The outside shoulders of both front tires on my '67 f100 are showing excessive wear. My entire front end was rebuilt in 2010 and a professional alignment was done by a national chain tire shop. The old girl drives true and straight...no pull in either direction when I let go of the wheel at normal driving speed. Is this kind of tire wear indicative of a bad alignment or caused by her tendency to heel over in turns due to her weight? ....she's only gone abt 3000 miles on good roads since the alignment. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

 

Tire pressure too low.

Edit, woops thought he said both shoulders of both tires.

 

If the outer part of the tread is wearingeven it's a camber issue. If the wear is making the tread jagged then it's a toe-in issue. I'm guessing it's toe. Setting the toe "in" helps to keep a vehicle to drive straight and not wander. They might have set it a bit TOO much "in".

 

Thanks to both responders.... I'll double check my tire pressure all around, if it's good or not, I'll be getting my alignment rechecked. I'd hate to destroy my Michelins....they're not cheap. And yes, BruteFord....the outboard shoulders of Both front tires are showing excessive wear - without cupping.

 

Both.

Run your hands across the top of the tire and feel the tread. If it grabs your hand more pulling it out then pushing it in then your tires are "feathered" and have too much toe. FWIW, I'm in the habit these days of running my palm on the tread quite often.

Next would be to look into camber, it absolutely could be caused by the truck "healing over" in turns, in which case more camber is in order. However the wear would tend to be rather equal front to rear if this was the cause. That is unless somehow the front has positive camber(out at top).

 

The rear tires are wearing evenly and look almost brand new. No feathering or cupping appears on either front tire. Smooth wear, just wearing out on the outside shoulders of both front tires. I'll get my alignment checked ASAP. Thanks

 

My outside edges on the front are wearing rather oddly as well. Kind of cupping and feathering. My toe angle is zero. I set both wheels straight ahead. My only explanation is the hard cornering I sometimes do.

Let me know what you find out.

 

I'm guessing that the rebuild included new springs? which were probably stiff enough to bring the front past the original camber setting? I'm also guessing that this tire shop had no idea how to bend beams or remove coils to get the correct camber so they didn't do that part of the alignment?

 

Nope....didn't replace the springs when I did the rebuild.....and I was always told to never heat and bend the beams, as that will take the temper out and cause them to be easily bent in the future, causing you to constantly have to bend again.... if that's not true, I'm willing to learn.

 

The I-beams are cold bent to proper specs, never heated. For a good alignment, take it to a heavy truck shop as they are the only places that have the equipment to bend the beams anymore, as everything has gone to balljoints now a days with no bending needed.

 

Post some pics of the tire wear for better reference.

 

here are some pictures of mine

here is the front edge of the drivers front tire. you can see it is tapered off compared to the rest of the tread.



here is the passenger side. it is worn more.



heres the passenger side again, in the picture it is hard to see, but it is worn 3 lugs at a time, like a sawblade. the tall side of the feathered lug hits the ground first.

 

Hey 351.
Cupped usually means worn shocks. Which you just changed.
Feathered on the outside of the tread usually means too much toe "in".
Edges of tread boogered up like that means go around corners bad-azz like me.

 

yeah thats what i had figured.... combination of bad shocks and cornering like a mad-man. i replaced the shocks, but the cornering isnt gonna change! hahaha

 

New gas shocks are on it too.... I'm going to pursue the bending of the beams to proper camber.