tires are wearing on the inside

[idriveafastcar]

i have a 03 E.B. edition and i just put new tires on and they are chopping really bad on the insides. previous tires had the same wear when i bought it. i replaced one upper control arm and both wheel bearings and a driver cv shaft. all new ceramic brakes and slotted rotors. heard a lot about these front ends that are junk. when i go over big bumps or rail road tracks it feels like the front end is loose.

was thinking about doing new strut assemblies and lower control arms. then an alignment what do you think? need some ideas to stop the chop. thanks in advance.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Definitely needs an alignment. Replace lower control arms (or just ball joints??) first though.

 

[Habbibie]

Get an alignment first actually, the tech will tell you if you need anything replaced that is not allowing him to achieve 100% results, then go replace what you need and go back for another alignment which will be free and much quicker that your first time.

 

[Bedrck47]

Being the new tires are doing the same as the old tires
Why didn't you get and alignment as soon as you put the new tires on.
Or at least had the alignment checked.
Or had the front end checked to see if anything was wrong.

 

[idriveafastcar]

The tires were commercial tires and it was stuff. Very little wear on the insides. I replaced a bad upper control arm. I thought it fixed it. But didnt.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I just replaced everything in my steering system between the steering box and tires (inner/outer tie rods, pitman and idler arms).

Made my front end feel a ton better.

 

[Petesexpy]

Check your lower balljoints. Does the steering wheel vibrate/shakes side to side (very slightly)?

 

[1955moose]

You need to have a full front end inspection to see whats worn. Some shops are more honest than others. Ask to see worn items with SUV on rack. That way you know he or she is not bs ing you. These trucks are hard on tires in the best case scenario. Replace all worn parts, 4 wheel alignment. And rotate tires every 5k. That's what I did, seems to work.


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[SeanM]

I just replaced everything in my steering system between the steering box and tires (inner/outer tie rods, pitman and idler arms).

Made my front end feel a ton better.

Tom,
What brand did you go with for the steering parts? On rockauto I can get Moog problem solver tie rods (inner and out) for $114, and could get Motorcraft for $175. I am also looking into detroit axle.

 

[1955moose]

Moog is one of the few products that works better than Ford oem, due to grease fittings. The thing that wears out parts prematurely is lack of grease. Rember the old days when they greased your car along with oil/ filter change. Oh yeah I keep forgetting, I'm old!


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[ExplorerTom]

Yep, I went with Moog everything.

Except for the tie rod adjuster sleeve. That was just whatever I picked up at O'Reilly's because it was going to be too much work to get the old tie rods out of the factory sleeves. So for few bucks each, I was able to just swap tie rod assemblies.

And after going this route, I recommend it. It's much easier to get the new tie rods set to the rough length of the old tie rod assemblies. Of course you need to go for an alignment right away, but at least you'll be close driving to the shop.

 

[1955moose]

You chalk the old ones, I use a yellow crayon to get the tie rods close before you bring to alignment shop.


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[tiny]

Totally agree on the front end alignment CHECK. Upper control arms on these vehicles should be swapped out in pairs, driver's side is a bit of a pain on these with the ABS unit in the way and all but its pretty straight forward. If your CHECK yields bad bushing on the lowers consider doing arms on the bottom too ( swapping those WILL require an alignment as the camber is adjusted through them) I had the RF tire wearing the inside of the tire and swapped out both upper control arms and good to go. Good luck.

 

[idriveafastcar]

im replacing all 4 struts with complete assemblies and replacing the complete A arms with new bushings and ball joints. one upper control arm i didnt replace yet then a 4 wheel alignment. all in the next 30 days

 

[Jb14]

Normally that type of wear would be due to worn out struts. The worn out strut wont keep the tire planted and creates uneven wear. Also good time to replace coil springs if you have alot of miles on them