All set to buy a Tundra BUT this is my first pickup... was great for size power and handling BUT when I went on the highway I could feel
*every* tiny bump on the pavement... I am assuming this is just a pickup - I drove three different ones at the dealers (used) and they all were like this.. all empty so I figured they are just sprung tight to accomodate the loads...
1) Is this just the way pickup are or
2) Does anything like adding alittle weight in the back or topper help at all...
I was really set on this but now I can't see getting it... certainly not the "car like" ride I had read about...
Any help or experience would be great...
btw, I loved it on dirt roads just wouldn't want to drive far on highways... this seems so different from what others have written - maybe just cause hadn't drive pickups before...
Remember, this is a TRUCK, not a sedan. I certainly wouldn't expect a car-like ride. I would expect a cushy ride from an SUV that's really more of an overgrown family car, but from a pickup, I'd expect it to ride more like a truck, which is what it is.
I have a 2003 Tundra. Most of the local roads are fine - in fact, some of them are downright glassy - but there are stretches of concrete highway that are _very_ rough: e.g., the 101, both directions, through Oxnard and Camarillo. (Asphalt roads tend to be smoother than concrete because they don't have expansion joints between the slabs.)
Weight in the bed helps with the ride, but remember this is _not_ a Lexus; it's a pickup truck. Most of the time you won't notice the difference though.
All pickups are going to ride hard when empty - if they make the springs soft enough for a cushy ride when empty, all your cargo load carrying capacity just went away.
Try test-driving the truck again - but this time ask the dealer if you can have the afternoon for your test. Go by the local home center, buy 500 pounds of bagged play sand or decorative gravel (and a tarp so you don't scratch up the bed) and load it in the back of the truck (60% in front of the axle)...
Now that you have some weight back there to mellow out the ride, do your serious test driving as you haul it home. You will find that a little weight in the back makes a world of difference.
For an empty truck, you can try lowering the rear tire air pressure a lot (~10 to 15 PSI) to help the ride - just remember to air back up before you throw a big load in the bed, or you'll overheat and blow the tires.
They could reach a happy compromise on trucks by using an air-suspension system that can be tailored for a good ride at any load, but that would add several thousand dollars to the cost of the truck - and add a lot more maintenance over the years. (New airbags every 10 to 15 years, new leveling valves, rebuilding air compressors and solenoid valves...) Just ask the people who own older Lincoln TownCars and Cadillacs with the air suspension.
Lack of experience in trucks is probably most of it, but the roads you're driving on themselves can be a big part of the problem. Some sections of the Concrete freeways here in Southern California are up to 50 years old (like I-5 through Los Angeles County) and haven't been touched since they were built, and the "Slab Slap" is severe.
They go through now and replace the cracked slabs and level everything out with a pavement grinder (like a road grader but with a diamond-wheel grinding drum instead of a blade) and file off the high spots, and then it rides like glass.
Some of the asphalt roads are just as bad - because all they did was pave a layer of new asphalt right over the top of the cracked and wavy old concrete roadway underneath. Give it a few years, and the asphalt cold-flows and here comes the Slap & Bang again. They need to peel the asphalt off stretches like the US-101 through the San Fernando Valley and fix the slabs underneath...
Though I suppose it could always be worse - we could have to deal with road salt and frost heaves... ;-P
thanks, yes.. the several I test drove were all empty and you could feel every blip in the road, particularly on the highway... way lots more than my Jeep Cherokee with not so great tires...
I can only imagine though that an extra 500 lbs in the back is going to tank (no pun intended) the MPG...
Still going to look into the double cabs when they come out...
Recommended tire pressures on my 2003 is 26psi front and 29psi rear. I'm assuming that's to help the ride, but I'm running 36psi all around to help the fuel mileage and tire life. The truck also handles better with additional pressure. You just may not be the type of person to drive a pickup. I've had several, and the Tundra is far and away the best riding, best handling, and quietest pickup I've ever owned. I'm absolutely delighted to be able to have a nice CD playing and carry on a conversation in a normal tone of voice at 75mph :0)
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