uneven tire wear (with picture)

[gijoecam]

Your problem is the allingment. This is a very common problem with all cars. In your case the upper control is adjustable and sometimes moves causing allingment issues. If you notice the upper contol arm has a bolt on each side that the washer welded to is not centered. This allows the upper arm to be move out or in. After time they tend to move a little. It doesnt take much but once it starts it will never go back. Hitting curbs alot will cause this, also heavy offroading. An allingment shop can cure your problem.

When raising a vehicle by doing the TT (torsion twist) you are also making your allingment go out(bad). Cars are allingned by there ride hieght and once you change that by lifting or lowering, you are guaranteed to need an allingment.

One more thing, I always reccomend an allingment when getting new tires. If your tires are wearing fine it still doesnt hurt to just check it and see what the allingment machine say. Your tires will last a heck of alot longer with proper air inflation and a good allingment. I have got over 60K miles from a set of 31" BFG AT.

I have to respectfully disagree with several of your statements, and here's why:

First, an Explorer's laognment cams should never move a little after any amount of time. Other items may wear (bushings, ball joints, tie rods, etc) but the alignment cams that hold the upper control arms in place should never EVER move. If they do, they weren't torqued properly to start with.

Second, raising the vehicle with a torsion twist will not necessarily cause an alignment problem. I would not make that guarantee based on my personal experience. I've done it to my F150 and Explorer, as well as several other friends' Explorers and F150s and none of them has ever required an alignment afterwards. In fact, both my Explorer and F150 were in the shop for new tires a week after doing the twist, and I had them check the slignments on both. Both were well within the manufacturer's specs.

If the alignment was originally set at a particular ride height, and the vehicle has sagged as the torsion bars lose some spring over time, cranking them simply returns the vehicle to its original ride height and, therefore, the alignment should be right back where it started from. Why would it change?

Finally, as you mentioned, proper inflation, alignments, and regular rotation can maximize the life of your tires. My last set of tires (Michelin LTX M/S's) were just 62 miles short of 100,000 miles when I replaced them a little over a year ago.

-Joe

 

[96V8Xploder]

There are many things that can through off the alingment I could write an entire book on but I left it to minimum.
That upper arm only needs to move a slight hair to through it off. A slight twist of the bracket or even warn out bushing raises will cause this. Everytime you hit that parking curb your destined to through something off.

If his ball joints etc. were bad. He would be experiencing more than just bad tire wear. He would have all kinds of noises coming out of the front end.

 

[BrooklynBay]

We have to keep the heat down to minimum on this forum. Lets talk in a civilized manner to each other. All of us here are trying to help one another out. If this can't be done, then the thread will have to be closed. It wouldn't be fair to the original poster who started this thread or to anybody else on this forum, so lets cool down a bit, and stay friends.

 

[JDraper]

Chill kids...no flaming...If you have a disagreement then take it to pm's.

Deleting all the bs....

BTW, I see nothing in what I'm leaving behind that should piss anyone off....

ENOUGH!!!!!

Any more and it's closed...

 

[armsj]

HELLO BACK HahnsB2

THANKS FOR INFO ON TORSION BARS I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS HOW DO I GO ABOUT RASING OR LOWERING THIS & WHAT TYPE OF TOOL. ALSO THE 4 BALL JOINTS ARE TIGHT TIE ROD ENDS ARE TIGHT. SO MY CASPER & CAMBER HAS MOVED IN ON
BOTH SIDE OF 98 FORD EXPLORER. DOES THE TORSION BARS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS.

ALSO HOW CAN I CHECK SHOCKS FOR WEAKNESS STAND ON BUMPER & JUMP UP & DOWN & SEE HOW QUICK SHOCKS COME BACK TO NORM POSITION.

ALSO I WANT YOU & EVERYONE THAT I DO APREICATE YOUR HELP WITH MY 98 FORD EXPLORER ALLIGNMENT & TIRES & OTHER PROBLEMS & OTHER PROBLEMS I HAVE ASKED
ABOUT OR WILL BE. THANKS armsj

 

[IZwack]

In thanks for the chance!

 

[IZwack]

96V8Xploder -- just stop before you get banned.

 

[Ray Lobato]

This thread is closed. Time for you guys to take a little breather before I give you a time out.