I have 6700 miles on my 2011 F150 Supercrew Long box. My right rear tire is more than half used up and the left rear is almost to the same level. I have towed a travel trailer about 600 miles out of the 6700 and was wondering if I am using up the tires in the rear faster because they are being worn when you are accelerating as well as when your engine is braking you on downhills.

I have an appointment Friday for an alignment, and they said that if the alignment is off they will also replace the tires that were damaged due to the misalignment. Is it possible they are going to find an alignment issue with the rear axle that is causing this excessive wear? Also, is it more likely that the really soft Goodyear SR-A tires that were going to do this regardless?

Also, don't even bother mentioning burnouts and such, I have not done even one with this truck, as well as not having ever disabled the traction control which prevents wheel spin anyways no?

 

That seems way way fast for the tires to wear out even being soft, I wouldn't think tow haul wouldn't do much in the way of tire wear. It is possible to have a misalignment from the factory, it would just seem very unlikely. Traction control limits wheel spin, I can light them up in my 6.7 superduty with TC on it just limits wheel spin it doesn't completely stop it.

 

Alignment would normally cause the fronts to wear, not the rears (there is no alignment of the rears). Do you have P series or LT tires, and what weight of a trailer are you towing? Weight Distribution hitch?

 

If the rear axle is misaligned it could cause abnormal wear.

 

Weight distributing hitch, yes. P series Goodyear SR-A 275/65-18. 6000 pound trailer that I pulled with no tire issues prior to purchasing this truck using a 2004 5.4-3v Supercrew.

 

It is next to impossible to have a misaligned rear. With the way they are designed, locator pins etc, it just doesn't usually happen.

Junior, did your 04 have LT tires rather than P series? If so, that might be part of the problem. P series sidewalls flex quite a bit more, so you could get more wear from it. Make sure you are running your tires at the recommended pressure, which I assume is 35.

 

drive on dirt roads?

 

Dirt roads...no. Only at 5 or so MPH in the campgrounds and such.

LT tires before on the 2004, but this wear seems really fast to me at 6700 miles.

 

Running at 38psi, door says 35. This is nowhere near the 44 max psi on the sidewall.

 

The max load carrying ability is at 35. The max of 44 is only to help mainly with sidewall strength.
What kind of wear do you have? Center of tread, sides of tread or evenly across the tread? If center of tread, you will need to lower the pressure to the recommended while not towing. Center means too high a pressure. Outside edges means too low.

 

The recommended inflation pressure has nothing to do with load carrying. It's the factory's "best guess" comprimise for economy vs comfort. Max load will require inflation pressures in excess of the recommended everyday pressure, sometimes up to the max tire pressure rating. Your owners manual will have recommended inflation pressures as it relates to total load. (Just took a peek at my 07 owners manual and it recommends 41 PSI for towing.)

Junior, what is your actual measured depth on the tread? And, yes, load will have a decided effect on tread life. A 6000lb trailer isn't exactly a lightweight, and loading it front-heavy will make it even more an issue. Also, too little pressure for the load will cause the tires to heat significantly more than with the proper pressure. Heat is just as bad for tire wear as friction or surface type. This summer being so hideously hot doesn't help, either. A 105 deg F day, direct sun, and a heavily traveled blacktop can easily lead to road surface temps in excess of 150 deg F. Combine than with a heavy load carried by an improperly inflated tire and tread temps can approach levels hot enough to destabilize the compounds and cause excessive wear.

Finally, I suppose it is possible, though unlikely, for the axle to have been mis-manufactured with one side slightly out of true. That would (or should have) been picked up on the final assembly alignment at the factory as well as the dealer prep alightment (if they did one), making a misalignment of the axle highly unlikely. A a completely misaligned axle assembly would likely have no appreciable affect on tire wear. The main issue if that were the problem would be 'crabbing' (going slightly sideways) down the road.

I googled some reviews on the SR-A and see many people getting in excess of 50k out of them so it's unlikely an issue of 'soft' tire compound. It's also unlikely that you have an alignment issue, though your upcoming alignment check will shed more light on that. It's not out of the question that there could be a brake proportioning issue, forcing the rears to absorb more braking force than normal. Many places that do inspections now have braking force measurement equipment. Might not be a bad idea to have that checked as well.

Let us know what the alignment shows and we'll go from there.

Brad

 

Are you sure you have the wd hitch set up correctly? How much sag in the rear and how much rise in the front when you are hooked up?

Do you have a heavy foot when you aren't hooked up?

 

Your problem is the GoodYear Tires... for a highway tire they are absolute junk!
Put a set of michelins on it and will probaly get 60-80k out of em.


I just read the reviews on discount tire website and people are getting as low as 15,000 miles out of them. Typical Goodyear

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/rea...5&rd=18&cs=275

 

I wouldn't blame it on the tires i have the same exact tires pulled a trailer of very similar weight a 1000 miles and my tires still look great there is definitely something else at play here

 

Recommended pressure has everything to do with load carrying. A tire that is run at too low a pressure will wear quicker and quite probably blow out sometime at highway speeds. The recommended is the pressure that will handle the weight of the vehicle, the load, and also give the best tire wear. A tirre that handles 2200lbs at 35, does not handle 2200 at 25. It will handle far less. Yes your vehicle recommends 41, not for load carrying as the P series tires handle the max load of the tire at 35psi, with going to the 44 max to give more support for things like towing. That is why an LT is better at it as they already have heavier sidewalls. Some P series are considered XL which may have a higher pressure.