trose93401

I just bought a 2004 F-150 SuperCrew with 41K miles. I know this will sound stupid, but I was only able to test drive it to a max speed of about 55-60. It was so smooth during the test drive...bought it. It was about 1 week til I was able to get it registered and on the highway. Once I got it on the highway, problems started. Right around 60, there is vibration from the tires/wheels until it gets to about 70-75...then not so bad. Other than that...I love the truck. I thought the tires needed balancing and when I brought it in, they said they were balanced. They told me that the tires were "feathered" but that it didn't make sense to them since the suspension and alignment were in great shape. I suspect the seller threw tires from another truck on there. The tire shop told me that if I rotated my tires every 5K, it would be gone by 10K. I do not want to wait that long - I just got this truck, love it, but the tires **** me off.

I swapped the fronts/backs and it seems to have slightly worsened the vibraion (in the rear-end).

Any suggestions on how to fix this (other than replacing tires)?

Any idea whether I can cause future problems to my alignment, suspension, etc with the slightly feathered tires?

wde3477

Welcome to the site!

I suggest that the tires are the effect and not the cause.

If rotating tires makes the vibration shift from front to back, it's a balance issue. Are the wheels true?

"They said it was balanced" - did they actually check, or just tell you? If the tires are wearing unevenly, the balance is affected accordingly and will change as the tires wear.

If the tires are significantly feathered - it's an alignment issue in addition to the balance problems.

Another possibility for vibration is out of true brake rotors.