Front tire wear question
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: tampa bay area
Front tire wear question
I purchased a 2001 Expedition about 7 months ago and have only put about 2800 miles on it since. When I bought the truck I noticed that the tires were noisy. I figured that it was just a truck style of tire that I wasn't used to.
Recently I had occassion to run my hand across the tread surface of the front tires and found that they were very wavy. I have recently come to the understanding that it is really only the front tires that are making the noise. I ran my hands along the back tires and they are smooth and level.
Many years ago I had seen a lot of this kind of thing, especially on things like mini vans, more on rear tires. The mechanics always said it was caused by bad shocks. Could the front shocks be causing this on my truck? The ride of the truck doesn't feel anything like it has bad shocks. Everything else with the front end seems very tight and it goes down the road in a straight line without any type of pulling or wandering.
Anyone had similar symptoms? Do I need shocks?
Recently I had occassion to run my hand across the tread surface of the front tires and found that they were very wavy. I have recently come to the understanding that it is really only the front tires that are making the noise. I ran my hands along the back tires and they are smooth and level.
Many years ago I had seen a lot of this kind of thing, especially on things like mini vans, more on rear tires. The mechanics always said it was caused by bad shocks. Could the front shocks be causing this on my truck? The ride of the truck doesn't feel anything like it has bad shocks. Everything else with the front end seems very tight and it goes down the road in a straight line without any type of pulling or wandering.
Anyone had similar symptoms? Do I need shocks?
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Joined: Jun 2009
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it could be the shocks, or it could be the tie rod ends as well. TRE's on these things are known to go bad pretty quickly and cause tire cupping. Have you had the alignment checked also? You might be able to get away with changing the TRE's and putting the rotating the tires around for the short term, but you are most likely going to need 2 new tires down the road.
I'm sure you'll get other causes to look at also.
I'm sure you'll get other causes to look at also.
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Senior User
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From: tampa bay area
Thank you for the definition of what the tire wear is that I am expierencing. I did a search with "cupping". It looks like ball joints are the most common culprit. I'll go ahead and shake down the whole front suspension and see what's going on.
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I forgot to put in that tie rod ends and the idler arm were also areas to pay attention to according to what I found in my search and these could also attibute to this wear. Thanks again.
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: tampa bay area
I just wanted to update this thread with my findings.
The ball joints are all original on the truck with just over 90K on it. They are all wiped out. The tie rod ends seem OK.
So I now know what I will be doing some weekend very soon.
The ball joints are all original on the truck with just over 90K on it. They are all wiped out. The tie rod ends seem OK.
So I now know what I will be doing some weekend very soon.
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