Rear tire wear

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Bigdog9598

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2016
Posts
23
Reaction score
1
Location
Florida
Ram Year
2007 - 4x2 - SLT
Engine
4.7 flex
hi all, not sure if this is the right place to post my question?

any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Rear tires, sever wear right rear outer edge of the tire, outer edge has worn down almost level with tread indicator.
left rear is starting to wear, but not as bad as the right side.

thoughts on whats causing this?

tires were new and balanced in October 2017, replace rear shocks November 2017. had alignment front to rear checked.

no grinding noise coming from the rear. leaf springs appear solid, no signs of movement. Bushings do not appear to be sized.

all rear suspension is factory except the shocks. 181,900 on the clock.
thanks Tom
 

shadowhawk

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Posts
3,620
Reaction score
2,808
Location
Southeast WI
Ram Year
Black metallic 2016 Sport- born 05/2016
Engine
hemi 5.7 with I2 tune
mine too. I figure lots of right hand turns with a bit too much gas pedal, causing the tire to break loose and do mini burnouts
 

hotrod45

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Posts
2,239
Reaction score
7,590
Location
Home
hi all, not sure if this is the right place to post my question?

any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Rear tires, sever wear right rear outer edge of the tire, outer edge has worn down almost level with tread indicator.
left rear is starting to wear, but not as bad as the right side.

thoughts on whats causing this?

tires were new and balanced in October 2017, replace rear shocks November 2017. had alignment front to rear checked.

no grinding noise coming from the rear. leaf springs appear solid, no signs of movement. Bushings do not appear to be sized.

all rear suspension is factory except the shocks. 181,900 on the clock.
thanks Tom

Have the tires been rotated on a regular basis? For tires not rotated, you can expect the inner part of the tread to wear faster. If both inner and outer edges are worn, the tire has been underinflated. For a rear tire to wear on the outer shoulder only is strange. My first guess would be that the tire started off on the front and began the uneven wear. It becomes more noticeable when the portion of the tread with that uneven wear gets down to the last of the tread depth; but it was uneven all the while.
 
OP
OP
Bigdog9598

Bigdog9598

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2016
Posts
23
Reaction score
1
Location
Florida
Ram Year
2007 - 4x2 - SLT
Engine
4.7 flex
Shadowhawk & Hotrod45 thank you for the response.
correct both rear tires started on the front. I replaced all the front suspension parts and put the fronts tires on the rear. yes they had started to wear because of the worn suspension parts.
my thought was with the tires on the rear that uneven wear would stop/slow down, it hasn't, it continues to wear the outer edge.
I was hoping for some thoughts on what to check, as my go to guy is at a loss.

I have considered that the tire is already damaged and this damage will cause it to wear faster? Although not hoping for that as 20" tires are freakn expensive!!
 

hotrod45

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Posts
2,239
Reaction score
7,590
Location
Home
The RR tire tends to wear faster because of the way the differential works. You hoped that the uneven wear would stop. It did. What you now see is how much more tread was worn off on the outside shoulder than elsewhere when the damage was done. It probably has worn quite evenly after switching it. If you can get someone to stick the tread with a tread depth gauge, it would not surprise me if the best part of the tread is not that great, either. I grew up in the tire business, btw. My Dad was a Goodyear distributor.
 
OP
OP
Bigdog9598

Bigdog9598

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2016
Posts
23
Reaction score
1
Location
Florida
Ram Year
2007 - 4x2 - SLT
Engine
4.7 flex
Hotrod45
thank you for your response, that makes sense what I am seeing.
 

shadowhawk

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Posts
3,620
Reaction score
2,808
Location
Southeast WI
Ram Year
Black metallic 2016 Sport- born 05/2016
Engine
hemi 5.7 with I2 tune
The RR tire tends to wear faster because of the way the differential works. You hoped that the uneven wear would stop. It did. What you now see is how much more tread was worn off on the outside shoulder than elsewhere when the damage was done. It probably has worn quite evenly after switching it. If you can get someone to stick the tread with a tread depth gauge, it would not surprise me if the best part of the tread is not that great, either. I grew up in the tire business, btw. My Dad was a Goodyear distributor.


I did exactly the same thing, but I only have 22K miles on the truck. the past 7k on the tire position is after I rotated them front to back. I was due for the rotation again.
 

hotrod45

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Posts
2,239
Reaction score
7,590
Location
Home
Here's something that might be useful, going forward. The cords in a radial tire migrate from the 90-degree position with reference to the bead. The tire rolls one way and the cords migrate the other way. They get to the maximum deviation at about 5000 miles. If you rotate tires in a manner that reverses the direction of wheel rotation, it takes 5000 miles to get back to zero and then, if direction is not reversed, it takes another 5000 miles to get to the maximum deviation in the other direction.
In my '13 Longhorn 4x4 Crew, I crossed F to R and crossed R to F at 5k. Then at 10k, I moved R to F and F to R, straight change. At 15k, I "X"-d them again and at 20k, another straight change on each side. I continued until I traded at something over 30k, I forget what. What I noticed was that the wear was extremely even, but I have doubts as to whether making the cords go beyond coming back to zero results in anything for extended miles out of the tires. The tires were going to be done, I figured, at somewhere around 40k. But the tires didn't look good, as in "high rubber," to use the common phrase. So the price of a set of tires was probably deducted when I traded it. It might be the case that making the carcass exercise resulted in extreme evenness, but not in the best tire life. So you might want to limit the miles to 5k after reversing the direction of wheels.
 
OP
OP
Bigdog9598

Bigdog9598

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2016
Posts
23
Reaction score
1
Location
Florida
Ram Year
2007 - 4x2 - SLT
Engine
4.7 flex
Hotrod45
I should rotate my tires. I didn't when I had the alignment checked for front to rear because I was thinking that the rear tires are damaged and wanted to preserve my front tires which are not damaged.
after your post last week, and the above, it makes sense what you are saying.
I will be more consistent with the rotation. Hate to say I didn't rotate my tires as often as recommended.
 

hotrod45

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Posts
2,239
Reaction score
7,590
Location
Home
We give it our best guess and go with that. Then we find out how much that particular lesson cost. At my age, I keep thinking that the really expensive lessons should be behind me by now, but then I find out how much that lesson just cost. They keep moving the goal line on us.
 
Top