Can’t keep a set of tires

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16WhiteQC

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Not trying to be a **** but to me its user error.

Outer edge wearing like that if the alignment is good would indicate the truck being pushed in turns / taking turns to quick for a nose heavy truck.

Rears getting chewed up quick would also indicate lots of heavy throttle off the line and such.
 

Brandon-w

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I don't think so. Too hard on the throttle would cause feathering of the rear tires you'd be able to see it clearly they're wearing even throuought. It's 100% a combination of poor tire design and wheel alignment issues. I know because I spent a year on the alignment rack before another position opened up...
 

Brandon-w

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If you think about it your ball joints are sitting inline so let this l represent your ball joints being online.. Now you put a lift on and now you go from this l angle to this \ angle as your axle is being rolled foreward and down. So now you are fighting all forces when you turn you're going to be pushing up and down hill wearing more parts out and causing your toe and sweep to be off. 90% of wheel alignment places will not touch your cam adjusters on the axles because they're a pita to do and really they're not that adjustable so they set toe and off you go. Once they do the head sweep they should be able to see that the axle needs to be adjusted to set it back to this l nice and straight ball joints in line.

This is a copy and paste from another forum on dodges alignment.

Alignment programs (and service manuals I believe), give a wide acceptable range for front caster on the 4x4 Rams. I believe the range is 2 degrees to 5 degrees (if that's not correct, it's pretty close). The problem occurs when the alignment tech (independent or dealer) tells you that the measurements "checked out fine", just because they were in this broad range of acceptance.

Caster readings that fall on either end of the scale are subject to caster shimmy, even though they are "acceptable". I had to align some 30 trucks and attend a 9 hour "Dodge Ram Chassis Dynamics Diagnostics" training session (fancy name, ehh?), before finding out that 3 degrees to 4 degrees is the optimal caster setting for 4x4 Rams that eliminates caster shimmy.

Below I will post what specifications I set Ram trucks to. First I want to give a little more info on correct Ram alignments so you can see if you had a job well done.

The eccentrics on the lower control arms ARE NOT for individual wheel caster adjustments (even though our alignment machine says they are). The eccentric sleeves in the upper ball joints are for adjusting individual camber and total cross caster (difference in caster between two front wheels). This is why replacement eccentrics are positionable in eight different ways.

Once camber and cross caster are attained with the eccentrics, the lower control arm eccentrics are then used to swing the caster readings into specifications. The two eccentrics must be swung in the SAME direction in EQUAL amounts. If they are not, it will create a setback condition (one front wheel further forward than the other).

FYI - Comparing between the two front wheels, caster will cause a pull to the smaller value and camber will cause a pull to the larger value. A truck set up with caster pulling in one direction and camber pulling in the other direction, can lead to a wandering truck; even though it is "in specifications"!!!!!!

If the eccentrics on the lower control arms of your truck are not pointing the same direction, the alignment was done incorrectly and the axle was "twisted" or "forced" into position to attain the acceptable values (seen them from the factory this way, go figure).

A correct alignment will set the truck up with a slight negative cross caster (truck has slight pull to left) to compensate for right hand road crown. Camber will be equal side to side slightly on the negative side. This will help maintain acceptable camber when hauling heavy loads, as the truck tends to lift in the front when towing. Camber will then fall slightly positive when towing.

Just because the alignment shop says "it's in specifications", that does not mean it is set up for proper performance and handling!!!!!!!!!

Specifications (my personal settings for every Ram I align): all specs below are in degrees.


Left Wheel Right Wheel
-------------- ----------------
Caster 3. 2 3. 5
Cross Caster -. 3

Camber -. 10 -. 10
Cross Camber 0. 0

Toe - standard specs, (maybe a little out if you tow a lot, they will pull in as the front end lifts up).
 
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mtnrider

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I am running Ridge Grapplers right now and I'm not sure I'll buy another set?. They are wearing extremely fast but nothing like what you have seen. While mine are wearing faster then I would like but they are wearing evenly and I am leveled on 11.5/35-18 with a +18 offset rim. I ran a set of EXO Grapplers prior to that and they lasted a lot longer.
I'm sure some are getting decent miles out of ridge grapplers but they are probably not in a heavy Diesel HD truck.

With that said, I would get it aligned to Thuren specs like mentioned, take a closer look at you driving habits. Looks like you have some pretty wide offset wheels? Those probably aren't doing you any favors either.




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TMyers

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Tires are like anything else, you get what you pay for. Plus, you can't have it all in a single tire. Regardless of what you pay, you give up something, somewhere. Meaning you can't have the best traction along with the best longevity. Or, the highest load range along with comfort. You've got to give up some of one to get some of the other.

Tire companies market their tires to different folks. The young man working 40 hours, living paycheck to paycheck, wants badass looking tires. He doesn't care about longevity or comfort. He wants the "look". There's a tire for him. 10K miles later, he's buying more tires.

When I was a kid, I use to melt the rear tires on my car. I could do a burn out that took 5 minutes for the smoke to clear. One day it occurred to me that tires weren't cheap.... I quit that crap!

