Has anyone had a problem with the inside of their tires being wore out. I have had these Firestone Dest. for about a year and 3treads on the tires look great, But the inside is eat up. I have had the front end checked out 3 times and they tell me everything looks in great shape. Alignment, rods, etc.. all appear to be fine. 98000 miles, could the struts be bad.

 

You state "they tell me everything looks in great shape. Alignment, rods, etc.. all appear to be fine"

They can tell this by never putting it on an alignment machine and seeing what the actual settings are? Have they actually placed it on an alignment machine and checked the alignment? If they have, did they provide a before and after print-out of the settings? If not, I wouldrequest that theyprovide a before and after print-out of the settings.

Front-ends can be so far out of wack, but remain "With-In Specs" that it can cause severe tire wear.

While holding the steering wheel straight, drive the vehicle forward for about 10-15 feet. Stop and get out of the vehicle. Walk about 10-15 feet infront of the vewhicle and look at the tire positions. If the tire is leaning inward at the top, then you have too much negative camber. This will cause inside tire wear at a high rate. You'll have the same senario with a high (WITH-IN SPEC) TOE-IN and a POSITIVE camber. I try to keep mine at just past "0" to the positive on TOE-IN and just past "0" to the negative on CAMBER. This will provide the flatest tire wear. I also pattern my tires and run different PSI between front and rear.

 

Thanks for the info. I have had the alignment checked 3 times. However I did not look at the printouts. The tires are chopping, I don't believe I mentioned that. There is also a whaling noise from the front end. Kinda like what you hear when something is bouncing along the ground hitting here and there on the surface.

 

The noise you're hearing is probably from the chopped tread. Has the vehicle been modified? Raised, lowered, oversized tires? How many miles on the tires and are they rotated every 5,000 miles? Any vibration in the vehicle when driving before you noticed the tire wear being real bad? A worn tie rod end can also cause the problem.

I has a worn tie rod end on my 2000 taurus that the "dealer could notfind" even though I described the problem and took the mechanic on a test drive and the mechanic acknowledged the problem was there. I had a vibration in the gas pedal and vehicle when travling at 60+ MPH. It only appeared when I was in the left lane of the thruway, orgoing onslight right turns in the road (having to hold the steering wheel slighly off center). The inside tread wore out on my left tire. Found the bad tie rod on the left side. The right side was starting to get bad so I replaced them both and problem solved.

 

had all that checked and all appears fine. No vibration in the steering wheel. Some of the other sights on tirewire indicate the problem I am seeing comes from struts or shocks. I think the 03 has struts on it. 98000 miles, do you think it would be right to think they might be needing replacing? thanks for your help

 

It's possible, however, the strut is just a glorified shock with a built in lower coil spring support. It's also possible that the coil springs are a little tired. This will caiuse the front to drop down abit and affect the camber. They will also cause more bounce causing the tires to ride more on the inside and wear. If you replace the struts, I would go with the MONROE "SENSA-TRAC STRUT" Part # 71321 and for coils, I would go with MOOG units.

 

Use Common Sense. Great advice, he is on the ball.

I own a repair shop and I can honestly say cars get less and less perfect with age. Rear indipendent suspension have a problem with the rear tires wearing on the inside no matter what manufacturer. It usually has to do with the springs getting worn and they drop that fraction of an inch that is critical. You can ask a shop to align the rear end ( to tell you the truth I dont know off hand if the rear camber is adjustable on the 03' Expedition despite me doing brakes on one today). Rotating the tires every 5-10K is the best advice. By 40K tires should be close to worn out enough to where a little inside tire wear will not matter.

I personally doubt new shocks will do anything in this case aside for making a slightly better ride. Good luck and let us know if the shop can adjust the rear camber. It will be good info for everyone. Thanks Tennford.