Tire wear?

Geo-TH,In · Nov 13, 2016

My Michelin p245/70/17 LTX are 70K tires with 88.5K miles. I replaced them because all the tires had wear in just the inside edge. Almost bald. Even had a cut. I replaced them and had the Tire Barn check the alignment. They said alignment is good. They showed me the print out.

I would rotated and balanced tires every other oil change, 6K.

So, why just wear on the inside? The rest of tread hadn't even worn down to the wear bars.

I figured I got 9 years out of these tires, 18k more miles than expected, winter is coming, and the last thing I want is to blow a tire when I'm pulling dump trailer which total will be about 8K#.

I asked the Tire Barn, So why just the inside of the tires? Reply don't know. What's your answer? Think if I upped the air pressure the middle would wear more and corner less?
Geo

David G · Nov 13, 2016

That sure looks like an alignment issue to me, add a little toe in.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 13, 2016

Print out shows toe +.10 on left and +.08 on right.

GordoSD · Nov 13, 2016

How often do you pull 8K? What load are you putting on your hitch? I think that is from the back end of your vehicle squatting. Get a load distributing hitch and good torsion bars on it.

Mike M · Nov 13, 2016

I have that issue on all my tires it seems. Alignment are always "in spec" well the problem is the specs have such a wide range and very few anymore know how to do alignments based off of tire wear patterns !
I also do a lot of cornering on and off hi way ramps so this may make mine worse ?

4wdtom · Nov 13, 2016

Maybe they aren't telling the truth? It looks like a toe-out problem, as in toe out not toe in.

john in la · Nov 13, 2016

Alignment is never perfect. To many variables.
Increasing the air pressure will only work if they were wearing on both edges.
If you are that worried about it take the tires off the rims at 45k and have them turned around.

David G · Nov 13, 2016

Which way is positive?

That looks like 1/8 toe in/out depending on point of reference.

ericlb · Nov 13, 2016

can also be a camber wear issue, [tires lean in at the top] older ford pickups were famous for that and mine does that too, have them check camber

David G · Nov 13, 2016

Agreed, could be camber issue, but shows up on both tires.

D beatty · Nov 13, 2016

I would find a good tire shop and forget who has been doing your tire rotation. They should have caught this before it got that far .

ray hofstetter · Nov 13, 2016

Maybe check the ball joints?

T in NE · Nov 13, 2016

You're worried about a little irregular wear after 80,000 miles on the tires??

onefarmer · Nov 13, 2016

Run your hand across the tread. If one way the edges of the treads catch and the other way is fairly smooth. It's a toe problem. If it is I would expect the "catch" going toward the worn edge.

jon f mn · Nov 13, 2016

Standard toe-in will cause that. You can eliminate that by going to less toe, but you will get wandering then. It's always a trade off for good driving vs tire wear. At 80k miles I would be happy.

robgIN · Nov 13, 2016

The geometry that the auto makers build into vehicles today is a lot different than it used to be. Very aggressive settings all geared towards handling at the expense of tire wear. Look at the knuckle/spindle design today vs the past. Look at the placement of balljoints and the angles they sit at. There are some really funky setups out there today . Most vehicles have a lot of negative camber , much more than in the past. Turn the wheel and notice how much camber changes in turns . It is a combination of many things but it reflects the industry's concentration on handling characteristics vs tire wear.

dcarp · Nov 13, 2016

At 88k miles, I would say thank you, put the new tires on and not change a thing.
If it ain't broke don't fix it!

Galen Houk · Nov 13, 2016

Is it a dually? I just bought my 2001 Ford dually and the tires looked like that. I am told that duallys are more likely to do that by nature. I don't know why. I was also told that if you take out the spacers on the front wheels and put on standard wheels, without the deep dish, the problem seems to go away.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 13, 2016

That's exactly what I did. Based on Tire Barns recommend, I didn't do a thing to the alignment.

