2004 Tire Wear Help

[Stacy Waldrep]

I need some help please. I have a 2004 Sport Trac 4x4 with 125,000 miles. I have about 30,000 miles on my tires. Within the last few thousand miles, I noticed a bounce in one of my tires on the front. I've not had the tires rotated or balanced since I bought them. I know that I messed up. So, basically the tires that are on the front have been on the front for 30,000 miles. Anyway, I had a blowout on a back tire and had to buy two new tires. They put the new ones on the back since the tires on the front had more tread left than the ones on the back. They did this hoping that the rear tires would wear faster than the fronts and reduce the difference between the tread depth from the front to the rear. They balanced the front ones along with the new ones. I thought this would fix the bounce. It didn't. I checked out my tires while I had them off when I was replacing the spark plugs the other day. The front tires are worn more on the inside with the driver's side tire being more worn than the passenger side tire. I also noticed some cupping on the middle to inside edge in a couple of spots but only on the drivers side front. First, do I need an alignment or shocks or both or something else? Second, does my truck have any camber adjustment from the factory or do I have to have a camber kit? What would cause the cupping to occur only on the drivers side tire? I replaced the lower ball joints with Moog ball joints about the same time I got the new tires. I also think I might hear a front wheel bearing noise but I could just be hearing things. How do I check the front hub assemblies? I know this is long but any help or suggestions would be much appreciated as I don't have much money right now and can't afford to do much. Thanks.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

You might need upper ball joints, to solve the tire tread issue, get some Moog Caster/ Camber adjustment kits for both side of the front, this will allow for more adjustment with alignment then the stock washers which I believe only allow + - 3 degrees of adjustment.



To check the front hub bearings you can either jack the frontend up and put your hands at 9 and 3 and try to move back and fourth, if it moves you have a bearing going bad, replace both at same time to save on cost of another alignment, etc.. You can also listen while your driving by slightly turning the wheel and if you hear a humming or growling noise that's them too.



At 135k miles you're gonna have regular maintenence issues start to show up.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Full alignment and new shocks. Sorry.

 

[Richard L]

I agree with Gavin. You need to get your front end aligned and checked for any bad/worn parts. If those are the factory shocks, they more than likely need replacing, but may or may not have contributed to your tire wear problems.



....Rich

 

[EddieS'04]

They put the new ones on the back since the tires on the front had more tread left than the ones on the back.

Actually this is the latest in safe tech. In wet weather more tread on the rear will keep you from spining out. Or help with control if you do. This is for RWD and FWD.



They use to say put the best tread on the front. Alot of folks still think that way. Including some tire shops.

 

[Stacy Waldrep]

EddieS'04, I've heard that the past few years but that's not why they did it. They at first would only sell me four tires because they said there would be too much difference in tread depth between the worn front ones and new back ones. I convinced them that I couldn't afford four tires and they relented and agreed to do only two. They said with the 4wd system there can only be about 4 thousandths difference between front and rear tread or maybe any tire for that matter. The rear tires had less tread than the front so they figured that putting the new tires on the rear would cause them to wear the new tread down faster and get the new rears closer to the old fronts. Whew! That was long and wordy but that's why. Anyway, I swung by the tire place yesterday to ask a few questions. They seem to think that there is plenty of adjustment for camber in my truck. I have read somewhere that on a 2004 all you have to do is remove and discard the washers and camber can be adjusted. Any thoughts on this?