Tires are less than a year old, and the inners are pretty much bald. I had the alignment checked twice and it is good. Outter tie rods were replaced previous to alignment #1. Could this be a symptom of inner tie rods or ball joints?
.....and for you nags who wanna rip on me...NO I don't rotate my tires regularly, shoot me.

 

Wellll, if you had rotated your tires without fixing the problem you would have 4 bad tires
I think that is a camber problem. It has to be a bad alignment. No respectable alignment shop would call good if you had bad front end parts. Get another estimate somewhere else - they usually do it for free. Is the work still under warranty?

 

this 96 AWD has been the best rig I've ever had to hold alignment...twice in 160k...get 70k plus on tires...pound the h!!! out of it on mountain gravel/dirt roads...and forget to rotate tires...never a problem with uneven tire wear
I'd try another alignment shop...shop I go to will only do a "dynamic front to rear alignment" since it is AWD...
$70 bucks but it works...drives like the day it came off the new lot...straight and no wander
i don't think tire rotation is that important on these 30/70 awd Aero's with main drive pwr to rear and 30% to steering front...

Front engine FWD different story...fronts wear twice as fast as rear tires

worn tie rods with wrong toe in will show up as feathered edges on face of tires rubbing hand across face...also will have hwy wander problems

good alignment tech on top quality machine can spot worn tie rods or worn ball joints quickly...worn suspension arm bushing they will sometimes miss..

worn ball joints show up as changing unstable camber
do top and bottom at same time...only one weekend of cussing under shade tree or locked in garage with no tv instead to 2 sessions of pain

 

Not trying to offend but if you are a large person or if you haul large loads, may be a good idea not to have the alignment done when empty.

 

The alignment was done at two seperate shops, one of which I trust very much. So I am virtualy CERTAIN it is not out of align. Secondly, it is a cargo van and is used regularly to haul lumber and construction related materials. So it does get some pretty good loads in her. The reason I ask about the possibility of it being tie rods or ball joints is, I had a Ranger that had some tire wear problems and it turned out to be the upper ball joint. I guess I will just have to jack her up and do some tugging and pulling.

 

Take heart, you're not crazy nor a negligent owner. Your problem is worn upper control arm bushings. I fought the very same problem you describe for several years before figuring this out. I changed every front suspension part, replaced steering racks and had 12 alignments performed trying to chase this problem down. Every alignment showed the camber to be within specifications. Finally, in desperation, I changed out those bushings and that solved the problem. You could tell the difference in the way the wheels sat the moment the van was off the jackstands. My inner edges would be worn completely down, to the inner cords in some places, while the remainder of the tire looked nearly new. After a year now, both tires are wearing evenly. There are multiple postings on this forum regarding changing those bushings.

 

Yea that is what I'm having replaced on the Wife's 89 monday. Had it aligned and about two weeks later she was backing out of a parking space and when she cranked the wheel the driver's side popped.

Well about 2-3 weeks after that I drove it back from the next town (50 miles) and it pulled hard to the right. Had to fight the wheel to keep it straight.
Took it in where I had it aligned and they said the upper control arm bushings were shot.

Jay

 

Ahhh, the beauty of forums. Sounds like driver history indicates upper control arm bushings.
I would (after replacing them myself) go back to the shops and say "hey guys, you missed something. I told you what the problem was and you just went through the standard routine...blah, blah". Maybe it would help the next poor customer. Nothing gets said, nothing gets fixed.

 

Time for war stories! I had the tire wear issue on my '94 a few years back took it to the tire shop that gives a 12mo warranty on the alignment. He found nothing wrong and alignment in specs. I knew he was wrong cause tires don't wear out like that. Took it to a front end shop. He gave me an estimate for two lower ball joints, inner (left) and outer (right) tie rods. He also showed me on the lift that how he determined them to be bad. I could not believe it but he was definitely right. I took the estimate to the first shop and showed him the work and tire sale that he just lost.
I then went to the parts store and bought upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods for both sides then installed them. Went to the second shop and got new tires and the alignment with the 6mo warranty.

 

Sagging front shocks could contribute to wear on the inner part of the tires. Still the shop should resolve the issue. What they are saying to your face, is they think you are stupid and that the tire wear problem doesn't exist. I am not in favor of customers who explode in the managers face, or get unreasonably angry, but this is an outrage. They should fix this ASAP, especially since you are buying the tires.

 

The upper control arm bushings are easy to replace, and alignment must be done after they are replaced. So replace those first and then have the alignment redone. A big help would be to borrow the balljoint press from Autozone, which looks like a huge C-clamp. With that, it's fairly routine. You can do both sides in half a day.

Thanks Aerocolorado for posting your experience. I would have never associated the upper bushings with a problem like this.

 

But then in the manual it says about the bushings

" NOTE: The adjusting arm bushings are not serviceable . If they are damaged or worn out, the adjusting arm and mounting brackets must be replaced as an assembly."


Jay

 

Hi Jay:

They lied. The same about the upper and lower balljoints.

 

copper, Glad to share experiences. The mystery remains (to me) as to why all these alignments (and from different shops) all showed the camber well within specifications when in fact they were not. Both my front tires visually displayed negative camber, e.g. the tops of the tires canted inward whereas after replacing the bushings, they were nearly vertical - as they should be. The reason it took so long for me to conclude it was the bushings was the fact they appeared to be in good condition. Even when I was taking them off the control arm I was still not convinced they were the sole reason for such negative camber but they were. Funnier still, the alignment specs after changing those bushings were nearly the same as before - within a degree of so at mid-range. At this point, I would say any camber readings for the Aerostar should be taken with a BIG grain of salt.

 

Where do I find the thread on this topic? I've searhced and come up empty. I hope to do this as well as the inner tie rods this weekend. I have a Chiltons and it also says not serviceable. So I need all the info I can get.
Will I have to spererate the balljoints? Any good tips to make the job easier? etc...thanks.