Truck tire mileage

I have a bone-stock 2013 Ford F150 Ecoboost and get surprisingly poor life from the tires. It's at 95k and just got the fourth set... Stock ride height, OEM size, typical brands.

The fronts wear more towards the outsides regardless how much air is in them (up to 40psi), and the rears wear more evenly but about as fast. It's just a truck, not a track car, rarely fully loaded, so the wear seems high to me.

I guess what I'm asking is, is this normal because of its weight?

FWIW, the fourth set is Dunlap with a claimed 70k (prorated) guarantee. If these last like the others (32k/ set) it may pay off.

40 psi sounds low to me. 

Are you running LT truck tires? 

Seconded. I ran 70 up front in my Tundra and my Ram 2500 calls for 60. 

A stock modern F-150 will generally have fairly high load rating P metric tires, not LTs.  So 40 PSI is probably in the right ballpark. 

I've found a lot of trucks / SUVs eat the outsides of the front tires without adding more camber and possibly toeing them out a hair from stock unless you drive like an absolute grandma and never turn about 10 mph. 

My boss used to have a first gen Tundra that ate tires. I used to have a first gen Tundra that didn’t. The difference was LT tires and about 30 psi. 

I think it’s from attempts to make trucks feel like Camrys. Do it with suspension, not tires. Works much better. Both he and I are now on Fox truck shocks. 

LTs will usually be a bit more expensive though (and may or may not be an option in the stock size).  They get their extra life in 2 ways: deeper tread, so you have to wear down more tire before it's used up as well as harder (less grippy) tread compound, which may or may not be appreciated. 

If they last longer, the extra cost is not really a factor! I know Bill’s tires lasted less than half as long as my Michelin’s, and they sure didn’t cost half as much. I’d be amazed if you couldn’t get LT tires in the stock size for the most popular vehicle in the country, but I suppose it’s possible. 

For my use case, harder rubber isn’t a factor but that certainly could be a concern. 

Sounds more like (no offense) your tire choices are on the softer side.  Get some real AS or HT tires in an LT load range C and you'll likely not need to change them before the truck goes belly-up.

OEM tires are often really soft to give good grip and (while they are capable of the GVW) P-metric for a smoother ride.  Feels great during a test drive, but they wear out quick.  The Kumhos that came on my friend's new Sonata lasted 14k until they were just bloody bald.

But to your point, I have never known F150s to have specific tire wear problems except for 4x4s tending to cup the tread... but that's not Ford's fault.  All 4x4s tend to do that.

Toyman01 said:

40 psi sounds low to me. 

Are you running LT truck tires? 

This.  Heck, I ran 42 to 45 psi in the Generals on my minivan.  Kept it from munching the outside edge.  My truck runs a tall tire, but anything less than 50 psi I would consider "flat."

Tire wear has a lot to do with driving style.  Are you getting it sideways a lot?

And I hate Dunlop tires, based on experience.  But that's probably not the whole problem. 

Curtis said:

OEM tires are often really soft to give good grip and (while they are capable of the GVW) P-metric for a smoother ride.  Feels great during a test drive, but they wear out quick.  The Kumhos that came on my friend's new Sonata lasted 14k until they were just bloody bald.

QFT. My boss just put a set of tires on a 20k mile Civic that he drives like....ah...he gets the highest MPG of anyone I know....

Wow, I get ~50k with Wranglers on a C-1500.  I run 35 or so psi., sounds awful low now!

The original Generals we had on the truck lasted about 35k before they were so hard they couldn't grip 80* concrete. Hated those tires with a passion. Went to a set of Kumho KL51's (IIRC). We put 45k on those. They had the same problem, aged out. Still had tread, but had no grip on any surface. Likely the hot to cold cycles we get here. I rotate tires EVERY oil change which is about 9k miles. It does wear the front edges more, but that is to be expected. We're at 110k and about  25k miles into a set of Firestone Destination tires. These look new. Again, rotate every oil change. I check alignment every year. Still within specs. 

As for air pressure, I run around 38 f/r unless towing/hauling crap. Then I'll bump them to 45f/50r.

Edit: All the tires we've had on it were P-series tires. All have been 108S or T tires. 

I've got about 70k out of two sets of Goodyear Wranglers (OEMs) on the Suburban. First made it to 74k second set to 141k, probably could have got another thousand but one tire picked up something and it was almost time for new anyway. Seem to ride well, quiet and I keep them around 35 pounds.

Some of you people would benefit from reading Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and follow the example he set in inflating the tires on a particular Cadillac to 75 psi in order to reap the benefits of improved handling. 

That is crazy that you're going through tires that quick.  I'd recommend looking to see if the Bridgestone Dueller AT RH-S comes in a size that fits your truck.  I've gone through three sets of these on my Silverado, getting 80K minimum out of each set.  They have great snow, wet, and dry traction, aren't loud, and really aren't all that expensive.  I've gotten each set for around $800 mounted near Black Friday.

