Hello guys, I am having some trouble with tire wear on my 02' Lightning. My truck is at 45,000 miles and my 3rd set of tires just came in the mail today. I know these tires don't have much tread life but they are wearing heavy on the insides of the tires and still have tread left on the outside. Sounds like alignment to me, however, I was having alignment problems with the truck after I bought it and I finally took my truck in and gave them the alignment specs that I received from some of you on this site and had them put a camber kit on it. Isn't that supposed to hold those specs? Another thing of note, when my steering wheel is perfectly straight the truck goes a bit to the right, its been like that since purchase. Could this be alignment or maybe just a slightly crooked steering wheel. When you get the truck going straight on a nice road it doesn't seem to pull but I am getting this uneven wear. Any of you had the same or similiar problems? Looking for any help or advice as you know these tires are cheap at $200+ a piece. Thanks!!

 

All your problems are alignment related, find a better shop to do the work.

 

I never got more than 25,000 daily-driven miles out of any of the 3 sets of F1's I've owned. No racing or burnouts. I had the inner tire wear you describe on the 1st set, had the alignment checked and it checked in spec. Since that time I've rotated tires at about 5,000 miles. No more uneven wear. I've got a set of Kooks on there now for almost 50k miles, no uneven wear. I haven't been to an alignment shop since the first set of F1's but I don't have the other symptoms you describe.

 

Could someone again tell me the alignment specs so when I take it to the alignment shop I can tell them so they can see if it's in spec......

 

You need to find a shop that does "Four Wheel Alignment" and I'm told that inside wear on these trucks requires the installation of a "Cam Kit"...about $50, in addition to the alignment cost.

 

I have the same problem, '04 F150 inner tire wear......aliment is good.. shop told me to add a camber bolt kit...havent done it yet....still looking for a better answer.

 

The cam bolt kit allows the adjustment of caster and camber. They are non adjustable from the factory. negative camber will give you inside tire wear but your toe setting is the major tire wear angle. You can search the specs but any reputable alignment shop will have the setting in their computer. It somes up lightning specific. I know cause i do alignments all day long. Also because out tires are so wide, you have to be relegious about rotating them or any little imperfection in the alignment settings will shred the edges. Take it to another shop is my opinion.

 

My truck ate my brand new F1's in no time with a alignment. Switched to Nitto's and haven't had that problem since. I put 20,000 on the Nitto's and no weird tire wear.

 

Tread life or grip -- pick one.

 

Among other things, do you have the "Clunk washers" yet? (keeps the control arm from moving around).

+1 for low tread life expecancy... but the excessive inside wear seems to indicate alignment, as mentioned. I don't usually get 20k out of a set of tires, but it's certainly not unheard of to get MUCH more.

 

I have had the same problem for the past 40K. I have had the “Clunk washers” yeas ago, changed all the components, new shocks…

Nothing seem to help, Then I took it to a specially shop that deals with vehicles with suspension modifications, $130.00 worth of sh**. Well several miles down the road, and same tire results.

After four sets of front tires, I would rotate them from left to right, (dismount them), every couple of miles other wise the inside would wear completely out down to the threads, the first time I found this I had two front flat tires!!!

This time I went to the $35.00 alignment store, and told them that I wanted the tires to be (toed out to the max) the specs I think calls out to -0.05 degrees. (Toed in)

Well I went to the max +0.0 something all most to the red, I have only done this about 1.5k miles ago… But it looks like it worked…

It tracks straight; dos not pull, or shake. I’m hoping that this will finally solve this situation, but it has been he**.