Bad tire ware on rear tires

[SacDoug]

I am posting this here because I'm not sure if this would go in the tire, drivetrain or suspension forums.

The problem is that on both of my rear tires, there is excessive wear on the inside of both tires. The outer tread looks like it has 5000 miles on it but the inside of the LR tire is completely bald. The inside of the RR tire has maybe 1/64" of tread, the tread is barely noticeable. The air pressure was a little low on both tires at 30 psi but that should cause both outer edges to wear more, not just the inner edge.

What could cause this and what should I be looking for? If the rear axle is bad should I just swap the whole thing out? I was considering the Camaro brake upgrade, is a Camaro rear end a direct swap?

 

[Ian Turgeon]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

hmm, my tires lasted a long time, but when I had to replace them, the insides wore like your talking about. There was visiable tire clumps (think eraser shavings) on the tires and the insides had worn very quickly and very onevenly compared to the outer half of the tires.

My theory was a bent axle at the time, but not really sure. The rearend nor the axle tube ends leak or anything.

 

[SacDoug]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

Thanks for your repsonse. How many miles did you have your tires on before you needed to replace them?

I have only owned my truck for 1 month so I don't know how long it took to wear these tires like this. If it took 30k miles, then it won't bother me. Maybe I should just switch the tires around and watch them for a month to see how fast they wear. If I see any steel showing, I'll know it is really bad.

 

[sleepy]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

If you are wearing the rear tires - there is probably a bent axle. Take it to an alignment shop and have them check all four, and make sure they pay attantion to the rear toe reading. If it is bent - replace the axle. The camaro is not a direct swap, they have rear coils and we have leaf springs. If the camaro axle is the same width, you can get the pads welded on, jus tmake sure they pay attention to the pinion angle when it is welded.

 

[Zewerr]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

If you only had the truck for a month, most likely the used to be on the front, then that would be a front end alignment problem.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

If you only had the truck for a month, most likely the used to be on the front, then that would be a front end alignment problem.

Good observation. Something would have to be really bad in the rear for it to wear like that.

 

[SacDoug]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

If you only had the truck for a month, most likely the used to be on the front, then that would be a front end alignment problem.

That is a good point. My front end needs a lot of work. Tonight I am going to start replacing all 4 ball joints, idler arm, pitman arm and one of the upper control arm bushings. It would not surprise me if the previous owner moved the old front tires to the rear since he put new ones on the front before I bought it.

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

He only put on 2 tires?

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

Thanks for your repsonse. How many miles did you have your tires on before you needed to replace them?

I have only owned my truck for 1 month so I don't know how long it took to wear these tires like this. If it took 30k miles, then it won't bother me. Maybe I should just switch the tires around and watch them for a month to see how fast they wear. If I see any steel showing, I'll know it is really bad.

If they only have 1/64 left why are you even messing with them? Thats way too low to be safe. :2cents:

 

[SacDoug]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

If they only have 1/64 left why are you even messing with them? Thats way too low to be safe. :2cents:

I don't drive the truck very much; mostly on the weekends. I want to fix any problems that may be causing it first before I put on fresh tires. That way I don't ruin brand new tires before I find the cause. Even if I don't find the cause, I will still replace those tires at the end of the month.

And yes, the previous owner only replaced two tires. He did a lot of "red neck" maintainence on the truck. I discover something that he did every week. Last week I found the vacuum lines misrouted in such a way that he "T"ed the line from the compressor housing--boost controller into the line that was supposed to go to the vacuum resevour under the battery. Needless to say, they screwed up the cruise control and I'm pretty sure it cause me to overboost. When I replace the rear ones, I am going to look for whoever sells a matching set.

I just replace the idler arm and the old one had quite a bit of play in it. I can't believe that GM uses so many 18mm nuts. It is such an odd size that I only have 1 socket for it and a stubby wrench. While I was under there I inspected everything else that Big-O said was bad. It turns out that my pitman arm is good and my two upper ball joints. My lower ball joints are indeed bad and the one bushing they said was bad is questionable. I guess I will be returning $80 worth of parts of Autozone.

Does anyone know if the upper A-arm bushings have to be pressed in or not?

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Bad tire ware on rear tires

Yes the bushings should be pressed in, you could beat them in with a hammer, but that would be a pain in the a$$, or use a vice. HTH