Car Wobbles as Low Speed

I have a 2005 Ford Expedition. About a month and a half ago I noticed a sudden back and forth wobble when driving under 20ish mph, but the steering wheel didn’t move back and forth. It was the whole truck. Sometimes there was also an up and down bounce with it.

I have Les Schwab tires and took it in yesterday for a rotation and told them about the wobble. Turns out the tread was separating on one of the tires. Wow, just wow. That’s scary AF because I drive Hwy 50 and I-5 in Sacramento every day to work. I see road gators all over the road from 18-wheelers, but they have the other 17 wheels holding them up. I can’t imagine a tire disintegrating on a passenger vehicle at freeway speeds.

In hindsight, here’s a timeline of what went down.

• 2010, got two new tires from Les Schwab. Unbeknownst to me they snuck in siping. Siping is basically cutting into the rubber of the tire to “create more traction”. Not only that, they also siped the two other tires on my truck. We’re talking cutting into tires that already had wear on them. WTF? I was pissed and I called up the manager to complain.
• The new tires had a 60,000 mile rating.
• In 2013 I replaced the other two tires and this time told them NOT to sipe them.
• So now it’s 2018 and I had put 68,000 miles on those 2010 tires, but there was 27% tread left on them, according to the tire tech. So then why was the tread coming apart? Siping?
• Prior to putting the new tires on yesterday, the tech showed me the charges. There is was again, siping. And once again, as in 2013, I called him out on it up front… DO NOT SIPE THOSE TIRES.
• Now I have four tires with no siping and I’m going to conduct an experiment.

After I got those 2010 tires, the handling of the truck was horrible. I had to really concentrate on keeping it between the lines because it felt like driving Jello-o on wet ice. Plus, the tires were noisy, but when I removed my foot from the gas, the noise stopped. The original tires didn’t do that. Also, for months now, I noticed now bumpy the ride was on surface streets, like I was 4-wheeling or something. I thought it was bad shocks, but the tire guy said my shocks/struts are in great condition.

Now that I have no siping, I’m eager to drive to work tomorrow (not really) to check out the ride and the noise. Hopefully both problems will be gone.

Tire manufacturers already design the treads for traction so why would anyone alter the structure and integrity of brand new out of the box tires by slicing them up with little cuts? Could the $7/tire siping charge add up to massive profits, not to mention the sale of new tires when the old siped tires fall apart? In all honesty I must say, Les Schwab has the bomb-ass popcorn.

I found an interesting article that resonates my thoughts. Why Aftermarket Siping On Your New Tires Is Bullshit