Excessive tire wear, a question.....

[RadioFlyer91]

I was a but puzzled the other day on a question from a co-worker about his 1994 XLT 4x4. He has "cupping," on the left front tire. I have not heard of this on an Explorer yet, and all I could come up with was the wheel bearing (looseness), possibly ball joints, or a poor allignment, however do not believe the allignment would cause wear on both edges of the tire. Anyone had a problem similar, and remember the solution?


Thanks in advance.

 

[HIX]

It's the shocks....go into any tire shop. They usually will have a brocure that will show the tire cupping and lists worn shocks as the cause. Plus my dads Exploder did it once and it was the shocks.

 

[jimbo74]

ypu before i even saw hix post i was thinking shocks. also just wearing on the outside edges could also indicate too low air pressure

 

[Stephen]

Wearing on the edges almost always indicates improper air pressure. Check that first, then do the shock test. Oush one corner of the truck down, and if it bounces up and down instead of just coming back up and stopping, the shocks are bad. On a 94 that has never had new shocks you'll probably want to replace them anyway, it'll be amazing how much better it'll ride. The wear is so gradual most people dont ever notice until they change them. Your friend will find himself saying "How did I ever drive this thing like that?".

 

[Bill Kemp]

On mine, which cupped also, it was shocks and lower ball joints.

 

[sink]

I have a 94 XLT. A tire guy told me that the Fords with the twin Ibeam front, like ours and like Rangers had will wear the inside edges inherently. Nature of the beast. I haven't had much premature problem with mine- he showed me the wear though when I had new ones put on at about 50K. The air pressure idea makes sense. BTW if the shocks will be changed on that- be very careful with the lower shock mount stud. Mine were real corroded and I ended up breaking one even though I was real careful. Be sure to use lube and retighten 1/2 turn after every turn out.

 

[Exploder99]

hmm, shocks? my car finally turned 16k miles and my tires are getting cupped like mad. i frequently check tire pressure and i rotate with every service. could this have to do with the fact that my "exploder" is a total hunk of crap or was the dealer correct for a change when they told me that this was a normal symptom. They explained to me that it is a result of the 16" wheels on the short wheel base? can anyone varify this? thanks.

 

[Stephen]

James, they're actually right about that, its pretty common.

 

[Exploder99]

dang, hehe. oh well.

 

[MOTO MIKE]

I was discussing this very problem with a representative from goodyear tire corp. See I have 31" goodyear workhorse tires and have EXTREME tire wear. the allignment is right on the money, and the shocks are in great shape, as well as all bushings and b-joints. the problem according to the rep. is the twin I-beam system. apparently the way they move when they encounter bumps on the road encourages excessive wear on the outer and inner edges of the tire itself. unlike the GM's which maintain a full tire contact on the road surface. the fords tend to move edge to edge. He also stated that the more aggressive the tread, the more pronounced the wear. this seems to be true, I never had this problem with less aggressive tires. I guess it's just the nature of the beast.

 

[BExplorer]

Rotate tire frequently

I rotate my tire with every oil change, every 5000km (3000miles) and never have any cupping. The original tire had that type of wear. In doing this I get even wear troughout the tires life.

 

[punisher]

The dealer told me that I had excessive wearing on the inside of the tires. He called it "negative camber" or something like that. It didn't really bother me because they fixed the problem and gave me a set of new tires.

 

[BExplorer]

Inner wear...

Is the 97 front TTB, if so check your spring they may be sagging and the dealer probably ajusted camber to the max. On my 94 I had to chage springs at 80000 KM because there was no more play in camber ajust.