Friend of mine and I were crawling around underneath trying to see why water was dripping from the "cardboard" enclosure... guess it was the filter on the water pump that wasn't completely turned in.....
A tire can also have a broken belt or slipped belt and cause inside or outside excessive wear. I had this happen to one tire last winter. I was concerned like you that there was an alignment problem, but the tire dealer seemed to think it was the tire. I have had no further problem after replacing the tire.