Uneven Tire wear |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Topic: Uneven Tire wear Posted: 14 Aug 2014 at 8:24am |
On my tires, after 5 years and 15,000 miles, all of the tread is wearing evenly except the strip of tread just inside the inner edge. The tread is different than the picture above - on my tires that strip of tread is narrower than the outer edges. The tread on the outer edges is wearing evenly even though the wheels are noticeably tilted inward.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Seanl
Senior Member Joined: 19 Sep 2011 Location: Fredericton NB Online Status: Offline Posts: 633 |
Posted: 14 Aug 2014 at 9:04am |
I have not noticed any uneven tire wear on mine. But I did notice that when I am traveling down the road I have negative camber on the wheels. I know most trailer axels have postive camber on them and I know that when standing still mine has either slightly positive or 0 camber on it. I would have to get out a laser and be on a level pad to know for sure. I think that the wind must put a downforce on the axle causing the negative camber. It does not apear to be enough to effect tire wear much on mine though.
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Sean, 2011 Rpod RP-173,2009 Jeep Liberty Rocky Mountain Edition
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fwunder
Senior Member Joined: 04 Oct 2013 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 1676 |
Posted: 14 Aug 2014 at 9:08am |
I'm thinking I should have had them balanced as you (Doug) and others suggested before leaving on an 8,000 mile trip. Now that the wear has started, the balance is worse and the wear will probably accelerate. Not too worried yet, but will watch closely for additional wear.
BTW, is anyone familiar with All Seasons RV in Easton, PA? They are the closest Forrest River service to me. Thanks, fred
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2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6 Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks! |
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Hairy Podders
Senior Member Joined: 05 Mar 2014 Location: Northwest Ohio Online Status: Offline Posts: 217 |
Posted: 14 Aug 2014 at 9:48pm |
If the outter edge of the tire is worn in a short area & not in the rest it leads me to believe that the tire has a broken belt. If it is worn in more than one area on the edge(scalloping), that sounds like balance.
BTW, in my 30 years of doing alignments for a living, tire wear on the outside edge is caused by too much Toe In, or too much positive camber. If the tires were wearing on the inside & outside edges equally, the cause would be under inflation. Another cause of scalloping could be the fact that these trailers do not have shock absorbers to hold the tire in constant contact with the road. I could go all Techntrek on you about tire construction, alignment settings, inflation, balancing. But I won't. I've given the basics. That all said, I noticed on our pod, after 5,000+ miles that the (balanced) tires are showing a little bit of outter edge tire wear. Very slight. I study these things... I chalk it up to being heavily loaded for the tire rating & the cornering forces applied there upon. When in the mountains of Colorado, I found that I could go around curves at about 5-10 mph above the posted curve speeds. |
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Darryl, Julie & Lindsey
Cooper & Libby- Devoted Canines 2014 RP178 2006 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 14 Aug 2014 at 10:20pm |
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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GingerPod
Groupie Joined: 09 Jul 2014 Location: Pinehurst NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 67 |
Posted: 15 Aug 2014 at 10:03am |
I don't believe we are looking at a broken belt condition in the OP pictures considering both sides are wearing unevenly about the same although wear pattern is similar.
Good point regarding the lack or "real" shocks and cornering loads.Very likely a contributing factor to everyone's seemingly different wear patterns. A broken belt is a serious and dangerous condition.Quite obvious when it happens with vibrations and sometimes instant failure with no time to react.A real problem when the industry was making the transition to steel belted radials during the 70's that plagued every tire manufacturer.The steel to rubber bonding technolgy was in it's infancy and was a real problem.Today most steel radials have a transverse nylon layer "over" the belts to eliminate separation,Michelin was the first to use this method. Even later tires had problems,we all remember the Firestone ATX on the Ford Explorers Today we rarely see belt problems unless the tire was run serverly under inflated for a long period of time. |
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FOUND OUR NEW-RETRO TEARDROP!!!
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Hairy Podders
Senior Member Joined: 05 Mar 2014 Location: Northwest Ohio Online Status: Offline Posts: 217 |
Posted: 18 Aug 2014 at 6:00am |
The belt problem on Ford Explorers was largely due to Ford spec'ing underinflation & the owners not being responsible enough to keep them at that pressure or above. I also blame the quicky oilchange places for not checking the tires either. We serviced numerous Explorers at the time, but aired the tires to the pressure posted on the tires. We never saw a single Firestone tire failure at that time. The explorer could be a sketchy handling vehicle with soft tires, too. But Firestone took the blame...
On the broken belt explanation; I was throwing that out there so that people would know what to look for, nothing more. I too notice a lot of sidewall flex in these tires & was very concerned at first. They've held up surprisingly well so far. I'm thinking of going to load range D tires when I replace these, but don't want to shake the cabinets apart with the rougher ride.... |
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Darryl, Julie & Lindsey
Cooper & Libby- Devoted Canines 2014 RP178 2006 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon |
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GingerPod
Groupie Joined: 09 Jul 2014 Location: Pinehurst NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 67 |
Posted: 18 Aug 2014 at 9:05am |
Interesting info on the Fords Explorer.Like everything else the media runs wild with it....
I went for a test drive yesterday with the Load range "D" tires and didn't notice the Pod running any rougher. The side walls still flex a bit,just not as much as before with the stock tires.One thing I did notice was that the suspension was moving more then before,actually absorbing some road irregularities since the tires themselves were not bouncing as much.I could actually see the trailing arm moving in my rear view mirror. |
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FOUND OUR NEW-RETRO TEARDROP!!!
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Hairy Podders
Senior Member Joined: 05 Mar 2014 Location: Northwest Ohio Online Status: Offline Posts: 217 |
Posted: 18 Aug 2014 at 11:05pm |
Very Nice. As I said in your other post, This is definitely the direction that I want to go.
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Darryl, Julie & Lindsey
Cooper & Libby- Devoted Canines 2014 RP178 2006 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon |
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