I'm new to this forum and need some help. I have a bone stock 2000 Lightning which has been garage kept for the last 5 years, driven on and off.
During the course of last year, I noticed extreme tire wear on the outside of the front drivers side tire. I swapped it with the rear and have been keeping an eye out to see what is causing this. I've had the L aligned and according to the Hunter Rack, it is within specs. Could it be that the tire was under inflated or is it something more serious ? It would be hard to believe that taking hard corners on exit ramps 40-50 mph would be causing this to the Goodyears. Also, are there any tires that fit the stock rims that can allow true rotations as opposed to just swapping the front and back for each side ?


Thanks in advance


JC

 

i think that you will have a hard time finding a non directional tire in our size... tire pressure can cause wear, and taking bends hard will also effect the tire wear...

 

It's all in air pressure and the alignment. Most shops set up to what they call the correct specs. You need to find a good shop that sets it up more old school, in other words they use the L's specs as a guide but then they set it up how it should be.

Case in point: I had mine aligned in the first 1000 miles by the best shop around here. He said that I was out pretty good. Now almost 29k later I do need new tires but the tread wear is damn near even. I usually rotate every 10k, and yes I do carve corners and light them up on a regular basis.

 

Hey thanks for the replies. It appears that I need to find a better place to check the front alignment. I've taken it to an SVT dealership and thought that they would do a better job in checking the alignment but if the Hunter Rack states the alignment is dead on, then I can see how they would leave it the way it is despite my telling them that there is definate wearing on the shoulder of the drivers side tire.

Does this mean that I have to tell them to give it more toe out as opposed to toe in to counter act this mis balance ? I've also noticed that the steering wheel isn't dead on straight.

Thanks

 

The steering wheel not being straight doesn't really affect anything, it's just annoying to the driver.

Mine was "in-spec" too, but I showed my alignment guy my tire wear and he knew what to do as far as tweaking it from the Ford specs. Like MHMCGILL said, my guy is an old school mechanic and doesn't blindly follow the numbers, that won't get it right. One suggestion in looking for one of these types of mechanics is to find someone experienced in lowered vehicles, even with you having a stock setup these guys usually see some extreme stuff and know what to do in these setups and can therefore think outside the realm of stock only.

 

believe it or not, i went to sears with some specs that i printed out on nloc.net and the guy there put my alignment dead on... im lowerd 3/5 with coils and control arms in the front and he had no problem.... i had him put he camber just ever so slightly negative and to a little positve i think... anybody that is compitent can align anything with the right specs...

 

Wow, that is a real relief to hear it may be a simple matter of getting it adjusted by more seasoned alignment guys. I'll probably go back to my Nissan tech that I've been working with for a decade on my TT 300ZX, which I recently departed with. That beast was notorious for wearing out the inside of the front two tires and the geniuses at Nissan designed the vehicle with the fronts being smaller than the rear, NO FREAKING POSSIBILITY OF ROTATING THE TIRES!!!! I've heard the newer 350Z even sucked more when it came to tire wear in the front. I put on a front camber kit for the Z since it sat 1 inch off the ground and my tech always put more toe out (I think...) to put less stress on the inside of the front tires. Still, I got maybe about 10K out of a the front tires.

Much appreciated for everyone's help. Now I can focus on my L, first correct this tire wear issues and then start on the performance mods!!

 

What air pressure are you running?

 

You should install "Clunk Washers" to help keep everything within specs.
Without them the driver's side lower control arm may "wander".

FF

 

Look at the area where the clunk washers go and see if there are signs of movement.

 

How do you find the location to put in clunk washers?
I've seen the parts listed but never knew what they were for until now.
Does any one have a picture to show the location?

Tire pressure should be within specs from my last oil change about 1 month ago, though I haven't been checking it on weekly basis, will do today.

Spoke with SVT and they had told me that even though a Hunter Rack may say that your L is aligned, if it hasn't be aligned using the negative parameters that SVT suggests, the tires may not wear correctly. I'll post those numbers a bit later. I'm very disappointed with my SVT dealership in Indianapolis. They don't allow you to watch the tech (which is understandable for OSHA reasons) but it felt like the service manager had the attitude that if the rack says it's aligned then it's aligned. NOT TRUE!!!
In fact, if they were using F-150 specs for alignment parameters for a L, they you'd be dead wrong. Who knows, maybe the SVT dealership alignment tech didn't care and said to himself, "ah, a L's an F-150 and they're all the same anyway!).

This issue is driving me NUTS since the passenger side tires as well as the rear driver's side have barely any wear. So it's only the front drivers side.
Definately taken it in tomorrow and sitting with my Nissan tech and follow SVT's parameters. Regardless, I'll have to get new tires to be on the safe side.


Thanks for everyone's help!!!

 

Ok, I was able to pull out the alignment specs that were taken since the last time which was 11-04. The truck hasn't been driven much up until now.

Left Front Actual Range
Camber -0.2 -1.2 to 0.2
Caster 7.1 5.7 to 7.7
Toe -0.06 -0.18 to 0.08



Right Front Actual Range
Camber -0.4 ""
Caster 7.0 6.2 to 8.2
Toe -0.08 ""


Now, according to SVT, they recommended that:

Camber -0.5
Toe -0.05

Left Caster 6.7
Right Caster 7.2

Looking at the left, the values don't seem a tremendous amount off but perhaps just being off .3 units for both Cambe and Caster could have resulted in the excessive outside tire wear.

I'm thinking of setting everything as close to what SVT recommends but perhaps going more negative for the left side camber, perhaps -0.7 since it would still fall in the -1.2 to .2 range.

Any suggestions, does anyone think this is a bad idea?

I forgot to ask SVT about the rear specs but will get those as well.

 

I have clunk washer installation photos and instructions in here: https://www.f150online.com/galleries...w.cfm?num=7528
When you click to enlarge the photos, the instructions are up top.

 

FWIW I don't have clunk washers and yes it does clunk, however I am also the guy that just turned 29k. So do you the clunk washers? It wouldn't hurt, but don't count on it to solve the problem, unlike a good alignment.

 

Thanks to everyone for the help. I got my L aligned and followed the specs from SVT in regards to camber, toe, and caster. Only time will not tell if the alignment is dead on. Regardless, I had to buy new tires and got a great deal at Discount Tire Direct. A package of four Nitto 555 including free ship was $782, not including a $50.00 rebate. Then again, it was just pure luck and circumstance. I think the tire rep stated that normal driving will give you around 18,000 miles on these tires, which is roughly 1.5 years.

I'm planning to relocate to Jax, Fla, is anyone around from there ?