2008 Explorer 4x4 wearing inside of tires very quickly

[relentless85]

As the title says our 2008 Explorer 4x4 is wearing the insides of the tires very quickly.

We purchased new Goodyear Fortera HL tires in the stock OEM size about 30,000 miles ago and had a 4 wheel alignment done at the same time. The insides of the tires are bald and the outsides have a little more tread on them.

When the Explorer is sitting on the ground, the rear tires look like they have negative camber. They look like /-\ on the rear.

I believe the rear tires wear faster on the insides than the fronts do. I have kept up with the rotations also.

The Goodyear Fortera HL tire is rated as a 60,000 mile tire, I only got half of that out of them.

Is there any adjustment on the rear to eliminate the negative camber?

Can a 4 wheel alignment be done on these vehicle or was I duped?

Are there any parts I need to specifically looking at on the rear to replace that would be causing the negative camber and the insides of the tires to wear very quickly?

We can’t keep putting tires on it every 30k, it gets expensive.

Thanks!

 

[Rcflyer330]

Yes there is an adjustment for the rear camber and you can do a 4 wheel alignment. I don't know the exact parts that can mess with alignment but shocks are one of them. I had the same thing happen on a set of tires with 25k miles on them. I now look at my tires for any abnormal wear and camber issues.

 

[relentless85]

Today I removed the rear and front tires to check suspension parts.

I did not find anything loose/broken or majorly worn on the rear. All bushings were there and in tact. No abnormal looseness of the upper and lower rear control arms and lateral links.

The rear struts seem to be ok. They are the stock OEM struts on the rear. I see no leaking or abnormal wear marks on the rear struts.

However I don’t know if this is an issue, with the rear tires off, I placed a magnetic level on the brake rotors to see if the rear rotor/suspension was plumb and then placed a jack under the strut to set it at “ride” height. The level was showing the bottom of the rotor was further out than the top of the rotor. If this is correct then that would put more wear on the inside of the tire. Is this a good measurement? Or did I do something wrong. If my measurement is correct and the level is correct, it seems to me that the rear is out of alignment?

On the front suspension, the only issue I found is the driver side lower ball joint boot is cracked. I checked the ball joints and tie rods on Both sides by trying to move the tire with my hands at 12 o clock and 5 o’clock and then at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock. No movement or looseness/clunk/squeak from their either. So I guess the driver side lower ball joint has not completely gone bad yet.

This boggles my mind lol! Hardly anything wrong except for a lower ball joint boot cracked and the explorer wears the insides of the tires out very quickly.

Maybe I am overthinking this and all it needs is just an alignment again??

 

[dacaur2]

Bad bearings will cause this, but of course there will be other signs as well. Its also possible the 4 wheel alignment wasnt done right when you got your tires.....

 

[michael loibl]

My 2006 has never been aligned, running all original struts (replacing soon) and all four tires wear almost perfectly flat across. Got 65,000 miles out of original BFG’s, 55,000 miles out of first Forterra’s, and now 20,000 miles into second set of Forterra’s and still look good.