If you do get a set, make sure you religiously rotate the tires every 6K.  I didn't do this with my first set and got right at 80K out of them.  The current set I was very careful about the rotations and I'm at 88K and have 5/32's left.

Curtis said:

Sounds more like (no offense) your tire choices are on the softer side.  Get some real AS or HT tires in an LT load range C and you'll likely not need to change them before the truck goes belly-up.

OEM tires are often really soft to give good grip and (while they are capable of the GVW) P-metric for a smoother ride.  Feels great during a test drive, but they wear out quick.  The Kumhos that came on my friend's new Sonata lasted 14k until they were just bloody bald.

But to your point, I have never known F150s to have specific tire wear problems except for 4x4s tending to cup the tread... but that's not Ford's fault.  All 4x4s tend to do that.

My last 4x4, a 1997 Chevy 1/2t went 371,000+ miles averaging 65,000+ miles a set.  Original shocks ball joints etc. 

My current 4x4 a  2017 Ford 1/2t  has 33,000 miles on it so far. Tread is less than 1/2 worn 

no cupping on any tires!  

On the Chevy I used Goodyear wranglers,  set at recommended tire pressures.  But I checked tire pressure every couple of weeks. 

Same with the Ford except I check pressures about every 6 weeks. 

Curtis said:

Sounds more like (no offense) your tire choices are on the softer side.  Get some real AS or HT tires in an LT load range C and you'll likely not need to change them before the truck goes belly-up.

OEM tires are often really soft to give good grip and (while they are capable of the GVW) P-metric for a smoother ride.  Feels great during a test drive, but they wear out quick.  The Kumhos that came on my friend's new Sonata lasted 14k until they were just bloody bald.

But to your point, I have never known F150s to have specific tire wear problems except for 4x4s tending to cup the tread... but that's not Ford's fault.  All 4x4s tend to do that.

Is there anything to do about the cupping? 

The snows that came on my ranger are cupped bad enough I'll be replacing them in the spring despite being from 2016 and having most of the tread left, and I'd like to keep to only one set every couple years.

My Sonoma chewed through uniroyal Laredo tires from Wal-Mart. I'd get 15-20k miles with a 60k warranty. They actually quit pro rating them for me on the third set. Of course it also went through tie rod ends and ball joints on a damn near weekly basis. 

Cupping can be reduced by keeping GOOD shocks on the truck.  A lot of trucks are somewhat underdamped from the factory and people usually let the shocks get pretty bad before replacing them.  And they often get replaced with cheap crap.  Underdamped suspension with lots of unsprung weight will tend to cup tires.  

RevRico said:

My Sonoma chewed through uniroyal Laredo tires from Wal-Mart. I'd get 15-20k miles with a 60k warranty. 

Holy smoke!. I ran those on a E250 and got 90-100K miles out of them. That was a E range tire running 80 pounds of air. 

I got 90k out of my goodyear wranglers from walmart. Technically they have even more since i gave a pair to my dad that hes run for 2 more years so far

rslifkin said:

Cupping can be reduced by keeping GOOD shocks on the truck.  A lot of trucks are somewhat underdamped from the factory and people usually let the shocks get pretty bad before replacing them.  And they often get replaced with cheap crap.  Underdamped suspension with lots of unsprung weight will tend to cup tires.  

Another vote from me for Foxes. I know I mentioned them once already in this thread, but a set of Foxes on my 80k Dodge 2500 made it ride much better and got rid of that floppy underdamped behavior it's had since new. They're not that expensive, either. Not by sports car suspension standards anyhow!

I do see more wear on my rear tires than my fronts, but that's probably because the majority of my mileage is with a two-car trailer. Even at 70 psi (factory spec when loaded), I get shoulder wear back there. Just have to rotate the tires more often.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

That reminds me. I replaced the stock factory crap delcos with some Bilsteins. The ride is much improved. The truck had a weird shudder on certain sized bumps from new that went away with the Billies. If you're running a GMT800 2wd, I highly recommend them. 

I find Bilsteins often have a high frequency behavior I don't like much - I call it the Bilstein Jiggle. This is mostly from Miatas and it should be related to the valving chosen for a specific application, but I put a set on my wife's 2000 Grand Cherokee and it has the jiggle. After riding in the Dodge and the XJ with Foxes, my wife has requested her Bilsteins be replaced with Fox. Because of that, I never considered them for the big boy. May not have been the best choice, but that was my reasoning. I know that shudder you're talking about, the Dodge had it too.

A few years ago, Ford had a truck ad where the truck came to a stop in front of the logo or something. The poor thing floundered around on its underdamped shocks. I figured it showed how the ad guys weren't car guys, because what it told me is that the truck needed a set of shocks from the factory floor.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I know the commercial you speak of! Some of the GMT800's had the Bilsteins stock, mine did not. the stock delco's that were on it (blue) were literally HALF the diameter (both piston and tube) of the replacements from Biltstein. They are, without a doubt, the best upgrade I made. Towing especially. The rear doesn't do the squatty-dance if you don't get the car perfectly placed on the trailer.