HighTen

This is the third set of tires on this truck and for the first time all four tires are wearing strangely.
The inside and outside of the tire are both getting warn down much faster than the center. I attached a couple pictures to show. The tires are Michelin 265/70/17 LTX M/S 2 and the truck is 2wd.
My first thought was under inflation but since the truck is always towing or loaded these days, I keep them inflated to 78-80 psi all the time.
Any thoughts as to the cause?

NJTman

all 4 tires ?

If they were "scalloped", then I'd say you needed shocks and an alignment. They don't look that way, though.

Try filling the tires to 90psi and see how / if it changes anything. I've run them at 95psi and had nothing happen (in the cold weather ONLY).


If your rims are not the correct width for the aspect ratio of the tire itself, (or vice verse) you can get some poor wear characteristics. To me, that looks under inflated, and I'd put a second gauge on it to see if your gauge is reading properly.


after filling them to 90 or 100 psi, take a piece of chalk and draw it across the tire from sidewall to sidewall. Drive the truck (in a large parking lot) straight for a bit without turning the steering wheel at all (keep it going straight). See where the chalk stays or disappears off the tread. It wouldn't hurt the tire to run it high for a while so at least you can wear off some of that inner tire .

And lastly..

Some "D" rated tires are too soft to run on our trucks. Make sure they're 10 ply E or greater. Soft sidewalls tires waste away on my truck.

saggonwaggon91

I would get a second tire gauge and recheck. They do look like they have been run low. Do you do a lot of hauling with a bunch on tight turns in the road. I have seen that happen where the constant side forces are always eating the outside edge of the tire and even if rotated, once the funky wear starts, you cant stop it.

HighTen

Thanks for all the suggestions. They are indeed E load/10 ply tires. I also have stock steel wheels - they are 8" width I think and should agree with the tire.

I'll get another pressure gauge right away - great idea. Always start at the simplest/easiest solution first, right?
NJTman, when doing the chalk test you describe, what should the chalk show? Ideally, it should rub off evenly all the way across?
Mostly, I'm towing a 28' travel trailer on highways. The tongue weight is supposed to be around 800 lbs. It's enough to press the back of the truck down to level and make the rear tires squish a bit.

KATOOM

Strange. If they've never been rotated then it almost looks like you got some bogus tires. Not likely with Michelin's though. How many miles on them?

And 80 psi is the max pressure so as others have pointed out, I cant imagine why you'd ever need to run any more than that. Tires would feel like iron.....

The chalk test should show even wearing away of the chalk across the tread. If the center wears first then the pressure is too high, etc...

As for the TT tongue weight, 800 lbs sounds too light for a trailer that big. If you're accounting for the weight "after" the support of a WD hitch then I'd say thats close but certainly not just gross tongue weight alone.

HighTen

The tires have about 41,000 miles on 'em. I've been rotating them regularly - all 5 of them actually. Way back when I bought a 5th wheel like the other four so I could rotate the spare in.
What's really making me wonder is that the other two sets of tires on this truck wore normally. Granted, the OEM set were A/S and I think the second set were plain M/S. This is the first set of M/S 2. Could they just not be up to all the miles with constant towing and tongue weight? It's such a popular tire, though, and I've never read about any issue like that.

NJTman

The chalk test allows you to figure out any trucks ideal tire pressure. You keep doing the test until the chalk line wears evenly all the way across, varying the pressure until so.

This guy does it here

It's possible that mud tires have a sidewall that is too soft, as they are really designed for traction in muddy conditions , usually found off road. You could call Michelin direct and ask them their sidewall spec for each version you had and have, and see what they say.

KATOOM

I agree that M/T tires will more often wear on the side lugs as they tend to be softer out there with all that rubber. But your tires pictured are just your everyday A/T. With 40k miles on them at that.

After reading that you rotate them regularly I'm betting that you have an alignment issue and you're unaware of it. As the tires are rotated around you loose the ability to recognize an isolated problem as they're all wearing the same. Maybe somethings worn out like a ball joint or tie rod or the toe is set too tight. Either way, its eating up your tires. Not terribly fast though as I was going to guess that there was no more than 20k on those.

HighTen

Have some developments with the tires. First, I got another pressure gauge and it agrees within 1-2 PSI of the one I already had. Darn, so much for the easy solution.

Second, I found one of them is coming apart! There's a bulge forming in the tread and I took some pics of it. Man, I've had Michelin tires for many years (my Dad too) and never had any problems. Now it's all coming at once!

Thinking back, I'm pretty sure I first noticed this unusual wear on the rear tires, which makes me think an alignment problem is less likely. I'm leaning towards the idea that these tires just aren't up to being loaded and towing like they should be.

Maybe too soft of a sidewall, like some here mentioned? Sounds logical to me. They do squat an awful lot with a little tongue weight on the truck, I must admit.

KATOOM

Wow, those are some funky looking tires. Have you shown these to the tire shop whom you purchased them from? I'd think Michelin would maybe want to know as well.

Again, either a serious alignment issue due to a bad steering/suspension component (either front or rear axle) or the tires are just bad. I'm kinda surprised you havent been complaining about how crappy they must feel on the road. If there's one pet peeve I have, it would be having to put up with crappy tires bouncing, pulling, and shimmying.

MikeyB

If alignment is in spec and no worn suspension components I would look at going back to a solid outside rib tread pattern for heavy towing. Like the Michelin LTX A/S, Nitto Duragrappler, Toyo Open Country HT and the Cooper HT3 for example.

HighTen

I did go back to where I purchased the tires, Discount Tire. You can easily guess what happened. "Sorry, there's something wrong with your truck. Tires don't wear like this. We can replace the one that's coming apart - with prorated mileage and labor it comes to $175." Sorry, no thanks. They made sure to measure the tread thickness at the side where it's thin, of course.

I haven't had the alignment checked recently, but it has never needed adjustment in the past. The truck still drives and steers like a dream. It goes so straight and smooth. If the road is long and straight, I could put the cruise on, climb in the back seat, get some food and a beverage out of the cooler and relax. Just like the modern self-driving cars! Well, almost.

MikeyB, thanks for the suggestions on a closed shoulder tire. What do you think of the Bridgestone Duravis R500 HD? Being that I'm always on the road and never snow/ice these days...this is one I was considering.

MikeyB

The R500HD is getting pretty good reviews by the heavy haulers over on the Tirerack website.

KATOOM

Ummm.....I'm not sure I would have accepted such a response.

Maybe what you should have done is offered them a compromise. Let them put the truck on the rack and see how it aligns. If its WAY off and something's in need of replacement then have them warrant the bad tires and then just pay the difference for the new set. Because obviously it wouldn't be their fault and they were going to warrant the bad tires anyways.

But.....if the alignment is fine or close to spec then you tell them they owe you a new set of tires, with the help of Michelin stepping up to warrant a bad tire issue.

Sounds like a completely fair and unbiased approach. If they wont then I'd be sure to let them know that you'll never be back and anyone you know will be sure to follow suit.

steelblitzkrieg

I'm pretty sure Discount Tire and America's Tire are the same, if so, they do not offer alignments, that is why I use Les Schwab, Big-O, or Firestone/Wheel Works. They won't warranty the tire if you don't have an alignment performed after install of the new tires.