'97 Mountaineer eating front tires

[oharris]

My '97 Mountaineer is eating the inside of the front tires. I checked the toe and it is toed in by 1/16" which should be fine. I put a level on the sidewalls (tilted so I avoided the bulge at the bottom) and it read perfectly plumb. The ball joints, upper and lower on both sides were replaced the last time I bought tires. Nothing else seems loose, and it doesn't pull at all when driving. Before I spend money on an alignment, any ideas what could be causing it?

 

[Turdle]

Lower control arm bushings?

 

[koda2000]

Lower control arm bushings?

and/or inner/outer tie rod ends. how are you checking for looseness?

 

[obie]

They shouldn't be perfectly straight up and down. The tires need some camber to them when unloaded to compensate for the added weight of the driver and passengers and cargo. I'm half tempted to say the spec is around 1.5 degrees of positive camber. I cant find anything to verify that though, so take that with a large grain of salt.

To clarify, this means that when you're loading the vehicle and driving it, your tires are experiencing too much negative camber and wearing the inside faster.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

If the inside edge of the tire is wearing out, then it is a Camber issue. It doesn't take a whole lot to ruin a set of tires. If it was a Toe issue, the wheels would have a feathered look to them on the inside edge. Like what Obie said you should have a slight bit of positive camber, this will allow for some extra weight to be added, without messing up the alignment too much. When you get an alignment don't go to a $60 alignment shop, they will do what they call in the trade "Toe and go", and they will not bother with a Camber, or caster adjustments. So please save yourself time and money and spend a few buck and get a good alignment.

 

[Toyoranger]

Most places do free alignment checks now too so you wont have pay anything if you just want to see whats going on. I know sears does it and they give you a print out of the toe, camber and caster read outs.

 

[mr_valingo]

Bad bearings will eat the inside of your tires off too

 

[oharris]

Well, I had it checked today and it has a bad wheel bearing. Not sure how I missed that, but I'll get it replaced and check again.

 

[mr_valingo]

Not too surprised, these trucks eat wheel bearings like chevy's eat tie rod ends