Flat spots or irregular (out-of-round) tire wear is caused by bad shocks,
which don't dampen the spring oscillations.
> [Original Message]
> From: Davidson, Kevin <kevin.davidson@transcendata.com>
> To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
> Date: 9/27/01 12:25:05 PM
> Subject: DML: tire thump?
>
> Hey all.
>
> A couple years ago, I bought some new rubber for my dak. I opted
> for a set of Goodyear RFA Wranglers at all four corners, and I got
> a frontend alignment at the time also because of the tales I've heard
> about Dakotas eating their front tires. Well, after about a year,
> one (or both) of the fronts developed a pretty bad tire thump. I
> checked for knots/bulges in the tires, and couldn't see any. It got
> worse and worse, so I finally took it to the tire place where I bought
> them since they were still under a pro-rated warranty. The guy said
> "I've never seen a tire wear like this before." He said they were
> actually wearing out of round. I asked him if they were out of balance,
> and he said they weren't. He put two new fronts on, and the problem
> went away.
>
> That was a year ago. It's now developing the exact same tire thump.
> I checked, again, for knots or bulges, and I can't see any. I thought
> perhaps the first go'round was due to my extremely warped rotors at
> the time. I figured the tires were actually developing "flat spots"
> in sync with where the rotor was warped (think pulsing the brakes
> real hard, and sliding the tires slightly each time = flat spots). I
> eliminated the warped rotor issue, but the tires still developed this
> thumping again. It's getting bad enough that I'm leery of highway
driving,
> because I'm starting to feel the vibration in the steering wheel pretty
bad.
> It's also bad enough that I can hear the tire thump at speeds as low as
> 20 mph.
>
> I can only trust that the tire place properly balanced the wheels. I
> did see new weights on the wheels after both sets of new tires were
> installed, and the weights are still there from this last new set.
>
> Anyone have any ideas on this one? (besides anti-goodyear comments lol)
>
> thx
> kevin d.
> 97 cc V6 5sp 4x2
>
>
>
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