BF Goodrich all terrain tires for towing

[madeforeachother]

I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500HD and have been running 285/70r 17 inch load e all terrain tires for 25 years on past and present tow vehicles with no issues. The last time I replaced the tires was 2013 and needed a new set in 2018. The problem is BF Goodrich changed the style of the tire in 2014/2015 to KO2 and when I had them installed I witnessed a big change in the truck handling with swaying being the problem and I feel like I have no control driving. I have lowered the tire pressure and that helped a little but still am not comfortable towing like I was before the new tires were installed. Has anyone experienced this problem with any tire design change and what was your solution other than getting different tires? Thanks for any input.

[AZ Traveler]

Madeforeachother,

Recommend getting your alignment and suspension checked before replacing the tires again.

[mlh]

Lowering the press is the wrong way to go. Inflate them to 80 pounds. It might be they are a more aggressive tire for more off road and they are not going to handle as good.
Lynwood

[BuilderBob]

Like Lynwood said inflate the back up the new BF Goodrich tire have a softer side wall then the older ones to make them smother probable wasn't a good thing but a lot of those city people wan't that good ride even tho they are driving 3/4 or 1 ton truck!

[Montana Man]

BFG advertises these to have 20% tougher sidewall. One would think that would help with stability... I would verify that the new tires are the E rated version of this size.

[madeforeachother]

Everything was fine towing our 2016 3711fl until I got the new tires installed. I am one of those guys who maintains all his stuff and the '03 Dodge has been taken for a new truck by people and it has 320,000 miles on it. I know it's not an alignment or suspension issue. It has to be the tires. Back in 2013 my tire supplier could not get the BF Goodrich in time before my trip to Gatlinburg,Tn., but he had Goodyear Tracker tires in stock. I agreed to try them and they were simular to the new BF Goodrich KO2 with the off road beefy sidewall look. I had the same issue with those tires and the supplier took them back and got me the BF Goodrich KO's which worked fine. I will probably have to keep my present tires but will not get them again. Why do they always have to change something that works!

[dlleno]

This isn't an exact fit to your issue but may be interesting to you. I put 285 bfg ko tires on my 04 ram when it was new and they were beautiful at the time. When it came time for tires, the bfgs didn't have a load rage e ko, so I switched to toyo open country ATs. Beautiful again. The next set of toyos I got siped and that was ugly. I mean traction was great but the wandering was horrible. I'm on my third set of toyos (no siping) and back to beautiful.

Haven't towed regularly but did haul 15000 utility trailer occasionally.

The moral of the story is that it isn't all about the sidewall and even when the say "tougher" they could mean "against rocks when off-road", as opposed to highway towing performance. tread pattern and the rubber compound will have a substantial impact on drivsbility and maybe the new bfgs are just not cutting it.