Tire Wear

[fastimz]

I need some help on my 2003 X. It is 2wd and the front tires wear terrible. I have about 20000 miles on the tires and I had to put the spare on last night because the belts were hanging out. Both front tires have massive wear on the inside edge of the tire. I asked my mechanic what we could do and he advised you couldn't adjust the camber. What can be done to fix this crap? I can't afford tires every 20000 miles.

 

[Donner]

Warranty

Hi there... Can I ask if the vehicle is still under warranty of any kind? If so, also do you have the receipt for the tires you just lost due to this? Doing regular tire rotation?

Seeing that you have a major safety issue, I would not leave this in the hands of a general mechanic.

 

[Thelt]

Are they just wearing on the inside and not the outside edges? If it were wearing on both edges I would suspect your tire pressure was too low. I run about 40 pounds in my tires. The manufacturer's recommended settings are too low.

What kind of tires were they? I have had tires wear out that quickly before.

 

[fastimz]

It is no longer in warranty. The tires look almost new on the outside but the inside is gone. The camber setting appears to be too much.

 

[jimbo74]

how many miles on the tires? how was your last alignment? inside tire wear can be camber, or excessive toe, or a combination of both.... camber is adjustable, as is toe settings

 

[Donner]

Camber

how many miles on the tires? how was your last alignment? inside tire wear can be camber, or excessive toe, or a combination of both.... camber is adjustable, as is toe settings

Hi there... I don't know about cars, but I'm learning from what you all are saying. From what Fastimz says, it appears his mechanic did not handle the camber or doesn't know how to... Jimbo74, would you agree that perhaps this mechanic is not the right type of mechanic for this situation? Is it possible for a camber to adjust improperly on its own?

Fastimz, if the camber is adjustable, this would imply that another party handled the camber prior to it being seen by your mechanic. Is this correct? And if so, did that party sell you the tires or do other work on your vehicle?

(Fastimz, I'm a warranty freak. If you didn't do any of this work yourself, then the tires should be replaced by the party that did - this is not legal advice, it's just what I would request)

 

[manaen]

get an alignment, and rotate your tires every 10k

 

[jimbo74]

the 2k3 uses a coil sprung front suspension, i am not 100% sure on the orientation of the suspension, but there should be adjustment for camber. lifting a vehicle could cause irregular camber, or loading the vehicle down too.

excessive toe can cause tire wear, and excessive toe will manifest a problem a lot sooner than a mild camber problem

not all mechanics have the ability to do alignments some do. i used to work as a tire technician, at essentially a tire store, but performed other tasks, timing belt replacements, alignments, brakes, all fluid changes, etc - general repair

 

[lincoln20012002]

I know you said 20k on the tires, how many miles on the truck? I have seen tire wear like this happen with worn ball joints, this causes the camber to be thrown off.

Just a thought.

 

[manaen]

A 2003 should not have worn out ball joints unless the truck was driven over washboard roads for the duration of it's life.

One thing also to note, I'm not sure how ford configured the newer steering links since I have a gen2 but some suspensions (actually all to some degree) will also mess up the toe when the suspension is compressed or extended due to the angle of the IFS compared to the steering links. The TTB (gen1) suspension was horrible for this once you started to lift the vehicle, this can even cause significant bump steer.

SO when you start to lift/lower a vehicle you will not only be messing up the camber, but also the toe.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Was this a regular mechanic or a professioinal tire shop with a computerized alignment machine which has the specs for every vehicle?