Noobie with tire wear question.

[05ST]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and a new owner of an '05 Sport Trac.
I've had the ST since 1/9/12 and love it! Except for the tire wear problem I noticed last week.

I searched this forum about this issue but didn't find a straight answer.

Anyways, I noticed the front drivers side tire was worn badly on the inside. I took it to my local garage and they found the upper control arm/ball joint to be bad and replaced them. I'm getting a new tire in a couple days. My question is, will this fix the tire wear? I have searched the internet and found that the tire wear issue is a common problem on the ST's, and there are many opinions on how to fix it. I've heard to replace the hub assembly, get a camber kit, etc. Does anyone know the true answer?

Thanks in advance for helping out a newbie!

Jason

 

[600remguy]

Your new tires should be OK, but only really if they did an alignment after replacing the ball joint. Be sure of that before running the new tires too long. The bad ball joint was likely causing your wear.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

All of those things are involved with tire wear on the IFS (independent front suspension). Changing the upper ball joints/ control arms is a get start but if you wanna make sure you don't have premature tire wear replace the lower ball joints and install a Moog Caster/ Camber Adjuster Kit and an alignment. You can check the hub bearing assemblies for play and noise to see if they're worn out but depending on mileage you should be good for a while.

When I bought my 33x12.50x15 GY DuraTrac's and 15x8 Cragar Soft 8's I wasn't taking any chances with killing these tires early so I changed out the uppers, lowers, tie rod ends, sway bar end links and shocks. They all needed replaced anyway so I definetly wasn't gonna take any chances.

The IFS setup isn't something to cheap out on with parts and maintenance if you wanna make your tires last. I personally hate IFS and can't wait to build my SAS, SOA but funds and tools are holding up this project.

 

[RNGRDVE]

If the upper ball joint was the only thing loose/worn in the ft end and it has been aligned then with proper rotation every 5-6k miles you shouldn't have any more wear concerns. You can rebuild the ft end completely as stated but if the other parts and good and tight then there is no real reason to at this time. The ft end should be aligned anually and at this time the shop should inspect the ft end for any worn parts.

 

[05ST]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses everyone!

Yes I will definately keep an eye on the new tire and rotate regularly. The garage DID do an alignment after replacing the parts, of course. There are only 75000 miles on it, so i'm sure i'll be replacing more parts eventually. At least now I know what to keep an eye on. Thanks again all!

I hope to have pics up soon.

Jason