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Uneven inside uneven tire wear




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looks like cupping. rotate them. check tire pressure. i keep mine at 30 psi.
 






Excessive wear on the inside tread is usually caused by too much toe-out, so the wheels are pointed outwards too much instead of straight ahead, and the wear on the inside is from the scrubbing as the truck goes forward but the tire still being pointed outward.

Adjust the steering links to move the front of the tires slightly closer together, preferably so they are the same distance apart in the front and back, or just one or two mm closer in front (toe-in), which will make it go straight if the rest of the alignment is correct.

Either that or take it to an alignment shop and tell them about it, they will adjust it for you by doing the same thing.
 






I don't think its cupping, its only been 6k miles since tires were installed. Sometimes it shakes while on highway, does it real bad when braking...think it might be rotors needing to be turned on that part.
 






well i was was just going by what i thought i saw in the pic. it was a little too close to tell.
 






That's okay, I appreciate the help. Another way I would describe the inside of the tire is the tread wear on the inside isn't wearing evenly. It looks like a stair step, it goes high to low, high to low...where each section of the tread drops off low the next set of tread is higher
 






Yep, that's from too much toe-out. The angle of the tire as it scrubs creates the jagged high-low pattern on the shoulder of the tread.
 






x2 on what anime says,, toe out will scrub the tire sideways , and eat off the leading part of the tread block causing a stair step pattern,,
 






So does that just sound like an alignment issue? Need to get it aligned, never got around to doing it after I replaced my front wheel bearings that were in bad shape. As far as I can tell the rest of the steering components are tight and look good...for having 261k miles on them.
 






You can get it aligned, but if you can do front wheel bearings yourself, you can do a basic TTB alignment yourself. Unless you are fortunate enough to have a shop that knows how to do a TTB alignment, or just really cares enough to learn and do it right, you are probably better off saving the $59.99-99.99 and taking the time to check the toe with a tape measure, the camber with a level/angle finder, and adjusting every so often until it's perfect.

I would guess that if there is no obvious positive/negative camber visually from the front, you could probably just adjust the tie rod sleeves slightly, get that degree of toe-in, and be done with it.
 






Well if I have the information on how to do it I can probably do it. You do your own? Is there a how to on the boards that you've seen?
 












The only thing they did was like I said, adjusting the toe. Everything else was in spec and went unchanged, going by the sheet.

Yes, all you have to do for that is loosen one tie rod, turn it a time or two (the correct direction), and tighten. That's all they did. That's why I said do your own. It's a ripoff to pay the price for a full 4-wheel alignment on a vehicle that only has two alignable wheels, and for the only adjustment to be something that takes all of 5 minutes. But I guess there is some good in checking that there aren't other problems like a bent rear axle or anything else you couldn't check without a machine or with more tire wear patterns to go by.

It's a little more complicated if you ever need to adjust camber/caster, but as far I've seen, you only need to do that if you do major suspension work like a lift or lowering. Usually, when the toe is off, it's because the ride height has changed from age, with the springs sagging. A cheap, cheap fix is putting large washers under the coil springs, raising the front end back to it's original height instead of changing the alignment.
 






Is there a how to on this? Would of been nice not to of paid $70 for a couple of turns of the tie rod end. I'm guessing I have the death wobble as it shakes like something else at about 65mph.
 












Very good information gentleman!
 






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