Outer tread on front tire wearing out...

Hi All, yesterday I noticed that the outer tread on my front passenger tire is wearing out faster than the inside. All other tires look fine. I get alignment done 1 or 2 times a year, I think last alignment was 9 months ago.

Is this just an alignment issue or is it something else?

 

How drastic of a difference is it? Seems like you would notice some sort of wobble when driving.

Definitely sounds like an alignment problem.

 

Have the alignment checked. If it’s correct then it’s a defective tire. A steel band proably broke

 

I'll take a pic when I get a chance.

 

Either too much toe or too much positive camber.

 

Remember, you can wipe out a fresh alignment on the way out of the shop if you hit something big enough. I'd get the alignment - and all front end components - checked ASAP.

 

That part of the tire normally wears faster. Most people take corners to the left faster than to the right because they can see better. This wears out the outside of the right front tire faster. This is why we rotate. But without a pic to see just how much more wear it is hard to say.

 

I don't quite know how to say this, but you must be kidding.

 

Most of time if you have excessive wear on outside of tire. Problem is in alignment, inside wear is problem with parts with excessive wear.

 

Unless OP is a professsional Tacoma drifter that specializes in left turn drifting, I’m calling BS on that one. If that has any truth to it, the variance between the two front tires of the average driver would be so negligible that I doubt it’d even be visible to the naked eye.

The fact that you’d point to something like that over a simple alignment issue is crazy.

Do you have any sources on that claim?

 

I do not drift with my truck.

 

Looks like your toe is off or your frame may be bent?

 

I doubt a bent frame, truck is babied

 

Is that your normal parking place? Looks like an extremely abrasive surface. I suspect that you are left turning form the street on to this driveway a lot and the tire is getting ground down? Do you turn you steering wheel before the truck is moving? This will also grind/wear the tire. Just a wild guess since that is not normal toe in or off camber wear.

 

I do park on a curb at home. I was thinking I should make sure I park on the flat part. I initially ruled this our because the rear tire is totally fine. My last set of tires never had this issue.

I'll rotate and align and see if it goes away.

 

Based on that wear pattern, I'd get the alignment checked. Based on the pictures, I'd also check your inflation pressure because based on the sidewall bulge, it could be low. Remember though, even if you find the cause and fix it, that wear pattern is permanent. (Some people incorrectly think fixing an alignment issue will fix a tire wear issue. All it will do is prevent it from getting worse.)

 

Turning the steering wheel when a vehicle is not moving will cause (almost insignificant) wear in one spot - not around the whole circumference of the tire.

 

Thanks!

 

Did your alignment shop change with the new tires?
Not all shops do alignments properly. I’m no expert but having a old school spring shop doing my alignments yielded awesome tire wear. Tire kingdom/ntb now well I could see the outsides of both fronts wearing more than the inners. Actually have this now I should get an alignment soon. I rotate swap wheels fairly often seems to help.

 

The alignment shop did not do the tires. I have the lifetime alignment from firestone, which is awesome, but they do a terrible job sometimes. Like telling me they rotated the tires when they clearly didn't. Then when they rotate the tires they make no effort to realign until I asked about it. They clearly knew they had to do alignment again after rotating the tires but tried to sneak one by me. But, it's free. I try to align and rotate often to offset the poor service. So like you, I'm over due to do my truck.