Tire wear on the inside drivers tire. Ball joints?

The last tire rotation i did i noticed a bit more wear on the inside tread on the drivers side then the outside. I am wondering if i a need an alignment or ball joints. The truck is a 2004 extended cab 4x4.

I jacked it up and didnt feel any play latterly in the wheel.

The front end feels a bit more spongy than new but i was attributing that to the age of the tires (probably 70k miles on them). No clunks or front end noise that i can hear or feel.

I checked my vin and am not under the recall for ball joints.

The truck itself has just over 165k on it. Original ball joints.

 

Sounds more like camber wear. You lift your truck?

 

nope. Stock suspension. Makes me think i just need a alignment. I feel no play like i said when i have the wheels in the air and trying to move them north/south. IT feels solid. I havent felt a bad one to be honest so i have nothing to compare it to but they dont feel loose or like they have any play in them.

 

How are your bushings?

 

70k is a lot of miles on any tire, were they always rotated and aired up properly? If a balljoint is going bad there would be play in the wheel and you would most likely hear a popping/clunking sound coming from the joint when turning the wheel side to side or going over speed bumps.

Most likely an alignment issue

 

they seem solid......i suppose they could be sagging or wearing. Hard to tell. No visible wear i can see
etc.

 

Probably.

But the alignment shop should tell you they can't align until you replace the joints, if they need replacing, and not charge you for the check.

If it's good, the alignment should prevent worsening.

 

i have always rotated back to front as it outlines in the manual......never switching sides. I have since heard you should switch back to front and cross the rears when you bring them to the front. The tires i have have been great. Super long wearing....no cupping or weird issues. Lots of tread left.

 

the shop up the road from me quoted me roughtly $80 for the alignment over the phone. At that price it is a no brainer i guess. Ill bring it up there and hopefully the know what they are doing. I hate bringing my cars in. Such a nightmare.

 

@yarb71, any results to report back for the good of the order?

 

Still nothing. I have to work 10 hours a day and they dont pay me to go to the auto shop unfortunately. I hope to have it in this week.

 

And.........its the passenger side lower ball joint. Extremely loose....unsafe per the shop guy i just talked to. Its causing the drivers side inside tire wear......
Seems a bit excessive but what can you do. They dont use OEM toyota parts but the guy swore up and down they use MOOG (greasable) which have a lifetime warranty and "are better than oem".......which i question.

452 out the door with the new ball joint and alignment quote. Again.....a bit excessive. I wish i had more time. I would have just done it myself.

 

Already done? If not, I would really consider sourcing Toyota ball joints (especially those lowers) - you can score them at a reasonable price from @gunny1005 (Camelback Toyota Parts Director)

 

yeah....done. They gave me the its unsafe to drive speech and the our ball joints are the best speech.....better than oem etc etc. And...i needed my vehicle the next morning at 6am. I was kind of trapped.