Is it normal for the outside edges of the front tires to be stairstepping on the outer inch or two only?
By stairstepping, I mean that you can't see the wear all that much but if you rub your hand over the tread in one direction, you can feel a lip on each side swipe tread.
If you run your hand over in the other direction, you don't feel it. You only feel it if you run your hand from back to front on the outside tread of the two front tires.
If you do the same with the rear tires or on the inner edge of the front tires, you don't feel any 'stairstepping".
The tires are about a year old and are wearing the front outside edges only.
What you feel is known as feathering, one side of the tread block wears more than the other. If you looked at the end of the block it would appear as a wedge.
It is commonly caused by improper toe settings and if on one edge only by improper camber angle as well. BUT it can also be caused by using a common tire on a vehicle that is driven aggressively. IE high speed cornering. That places a lot of weight on the outer edge of the tire and tries to force it to roll under. That will wear the outer edges rapidly.
Now if you had one spot that was "normal" then a wear spot then "normal" going all the way around the tire that would be cupping. That is normally a suspension wear problem.
That was a far better answer than I had expected so I appreciate your expertise. The vehicle was aligned but probably about 2 years ago (while the tires are about a year old).
The car is driven on a five mile hill every day with scores of hairpins but it's NEVER driven fast. Those turns are made probably at 20 to 25 MPH (you can't take the turns any faster and stay on your side of the road).
Could that steep (10% or so) continuously twisting 5-miles each way every day have caused the "feathering" you explained my "stairstepping" to be?
If it were only the tires tilted inward at the front (toe) the whole tread would be "feathered" would it not? This only has the outside edge of both front tires feathered. So it can't be "just" toe.
I don't see how the miles matter but it has about 60K miles. Miles would have nothing to do with this other than suspension wear but nobody is suggesting suspension wear based on the evidence (for example, no cupping).
The alignment was last done about two years ago. The tires are about a year old.
My take on this is that it's either "normal" for a car that is driven by necessity (slowly) on twisty steep (10%) mountain roads for 10 miles (5 each way) every day, or there is something wrong.
It's not going to be a single thing since the entire width of the tread is not feathered (only the outside edges) and since it's both front tires, it's not obvious that it's something worn or out of alignment.
If it is the alignment, do you concur that it's a combination of the front camber (tilted out too high at the top) and toe (turned inward too much at the front).
The tires are "feathered" only on the outside edge of the tread (last inch or two) evenly on both tires, but only on the front.
I drive about 8K miles a year and it has been about 4K miles so I had my teenage son rotate them for me. So now the edge "feathered" tires are on the rear.
But rotation or lack of it isn't the reason why the tires are feathered nor is it the solution.
So far it seems that either the daily 5 miles each way of steep twisty hills is the problem (which can't be solved) or there may be an alignment issue with both front tires.
They are evenly "feathered" on the outside edge, so it's not just one wheel.
That means you *are* traveling very fast, at least for the conditions. What you are saying is that you are leaving no safety margin on each hairpin. You will definitely be wearing the outer edges of the tyres doing that.
The hairpins are the reason for the feathering on the outer edges of the tread. If you adjust to eliminate the feathering on curves, you may see wear on the inside of the tread instead. It is a suspension geometry anomaly, a compromise if you will, that you can do little about. If you only drove on a freeway every day, you would see no feathering. FWD vehicles tend to fare worse for a number of reasons, one being the greater SAI angles generally used on them, another being the greater weight on the steering axles. I get the same issue here with my Toyota due to the predominance of roundabouts and sharp corners I need to negotiate. The steering alignment was, and is, spot on.
Toe specs are usually given as a range. Set yours to the favourable side of the spec range realising that FWD vehicles tend to be positive toe rather than negative.
Done by an expert at a specialty alignment shop? Done by some bozo at the tire store?
Do you have the paperwork from the last alignment? Did they make dramatic changes to the alignment?
My inclination is to suspect that alignments done by the average tire shop are apt to make things worse rather than better.
This is true, and one person's "slowly" is another person's "way too fast."
If I were the original poster I would take the car to a real alignment shop and have them check over the suspension and the alignment, and you should point the tread wear out to the alignment tech. And they should let you talk to the actual alignment tech, not just to some manager. And if that came back without any real changes, I'd keep driving and not worry.
However, I might consider investing in higher performance tires next time when these wear out. They may or may not last longer, but they will sure make driving those twisty roads more enjoyable and more safe too.
Camber does not cause feathering. It does cause wear on one side.
The greatest cause of outside edge tyre wear is overenthusiastic cornering.
One point I should note. By all means have your alignment checked. One thing that can cause feathering is a bent steering arm. Typically, a bent steering arm will cause a change in toe. If the technician just corrected the toe, he will have missed the real issue and the car will now have incorrect *toe out on turns*. A *toe out on turns check* should always be done at a wheel alignment as it will show up issues like bent steering arms.
My car is a little over a year old. At the one year mark (20,000 km/12,00 mi) I noticed feathering. Had an alignment check - all was ok. Apparently it is common for outside edge feathering depending on the type of driving. My car sees mostly urban driving.
If your wheel alignment specs are normal, colour the wear normal as well.
Miles is an indicator of potential problems. If you said it had 4,000 miles I'd think the alignment and front end are good unless you hit a big pot hole. At 60,000 miles things wear, get banged around. Different things should be checked.
Bingo!. Probably too much toe in. Have it checked and rotate the tires so they don't get much worse on the front.
Obvious to me that something is not right. Certainly not normal.
An alignment only shop with something called "Hunger" which was a big red machine with a computer screen and mirrors which he drove the car on to do the alignment.
I wish I had saved the papers. It was about 100 dollars with a coupon as I recall and it took about a half hour at least, maybe a little bit more but they had no other cars waiting as I recall.
I don't remember anything unusual but now I see why I would want to archive such things for reference.
I can't imagine that the technician didn't know how to do his job. It was a shop where the mother ran the office and he did the work and they were the only two people there.
I can hear the tires make noise but never screeching like kids do when they put those round black tire circles in the road pavement. Just a "scrunching" sound as I go around the turns.
It's a 2WD Toyota 4Runner if that makes any difference.
I don't think I can take the turns much slower than about 20mph as I'm always the one who pulls over to let others pass me on that road.
I just want to know if the road curves are the problem, why the rear tires don't show the same outside feathering that the fronts show at 4K miles.
The tires are TREADWEAR = 380 if that's what you mean by "performance".
You don't say what kind of vehicle, bur as a retired mechanic I'd say you most likely have an alignment issue, possibly complicated by loose ball joints or other suspension components. It definitely is NOT normal wear. Get it fixed.
Addeing a few pounds of air pressure usually reduces the problem significantly IF it is agressive cornrting causing the problem. We need to know what kind of vehicle and what tires to give any more help.
Run the tires a bit harder - add at least 5 psi and do NOT let the tires get low on air. DO recheck the alignment as well. A lot cheaper than new tires.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.