Symptoms:

When driving my 97 Dodge Pickup truck in the highway and when you hit the bumps, this truck would hop uncontrollably until the truck stops. I sent the truck for a front-end alignment job and the garage found that all the front-end parts are tight and within limits. What could be causing this? Your suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Tire Problem Advisor:

As usual, your best approach in fixing this problem is to rotate the tires and see if the hopping will follow. Example, if the front tires are put at the back and vice versa and the hopping move to the back, and then we can conclude that the problem is indeed the tires.

Most of the times, if the tire has an unbalanced weight, that would cause it to hop. This is why it has to be dynamically balanced to assure there is no uneven run out in the treads of the tires.

When replacing tires, make sure the new ones matches or exceeds the tire speed ratings of the original tires as described in your owner’s manual or at the sticker located at your glove box and driver side door.

Notes:

When in doubt, bring your vehicle to authorized Dodge dealer shop.

Above repair is only a recommendation and you do this at your own risk. Always have your vehicle align after replacing the tires to prevent repetition of the tire problem.