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TigerL's avatar
TigerL
Explorer
Apr 13, 2014

tire ware

Cleaned my tt today, wheels as well. I noticed the inside tread of the rear tires were pretty worn out. I have about 25k to 30k of miles on them. I'd expect them to be worn, however, just the inside rear. The axle looks ok. Just checking if that sounds like normal wear. Getting new tires this week. I appreciate any feedback. Thank you in advance.
  • Inside wear usually indicates an overloaded situation.
  • as a general rule, the wear on all 4 tires should be even .... if both rear tires show irregular wear, there is an issue .... most likely an issue with the axle .... if the wear has been from day one and it has taken so many miles to show, the issue is probably minor .... that isn't to say it shouldn't be addressed .... if it is a recent development, something must have changed and you need to find out what that is

    Jim
  • Could be weight or alignment, but at 25 to 30K on the tires and they aren't showing steel belts, its not too bad.
  • If only one tire is showing bad wear, then a bent axle from curbing or a pothole etc. likely is the culprit.
    Since both tires on this axle is showing bad wear, then it is like losing it's camber due to overloading. I would visit the scales as a first step to see. If it is only slightly over loaded, then the fix may be as simple as lightening the load, and hopefully the camber springs back. Or the camber loss could be permanent. Then you would need to get it recambered, or better yet replaced with a heavier axle to keep it from happening again.
  • As was said, if the trailer wheels are in the correct alignment and the axle is not in overload, all 4 should wear even. Other than ST tires in the tandem setup can have side turning wear on the outside corner from road scrub in the turn. More like a radius wear rub on the outer tread corner. LT's in this same setup do not seem to do that as pronounced like ST's from what I have seen.

    That said... you have an RV... Is this the first set of tires on the camper? Is this the first time you noticed wear?

    It may have not been build right to start with and the other tires may have wear patterns too, just not as pronounced.

    Some truck shops or trailer shops have trailer alignment machines and they can check everything. Before a fix can be done, need to know what is wrong.

    I agree, get all 4 wheels weighed separately is best. Odds are high one wheel is heavier than the other.

    If you want get into doing some checks yourself, let us know. There are simple ways to check for an axle which has loss of camber and some times a bent stub end which the axle tube is OK but the stub end is bent and the wheel is out.

    Inside wear on a trailer often points to camber and/or the toe angle that is way out of spec. for that wheel. Causes can be several in how those conditions came about.

    I myself would check it out before putting new tires on.