Young guys hang out in the Walmart parking lot on weekends and brag about how "Badass" their new tires look. Old guys sit around at the café and brag about how many miles they got out of a set of tires.
 

alejes02

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I used to have a 2500 and I can tell you exactly what it is—you probably run the recommended tire pressures to keep the annoying low tire pressure light off. Those things are set to assume that you’re running with a full load, hence, the threshold to trigger the light is 60 psi in the rear. That’s a lot of pressure for what is the lightest end of the truck. It makes the tires wear faster. On the 3500’s, the idiot light doesn’t flash at you. You can set whatever pressure you want. On my 3500 I have 50 in the front but only 40 in the back and my tire wear is now normal.
 

patmanz28

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When I worked at a tire store I used to see this all the time. It is usually remedied by highway tread tires. Customers would be mad they bought whatever was the hottest chunky cool-looking tire, and they just don't last on the streets as they should. I like the khumo ht-51 I have decent off-road traction excellent snow traction, and a very quiet ride. I also did not lose any mpg vs the stock Goodyears (that were just terrible). The only look pretty good, and not as fun to look at as like a terra grappler, but an inexpensive nice tire.
 

MRFREEZE57

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may sound like a goofy question but is it possible that the transfer case is stuck in 4wd? that would certainly cause it to eat up tires.
 
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Biggs36

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I used to have a 2500 and I can tell you exactly what it is—you probably run the recommended tire pressures to keep the annoying low tire pressure light off. Those things are set to assume that you’re running with a full load, hence, the threshold to trigger the light is 60 psi in the rear. That’s a lot of pressure for what is the lightest end of the truck. It makes the tires wear faster. On the 3500’s, the idiot light doesn’t flash at you. You can set whatever pressure you want. On my 3500 I have 50 in the front but only 40 in the back and my tire wear is now normal.
If I could find someone here to change those sensor parameters for me that would be great. It’s the main reason I switched to F range tires. Tired of seeing that light.
 

SportySportSport

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Talking to your tire shop goes along way. When I had my 1500 leveled and put on larger tires and different wheels I hated it. I asked myself what have I done I hate my truck now. My steering wheel was catching every edge of every groove on every road. Between the offset of the wheels +1 and slightly larger tires 275 to 295 I had a difference of tracking width so I was out of the road grooves and catching the edges. The manager said he can set the camber in a couple of degrees but still within specs. I was leery of it because I don't want to eat tires either but couldn't stand my truck the way it was. Changing the camber he had to do without the alignment machine because it wouldn't be in perfect specs. Moral of the story it fixed the issues i was having but the tire wear is yet to be seen. I'm running Nitto Trail Grapplers. I never expected to make it to the wear guarantee either way. That's my 2 cents Good luck.
 

CYSTemrebel

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I frigged up with after market rims. In 2009, one year after I took delivery on my truck I decided the stock Michelins were not up to winter mountain passes and ice so instead of doing the smart thing and buying stock OEM rims with the right set back, etc, I bought a set of four Pro Comps and trusted the custom truck shop to get things right. My mistake for not checking. Rims arrived and I bought a set of studded Cooper winters and had tires installed/mounted on new rims and I put them on myself. First snow came and massive salt on highways to facilitate melting. Was not long before I was hitting puddles and I noted crap all over the truck sides and mirrors. The extra two inch of tire now not covered by the fenders allowed whatever was on the road to cover my truck. Dirty truck in a few minutes on wet roads.

I could not take rims back. Policy is once you mount a tire, you own them period.

It also became a pain to have a different size lug nut that fit the Pro Comps, making the installation from winter to summer and vice versa a pain changing socket size back and forth. Never trust anyone or presume they will get the right size on ordered rims.

To mitigate the bs, I now run summers on Pro Comp rims and winters on the stock rims. Lot less crap in summer and fall.
 

DirtyWipers

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I don't know of any reason a truck would eat tires that fast unless you been letting a teenager drive it on the weekends.
 

Ram-in-PA

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Interesting problem, I have a '15 1500 and am on my 3rd set of tires in 50k miles. Even with frequent rotating the front end seems to eat tires. Have had alignment checked and all good.

I do have the Air Suspension, and wonder if that may be the real factor in eating tires. With the suspension changing, I would think that impacts front end alignment leading to excessive tire wear????
 

utahbill

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I got a 15 2500 that I can’t keep tires on to save my life. Truck just broke 38k and I’m about to put my fourth set on. I rotate every oil change and get the alignment checked about every four months. Anyone else having this problem?
Make sure you are getting alignments done by trained professional mechanics. Tire shops make their money selling tires and wheels. Place I used to go had a great Tech until he asked for a raise. They said no, he left, so did I.
 
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Biggs36

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Make sure you are getting alignments done by trained professional mechanics. Tire shops make their money selling tires and wheels. Place I used to go had a great Tech until he asked for a raise. They said no, he left, so did I.
The place I’ve been going is highly recommended by everyone that has a lifted truck. No matter what it always seems to be my passenger front tire that gets eaten up the fastest. The others wear even but still way to fast
 
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