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Old 08-15-2010, 01:59 PM   #1
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Tire wear question

I've got BFG AT/KO 285/57R16 tires on my 4x4, and they're about 6 years old now so I'm thinking of replacing them, although they've got some tread life left.

But I noticed on all the tires that there is significant more wear on the insides of all the tires. I usually don't rotate tires, so I don't think this is outside wear that got rotated in.

Any idea as to cause?

Any thoughts on replacements?

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Old 08-15-2010, 02:47 PM   #2
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Re: Tire wear question

I'm not familiar with 4WD vehicles, but if this was on a tractor trailer, it would be one cause. Axle Flex or actual permanent bending of the axles. This occurs on tractor trailers that convert to "wide base single" tires when the original design was for dual tires. The axles are not wide enough and the new offset of the wheels puts stress on the axles causing them to bend.

Add the weight of these SMB's and the addition of wheel spacers increasing the track and distance from the support of the spring then some off road pounding, relative to the original intended use, I'm inclined to think you've got some flex going on and it is showing up in your tires. I assume you've got a solid front axle. You could just be diligent and turn the tires on the rim as part off your rotation maintenance.
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Old 08-15-2010, 03:13 PM   #3
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Re: Tire wear question

I doubt it's flex, as I don't use spacers, almost never tow, and my SMB is on the lighter side compared to some others (about 8400).

I suspect I've got some negative camber built in, and I think the sway bars may exacerbate that. Hard turning will then result in some lift on the outside tires, which could cause the wear. And the outside tires are likely to get more wear in turns anyway, right?

Rob
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Old 09-16-2010, 06:58 PM   #4
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Re: Tire wear question

Rob, That is an odd wear pattern. Did you get an explanatoin that made sense? I would talk to Heber at SMB and run it by him.
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Old 09-16-2010, 11:05 PM   #5
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Re: Tire wear question

Nope, didn't sort it out. I just replaced the tires; we'll see what happened. I still think it was a result of vigorous cornering with beefy sway bars. I'll check some vehicles at the track next weekend and see if anyone else has had similar patterns.

Rob
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