tire wear

[Wes Harden]

I have suspected the ball joints and have inspected them several times, I may just do them. Tires are Goodyear AS with Kevlar 245 75r16. Next set will be at least 265 70r16 of maybe a different brand

 

[imiceman44]

I always try to run 50+ in our 800 Burb. Factory calls for 50 front, 80 rear iirc. While the tires do wear fine at lower psi, they do certainly wear faster.

I can say with certainty though that if the ball joints are even a little bit worn, front tire wear tends to get very choppy. Especially if it's a cheap and narrow M/T tire with a soft compound. A good quality tire seems to wear better under the same circumstances.

I bought new tires 2 years ago and the tire shop put 70 psi in them.
It rode like a dump truck.
I brought them down to 50 psi and drove it 35k most of the times loaded a couple of thousand lbs.
The wore in the middle an extra 1/4"
The were Mickey Thompson AT tires great tires and they didn't make it to the 50 k they should have.
I am not trusting a tire shop or a sticker on a door.
Each tire is getting the chalk test from now on.
I don't have money to waste.
And yes it doesn't take much to cause the vibration and that destroys the tread

 

[Blue85]

The sticker in the door only relates to the original tire size and type. Most of us have something else on there. You can get right in the ball park by weighing each end of the vehicle and interpolating between the two end points - sidewall pressure is at maximum weight rating. 0 lbs = 0psi.

Some people choose a little more pressure to bump their MPG. As they say, YMMV, but it's interesting to think about. Over 50,000 miles of tread life at today's gas prices, going from 20 to 21MPG is about the price of 2 tires.