Tire wear question

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mywaynow

Minister of Fire
Dec 13, 2010
1,369
Northeast
My 2012 F150 is eating front tires. It wears both inside and outside edges of the tread. I am thinking that is an indication of low pressure, but they are not low. Lots of wieght in the truck, but is has 10 ply tires. Max lb is 44, which seems light for 10 ply. My Chevy took 60 lbs in the 10 ply tires. Been fighting with leaking air bags in the rear, so I have not done a front end alignment yet, plus the truck was new and should not have needed one. 25k in and had to replace a pair. 250 per tire. Not cool.
 
It does sound like low pressure. Remember the max pressure is not necessarily the right pressure for your vehicle. Also if they're not the stock tires the proper pressure will change. It's not the stiffness of the tire (number of plies), but the air pressure times the contact area that supports the vehicle's weight.

One old trick to determine the proper tire pressure it to put a wide, even chalk line across the tire, then drive a couple hundred yards in a straight line on smooth pavement. If the chalk line wears on the outside they're underinflated, if it wears on the center they're overinflated. I used to have a Jeep CJ-5 with 33's. Using this technique, I determined the proper pressure was 13 psi, and at that pressure they wore evenly.
 
Are they OEM tires? If so,there should be some warranty involved.
 
If max pressure is 44 psi then they are NOT 10 ply LRE truck tires. The old days of ply ratings on tires are gone and they now use load range designations. A Load Range E tire as would come on a full size (f250 or f350) truck will take 80 psi. 44 psi is a low rated tire.
 
10 plys/E rateds on a 1/2 ton? How do they ride?

Lots of weight in the truck generally doesn't bother the fronts nearly as much as the rears. I still believe in rotating tires every 10K at least. No such thing as even tire wear on a pickup. You mentioned that it may need an alignment, and I'd do that ASAP. Going rate here is roughly $70 and worth every penny.

Next time around I'd think about replacing them with something closer to OEM unless you had a really good reason to go for the 10 plys.
 
These are oem tires. This truck is equipped with heavy duty tow package and is rated for 2000lbs payload. These are the factory tires.
 
Yeah, check the manual for recommended tire rotation schedule.
Might be every 6,000 miles.
Doesn't seem like that has anything to do with the wear pattern though.
I believe my Jeep tires are max rated at 44 PSI, and they for sure are not E.
Something ain't right.
 
This is what Tirerack says my truck uses:
Original Equipment Size: 245/75-17
Load Range E
 
Just snuck out and took the information off the tires. This is the advert off Tireracks site:

Lea en español
The Wrangler SR-A is Goodyear’s Highway All-Season tire developed for the drivers of pickup trucks, crossovers and sport utility vehicles. Extensively used as Original Equipment on a wide range of popular light trucks, the Wrangler SR-A is available in a comprehensive range of 15” through 20” rim diameter sizes. The Wrangler SR-A is designed to reduce noise, vibration and ride harshness while providing all-season traction, even on gravel roads and in light snow.
The Wrangler SR-A features Goodyear’s WetTrac Technology that molds an enhanced wet traction tread compound into a symmetric tread design which combines independent tread blocks, wide circumferential grooves and hundreds of zigzag sipes to promote traction in wet and wintry conditions. The wide circumferential grooves help move water through the tread for wet traction while self-cleaning lateral grooves in the shoulders help evacuate water, mud and snow.
The tire's internal structure includes twin, high-tensile steel belts on top of a polyester cord carcass. Heavy-duty LT-metric-sized Load Range D & Load Range E tires are reinforced with spirally wound nylon to promote strength, even wear and extra durability.
 
I had the Wrangler SR-A's on a Jeep Patriot in a 215/65/17, they were trash @20k all 4 wore the outside treadblocks down with regular rotations. You'd think it was a suspension issue but the next 2 sets of tires wore fine. IMO they're an economy tire, toss them and get something better.
 
Oem tires are usually a cheap tire. Factory tires on all my vehicles only last 10-15 thousand Kms.

