New F450 with 22.5" wheels... Bad Ride!
 

I bought a 2012 F450 with 22.5" Wheels with adapters and stock suspension. The ride is very harsh compared to what I thought it should be and have asked around at local shops and they pretty much told me that was the deal with the 22.5" wheel and tires. According to the local shops even a suspension upgrade won't make much difference. I love the look of the truck so what can I do?

Get rid of the big heavy rubber , they last forever but hard as hell .

All of the un-sprung weight is killing the ride. There is not much you can do with that equipment. Those adapters, tires, and wheels are extremely heavy. Have you taken one off yet? Damn near impossible to re-install without a dolly; especially the rears. I have not looked at a late model dually front end lately, but most trucks run a bolt-on adapter on the front hub assembly to push the wheel mounting point outward for the dually wheels. Then you have the 22.5" 10-bolt adapters bolted to them. You are probably bouncing 200 lbs. on the pavement on the front corners, and 350 lbs. on the back corners.

You could invest in high dollar shocks, external reservoir and adjustable. There have been discussions on best shocks for HD trucks here on OSO in the past; do a search.
You could run less air pressure in the tires.
You could invest in 22.5" direct bolt on wheels from www.americanforcewheels.com , This will reduce the un-sprung weight in the wheel/tire assembly.

I am running 19.5" wheels/tires, direct bolt on from American Force; with G-rated tires. I have a much older truck with more rudimentary suspension and I am OK with the ride. Empty, it rides worse than stock. Towing, it rides better than stock. I have them aired to only E-rated tires pressures though, 65 in front, and 60 in the rears. I could have abnormal wear issues, but I pay attention to my setup, and am not worried about it with the limited use my truck gets.

Put them on eBay and/or Craigslist, and sell the whole lot. Offer to swap for stock setup. You will find a taker. Going back to stock wheels and upgrading to bigger tires will get you some of the filled wheel-well look back.

22.5" wheels/tires have been discussed on here many times, usually with not the greatest reviews for how we use our trucks; and especially if you do a lot of daily driving the truck sans a load. The newer trucks have better braking capabilities than the older trucks, but I GUARANTEE that you are not stopping as well (quickly) with that setup as you are with stock as well. Day-to-day--no big deal. Panic-stop or trying to control a towed load; or worse--loss of trailer brakes; look out ahead & hope you have a good train horn.

I've read that they can be machined down to 22" and then you can run light truck tires.

This is true. American Force does/sells this option as well.

Running an E-rated 22" all-terrain/offroad tire on a modified rim is not my idea of ideal, especially on a F-450 like the OP owns. I'd only consider this on a truck that was being slammed/modified for show.

Drop the air pressure to around 60 psi or even less if need be. Don't need 100+ for a pickup. Nice looking setup!

If you drop air pressure I am sure they will wear uneven and probably drift. I have noticed that the braking is very suspect without a load but I was coming from the last two trucks having air brakes and I virtually turned off my trailer brakes because they were almost unnecessary. I have a new Myco with EOH so I can stop fairly quick with those. I am having new oversized vented rotors and larger pads which cost an arm and a leg but I am like you... One emergency situation and it is WAY cheaper than a deductible.

I know I could have them machined down but honestly you could almost buy new wheels for what that costs and if I do that I can sell these to the next guy wheels, tires, and all. AM Force does have a similar 22" wheel that would bolt on to my adapters and run other tires but I was coming out of a F650 and a FL SportChassis so I like the big truck look. Just never satisfied I guess but who is in the HP Boating community.

You have to get rid of those adapters. The only people that get a really balanced ride WITH adapters also use the powder balancing systems because there is no feasible way to balance the adapters, tires, wheels, etc. all together off the truck.

As some one posted, its the tires not the tire size. Either machine yours down or buy some 22's with a good tire and you will be a happy camper. You won't be able to tell the difference in appearance as they are alost the same. However the 22 is not a big truck tire like the 22.5 and will ride great. It is the best of both worlds, you get that big truck look but with a good ride. I had a 2008 F450 that rode horrible with the factory 19.5's, I had to borrow Randy Scism's 2008 F450 with AF 24's and it rode incredible compared to mine.

I happen to run a tire shop and having been in the business for a while, I can tell you, without major mods to the suspension, the ride will not improve drastically almost regardless of what you do. Run either 19.5 direct bolt on, or run 20-24" american force direct bolt on. As has already been said, it's the unsprung weight that is and will continue to kill your ride. Air bags, remote reservoirs, and a few other tricks will help, but won't serve to get you back to stock quality.