Tire wear

Bobbyg2013 wrote:
I have a duel axle TT and the tires are wearing out faster on the outer edges (towards the sidewall on the tire) than at any other place on the tire. Why is that?

Hi,

All the answers so far have a lot of truth to them. The answers range from "normal" turning edge wear all the way to many of the mechanical things that can go wrong on TT running gear. There are some more not mentioned but will hold them for now. So how do you sort this out?

To help you better, you really need to give us more info and I know right now you may not know what that is. Here is a start.

1. How old are the tires and when did you notice the wear in relation to the age? There are DOT date codes on the tires that tell week of the year and year. 2110 means weak 21, year 2010 etc

2. What tire pressure are all 4 tires at when you are towing? What is the max cold side wall pressure listed on the tire?

3. Did you just get the camper, is it new, used, approx how many miles have you towed it and or between when you noticed the wear? What is the make, year and model so we can look it up.

3A. Does the camper have leaf springs or does it have torsion axles? If you do not know, take a pic and post looking under the camper at the axles.

4. Pictures, it would really help if you can get some good infocus pics of all 4 tires and post them and tell us what position they are on the camper. Left front, Left rear etc. Side of the tread where you are seeing the edge wear and across the full face of the tread helps.

5. By chance, have you had the camper weighed, if so what are was the weight of the 2 axles? Was the camper loaded like you go camping?

6. Are all 4 tires wearing the exact same or are they all wearing different?

If the problem comes to be mechanical and if you are somewhat handy mechanically and have a little time, you can back into what the problem is, if there is one. Tires when made new are very accurate. The non normal wear will show up in tread wear. There are a few easy big picture checks with a 4 foot and 2 foot level will show you and some a tape measure will show you. To get even closer, then pending what you have to measure with, by doing tire face wear measuring (depth of tread across the face of the tire) and creating a tire wear map in relation to the tow ball will give you a picture of what is going on. Then to get it fixed.

TT running gear can have "issues" from day 1 coming out of the factory made wrong. Other problems can happen along the way.

If you need or want more help on the problem, give us some more info to help give better answers.

Hope this helps

John

I had that on mine that I bought new, so I know there were no accidents or abuse involved. Had the wheels aligned and it took care of it.

Have your suspension checked. It's possible that the spindles may be worn and that will cause that. Any other worn out suspension components can cause uneven wear too.

Tire wearing the inner and outer edges can be underinflation or overloaded tires.

You should be using max sidewall pressure 24/7 on the road or in storage.

ScottG wrote:
It's common to have more wear on the outside edge of trailer tires. All that distortion when making tight turns takes its toll and for some reason, it does it more to the outside edge.
I do my best to avoid those tight maneuvers just to save my tires.
If it's really bad, like wearing through the tread prematurely, go get them aligned and see if that helps.

^^^^ This
The scuffing of the tires while turning, especially when maneuvering into a tight spot, will wear the outer edge. That is assuming the wear is not drastic as stated above.

It's common to have more wear on the outside edge of trailer tires. All that distortion when making tight turns takes its toll and for some reason, it does it more to the outside edge.
I do my best to avoid those tight maneuvers just to save my tires.
If it's really bad, like wearing through the tread prematurely, go get them aligned and see if that helps.

Bobbyg2013 wrote:
I have a duel axle TT and the tires are wearing out faster on the outer edges (towards the sidewall on the tire) than at any other place on the tire. Why is that?

generally under inflation wears the out both edges, over inflation wears the center, and camber errors affect one edge or the other, toe gives feathering.

if you say edges meaning inner and outer, that's underinflation, if it is just the outer edge, that sound like bent axle, just inner edge, often overloaded or bent axle.

Bent axles. It is possible your axles are overloaded, but the likely cause is bent axles

I always refer to these tire wear charts to identify the issue. Check out this chart for your situation: https://www.kendonusa.com/downloads/Kendon-Tie-Down-Tire-Wear-Chart.pdf

I’m researching this myself, but think the automatic tire inflation systems (generally around 50-100 bucks) that screw onto the wheel prevent faster tire wear due to under or over inflation. Perhaps that’s what you need?