John M · Nov 13, 2016

GM Truck right? Every GMC/Chevrolet truck Ive ever seen wears on the inside.

ditchwitch · Nov 13, 2016

Look at your bushings see if they are bad

Geo-TH,In · Nov 13, 2016

JohnT ,
Why, especially when the alignment is spot on? Can it have bad bushings, ball joints and alignment still be spot on?

I going to keep an eye on tire wear and play with air pressure if this starts to happen again.
geo

GordoSD · Nov 13, 2016

Regardless of the "correct alignment" Those wheels were not rolling vertically. They were "in" toward the center of the car at the top/ Not enough camber. Disregard the book specs and add 2 degrees of camber. Also run 2 lbs more air. And at 40 if you see that wear again flip the tire. Will you still have the vehicle 80K miles from now?

1206SWMO · Nov 13, 2016

I've never gotten over 50,000 miles out of any tires..I guess we drive too much on gravel roads..

Lazy WP · Nov 13, 2016

I have never gotten more than 20000 miles from any tire on a pickup. Dualies included.

Steve in VA · Nov 13, 2016

I agree with the camber assessment. The tire shop most likely looks simply at toe-in/toe-out. An out of spec camber would give you this kind of wear pattern.

Tom OConnor · Nov 13, 2016

Geo,

This is an interesting thread as I just went through the same thing but there was no unusual wear patterns. I have a 2004 Ford Expedition that just rolled over 100,000 miles and I took it in to the local Good Year dealer ( who also is a good friend ) and asked about a new set of tires as it had the original Continental tires on it. They looked it over and asked why do you want to change the tires? They measured the tread and they were all over 5/32 tread depth and said that they were 12/32 when new and they don't consider them worn out till they are less than 3/32. I said to put a new set on anyway and save the old ones for somebody that needs tires and can't afford a new set and give them to him. I have never had anything wear like that set of tires in my life.

John M · Nov 13, 2016

Beats me. My 13 is doing, my 08 did it. Our Enclave did it, my 98 did it, my wifes Lacrosse does it......I could go on.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 13, 2016

They gave me a printout. They measured caster, camber, and toe. I plan to have tire Barn measure tread before they rotate tires and see if all tires are the same or just one or both front.

Hobo,NC · Nov 13, 2016

(quoted from post at 03:22:33 11/14/16) Regardless of the "correct alignment" Those wheels were not rolling vertically. They were "in" toward the center of the car at the top/ Not enough camber. Disregard the book specs and add 2 degrees of camber. Also run 2 lbs more air. And at 40 if you see that wear again flip the tire. Will you still have the vehicle 80K miles from now?

Yes and Yes... IN every state roads are different the print out does not take that into consideration. A GOOD alignment man knows that and sets it up for the local roads. The print out is for numbers the more you can do the more money you can make to pay for a 50K alignment machine.

At 88K I would not loose any sleep over it.

504 · Nov 13, 2016

There are not many alignment people out there, there are a lot of people who know how to follow the directions on a computer screen. I doubt you will ever get that mileage from another set of tires,there are just too many things to wear out that change the settings. I am only getting about 50,000 on the steer tires on a tandem that is always on pavement.(and it has been aligned by a shop that knows what they are doing,twice)

jacksun65 · Nov 14, 2016

Were you sitting in the drivers seat when they did the alignment do you usually run with a full tank of gas? These things affect how your tires wear. I would say they look good for that amount of mileage.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 14, 2016

Last truck I'll buy, unless they bring back the class body style. I'll keep it going forever, pending a major accident.

jimg.allentown · Nov 16, 2016

There are many variables here. Too many to fit into a single posting.
However...
There are NO loose parts on your front end. If there were any that could even affect tire wear, they would have shown up on the alignment rack. Bushings, ball joints, and every other part will prevent making an accurate alignment if they are worn.
Your wear pattern could even go as far back as the mold that the casing was made in. Could have had some parts irregularly shaped. New tires are made the same way as recaps. They start with a casing made in a mold. Tread is then bonded onto the casing.
Don't overthink this. You got more than the design originally called for. Be thankful for the "free" miles you got and move on to something more important.

Tire wear?

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