Is This Tire Wear Normal?

[BlaineBug]

In December, I had brand new Michelin Michelin X LT tires installed at 52,655 miles. Since then, I have put 4,692 miles on them and have not yet rotated them.

The very same day that I had these tires installed, I had an alignment performed after only 16 miles of use (yes, I keep such detailed records!) I have the alignment spec sheet I can dig out of my files if necessary, but it was slightly out of alignment beforehand, but after the alignment was performed my specs show perfect according to their print out.

As you can see the front 2 tires have more wear on the outermost edge, which the rear tires do not as I have not yet rotated them. Is this normal wear? I assume this may be attributed to the front end scrubbing on tight turns, as I can often fee the front-end performing quite jerky when at a slow speed full lock turn. It feels as if the truck tries to push forward at the same time it is turning. It is very hard to describe this sensation as most vehicles do not give this feeling, but most of the other vehicles I have experience driving are much smaller unibody cars and SUVs than full size trucks and SUVs.

All in all I just want to know if this tire wear appears to be normal. The old tires exhibited similar wear at the very outer edge, although the tread pattern was different and there was much less tread life remaining in comparison to these relatively brand new tires.

I typically like to rotate tires around 7,000-8,000 miles regardless of vehicle type, so I'm not quite there yet.

Pics attached and labeled accordingly.

 

[Blackcar]

Do you drive with switch on Auto high on transfer case setting.

 

[BlaineBug]

Do you drive with switch on Auto high on transfer case setting.

2wd 99% of the time, especially last winter which was very un-snowy.

 

[OR VietVet]

I want to see the before and after alignment specs.

 

[Marky Dissod]

I typically like to rotate tires around 7,000-8,000 miles regardless of vehicle type, so I'm not quite there yet.

Those tires may want you to rotate them more often, if these pics are to be understood and believed.

 

[Doubeleive]

sometimes tire wear can really depend on how you drive

 

[Marky Dissod]

To be clear, I experience somewhat similar wear patterns with my '02 Z71 - lots of very tight turns where steering goes center quickly to full lock & quickly back to center to minimize turning radius.

I could never get away with rotating every 7000 - 8000 miles. I must rotate them every 2 months to equalize wear & maximize my use of all four tires.

You may want to ask your alignment technician about adjusting your next alignment - within the spec window - to try to distribute the wear more evenly.

 

[BlaineBug]

Those tires may want you to rotate them more often, if these pics are to be understood and believed.

I would hope the pictures would be believed as I took them

 

[Marky Dissod]

I would hope the pictures would be believed, as I took them.

Meant that, I believe that what your tires are saying is
'please rotate us more often'.

 

[B-train]

I had a similar issue when I got new tires on my 2017. The front outer edges wore more quickly than what I expected. I took it for service and said I want the truck set to the middle of the green range (it's quite a range of "acceptable " specs). I can see where they moved the adjusters quite a bit.

It tracks nice and straight kow with a change in the steering effort for turns, but always wants to straighten back out and track straight. I'll see how it wears over the summer. You may want to have them recheck the alignment and explain the tire wear. There is a way to set up a vehicle for optimum tire life.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

What are your typical inflation pressures?

 

[OR VietVet]

I had a similar issue when I got new tires on my 2017. The front outer edges wore more quickly than what I expected. I took it for service and said I want the truck set to the middle of the green range (it's quite a range of "acceptable " specs). I can see where they moved the adjusters quite a bit.

It tracks nice and straight kow with a change in the steering effort for turns, but always wants to straighten back out and track straight. I'll see how it wears over the summer. You may want to have them recheck the alignment and explain the tire wear. There is a way to set up a vehicle for optimum tire life.

Too many times a tech doing alignments will set the toe and let it go. As @B-train said, these guys/girls will just adjust enough to get in the green range and that is "good enough". You want them even, side to side, and close to center of the green ranges. I do like a slight caster lead on the passenger side, to help allow for road crown.

 

[89Suburban]

I would say yes.

 

[BlaineBug]

I had a similar issue when I got new tires on my 2017. The front outer edges wore more quickly than what I expected. I took it for service and said I want the truck set to the middle of the green range (it's quite a range of "acceptable " specs). I can see where they moved the adjusters quite a bit.

It tracks nice and straight kow with a change in the steering effort for turns, but always wants to straighten back out and track straight. I'll see how it wears over the summer. You may want to have them recheck the alignment and explain the tire wear. There is a way to set up a vehicle for optimum tire life.

This is the alignment sheet back from December. I dropped by the alignment shop about 8:30 this morning. I was told everything was perfectly normal because they are steer tires and that the alignment is perfect because it is in spec "as can be seen on the sheet." He mentioned that if the alignment was off that the outside tread block would be experiencing wear throughout rather than on the very edge like I showed.

I was hoping that they'd put it on the alignment rack as a courtesy to check, but obviously they are too busy and overworked and unenthusiastic to do so. So much for that.

He also said that I need to keep up on tire rotations every 6,000 miles otherwise I'd blow through tires in 25,000 miles. That doesn't exactly sound right to me, but I informed him that at about only 4,700 miles I wasn't even at the need for a first rotation yet either.

 

[89Suburban]

I try to rotate mine every other oil change.

 

[OR VietVet]

The left front tire in the pic shows the scrub on outer edge and the alignment "after" shows the driver's side/left front tire is toed in more than the right front tire. The toe in is more on the driver's side.

 

[BlaineBug]

The left front tire in the pic shows the scrub on outer edge and the alignment "after" shows the driver's side/left front tire is toed in more than the right front tire. The toe in is more on the driver's side.

I would say my left and right front tires are nearly identical however.

 

[OR VietVet]

The alignment readings show more toe in on the left front tire. I see the scrub on the outer edge of the left front tire. I see no scrub on the right front tire.

 

[BlaineBug]

The alignment readings show more toe in on the left front tire. I see the scrub on the outer edge of the left front tire. I see no scrub on the right front tire.

It is there as that siping that is on the outer edge of the outer tread blocks typically carries through to the sidewall. You can see that on both front tires this small sipe is "disconnected"

 

[BlaineBug]

The alignment readings show more toe in on the left front tire. I see the scrub on the outer edge of the left front tire. I see no scrub on the right front tire.

What is conversely strange is that, to the opposite, those tiny horizontal nipples/fingers are present on the driver front tire but they are all disappeared on the passenger front tire. It is possible that I routinely make more right turns than left turns.