahead.
I got the tires at Discount Tire of Texas ($645 out the door with tax compared to >$700 for NTB). I plan to go back and try to explain the problem, which is fairly difficult because it is vague, and mostly a comparison to how it drove before.
One thing I did notice after I started looking the tires over. The right rear tire has 3 weights on it, taking up about 6" of the rim! That tire musta been a real problem to balance, as I have never seen that much weight needed to balance a tire. Seems like if I was balancing that tire I would have turned it on the rim to see if I could use less weight to balance it. I might request they try to move and rebalance that one at least.
Anyone else had a similar experience with vague tire problems?
The truck originally came with General Ameritrac tires and made it 42K miles. I thought they drove fine the whole way also.
After putting the new tires on, the truck now seems a little squirrelly in the front end, makes sort of a roaring noise (sounds like its coming from the back), and seems to have a much harsher ride than before. Whereas on the Yukon, everything about the drive was better after putting these tires on there.
This is an expensive tire. Usually, when I have had a tire problem it has been a vibration, or sometimes pulling one way or the other. In this case, I don't detect a particular vibration, just a noise, but it just doesn't feel confortable to drive like it did before. Doesn't pull, but the steering seems to always need correction of some sort, mostly on more uneven roadways.
The front end alignment has never been checked, but the old tires wore evenly, and the steering wheel is lined up when going straight ahead.
I got the tires at Discount Tire of Texas ($645 out the door with tax compared to >$700 for NTB). I plan to go back and try to explain the problem, which is fairly difficult because it is vague, and mostly a comparison to how it drove before.
One thing I did notice after I started looking the tires over. The right rear tire has 3 weights on it, taking up about 6" of the rim! That tire musta been a real problem to balance, as I have never seen that much weight needed to balance a tire. Seems like if I was balancing that tire I would have turned it on the rim to see if I could use less weight to balance it. I might request they try to move and rebalance that one at least.
Anyone else had a similar experience with vague tire problems?