At work we have a full size suburban with 10 ply tires and we put 80 lbs. when towing or 50 when not....

A
 
Just looked at Tirerack and your tires are 80 PSI. Unless I was looking at the wrong tire. Could be low pressure.>>

What does the sidewall state for max. inflation?

It doesn't really matter. Unless you deviate substantially from the OEM tire type (size, width, load range) you should follow the cold inflation pressure (usually) found on the driver's door jamb. It's on the label along with the GVWR and GAWR (for SUV's/pickups) for the vehicle. Those pressures on the sidewall of the tire are for when the tire is loaded to it's maximum capacity, also found on the sidewall.


Oem tires are usually a cheap tire. Factory tires on all my vehicles only last 10-15 thousand Kms.

I went nearly 50K (miles) on the General Ameritracs that came on my Canyon. They wore iron, and drove similarly in the rain. Hated, hate, hate, hate, hated! those #$%^^ing tires. Cooper Discover HTs replaced them and that was much better (same size). After those I made a big change to the wheel size and improved things further of that particular vehicle.

This is what Tirerack says my truck uses: Original Equipment Size: 245/75-17 Load Range E

That just seems like ridiculous overkill on a 1/2 ton (F150, right?) pickup. You would need a rear GAWR in the neighborhood of 10K lbs to really use E rated tires.
 
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If the outside tread is wearing evenly then that's low pressure. Doesn't matter what type of vehicle or tire. I see no reason for that much front tire on a half ton.
 
These are oem tires. This truck is equipped with heavy duty tow package and is rated for 2000lbs payload. These are the factory tires.

FWIW, I just replaced a set of Goodyear ComfortTreads at 33K miles. These are supposed to be 80k tires. Not. I'm thinking Goodyear is fudging their wear ratings.
 
It doesn't really matter. Unless you deviate substantially from the OEM tire type (size, width, load range) you should follow the cold inflation pressure (usually) found on the driver's door jamb. It's on the label along with the GVWR and GAWR (for SUV's/pickups) for the vehicle. Those pressures on the sidewall of the tire are for when the tire is loaded to it's maximum capacity, also found on the sidewall.




I went nearly 50K (miles) on the General Ameritracs that came on my Canyon. They wore iron, and drove similarly in the rain. Hated, hate, hate, hate, hated! those #$%^^ing tires. Cooper Discover HTs replaced them and that was much better (same size). After those I made a big change to the wheel size and improved things further of that particular vehicle.



That just seems like ridiculous overkill on a 1/2 ton (F150, right?) pickup. You would need a rear GAWR in the neighborhood of 10K lbs to really use E rated tires.

This truck has the new boxed frame and is set up for heavy weight. Thus the E rated tires. I think the door jamb listed a heavier wieght. Have to check that out.
 
Door says 35lbs. No idea what is in the tires. I just had a multipoint service done and they checked air pressures without opening the door. Guessing I am at that 44 mark.
 
2 things come to mind, weight will make a difference front or rear on tires especility if your tires are under inflated. Also not sure what you mean about the air bags...has this been in a accident if so than your right about a alignment. also is it a 4wd they eat rubber like made?
 
Air bags are lifting the rear back up to stock hieght. It has about 1500 in the bed at all times. No accidents. Yes 4wd.
 
Ok now I have a better picture...Could it be the air bags are leaking because of the weight in the rear...are they rated for a weight limit?
Here's my cheap diagnose...with the weight in the back and being a 4wd they could be eating those tires up in the front with the turns being made on a daily basis and the leaking air bag causing different pressure on those tires as you drive, the rears are ok their just taking the weight.
Hard to say, just my thoughts with out looking at it.
But I have owners ask why the cars are not holding up and sometimes when I look at them I don't need a tool to tell me. Hope this can help you...
 
I'm starting to think that festerw is on to something. If the tires aren't underinflated its almost got to be an issue specific to that tire.
A quick scan of the internet indicates that others with Wrangler tires have complained of the same thing.
 
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