Alignment shops keep toeing in my tires?

[The motor guy]

I had my truck in at the shop a couple months ago and had them replace both upper/lower ball joints and inner and outer tie rods, so I would have a nice tight front end that wouldn't eat my $500 dollars worth of new tires. I believe and I've probably put 1500 miles on it since then and I haven't put new tires on yet, but you can see the outer 3" of the tire is wearing badly compared to the rest of the tire. Now these tires are already shot, but you can easily see the wear. Why can't shops just set the tires straight ahead? Ever since I've had this truck it has always worn the tires unevenly in a weird way. Think of like a slanted roof. The tires stayed worn evenly, but the entire tire itself wore at an angle. This time it's actually the shoulders wearing on both front tires. Do I just bring it back and pay another $75 to have them align it again? I would think their would be some kind of warranty

 

[DuckRyder]

You can't just set them straight ahead because depending on suspension and steering geometry they will tend to toe in or toe out when driving, also zero toe tends to produce on center wander.

I'd take it back, show them the abnormal wear and ask them to fix it. Probably the "preferred" setting will produce the best results overall if the truck is stock. If the alignment guy is any good he should know what works.

Also tires which are already worn, may wear differently from new tires.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
but you can see the outer 3" of the tire is wearing badly compared to the rest of the tire.


Improper toe in/toe out will wear the entire tire. You can tell if the "toe" is improper by dragging your hand across the tire. If improper, the tire will feel sharp as you drag your hand crossways over the tread, either pulling your hand in or out.
An improper camber setting will cause the tires to have accelerated wear on the inside or outside of the tire. If half of your tire in wearing, either in the inside or outside, suspect an improper camber setting.

 

[Merkava_4]

What are you calling an "alignment shop?" Let's get that out of the way first.

 

[david_ES2]

A recent aligntment sheet would help, what are the conditions of the shocks/bushings?

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: david_ES2
A recent aligntment sheet would help, what are the conditions of the shocks/bushings?


They're good. I never got an alignment sheet.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What are you calling an "alignment shop?" Let's get that out of the way first.


Auto repair shop?

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I had my truck in at the shop a couple months ago and had them replace both upper/lower ball joints and inner and outer tie rods, so I would have a nice tight front end that wouldn't eat my $500 dollars worth of new tires. I believe and I've probably put 1500 miles on it since then and I haven't put new tires on yet, but you can see the outer 3" of the tire is wearing badly compared to the rest of the tire. Now these tires are already shot, but you can easily see the wear. Why can't shops just set the tires straight ahead? Ever since I've had this truck it has always worn the tires unevenly in a weird way. Think of like a slanted roof. The tires stayed worn evenly, but the entire tire itself wore at an angle. This time it's actually the shoulders wearing on both front tires. Do I just bring it back and pay another $75 to have them align it again? I would think their would be some kind of warranty


The front tires need a little Toe-In per the Alignment Specs, Though Tech's/Shops rely on Alignment machines more than they should, Back in the "old days" we would physically measure the Total Toe-In while on the Rack & after a test drive to make sure nothing shifted.

I don't know the toe specs on your truck but 1/8"-1/4" Total Toe is norm on most fullsize trucks Pick a spot on the Thread & measure the distance between both tires on the front then the back of the front tires, The Difference will be the Total Toe.

Towing heavy loads that drops rear ride height/raises front ride height WILL Alter the alignment settings.

Making constant tight turns (U-Turns) with alot of Positive Caster....Will wear tire at an angle, Especially with a heavy engine like a Cummins B-series....

Back in the 60's though the 80's, Most heavy duty truck alignment specs called for 0 Caster & 0 Camber......They drove like $hit, But people didn't have the driving dynamic expectations they do today out of a 3/4 ton/1 ton truck, Even though the steering/suspension geometry hasn't changed much. I'm guessing this is a 2wd Dodge? Save for the Rack & Pinion, It has the same Long Arm/Short Arm style suspension that came on a 1960 Chevy pick-up (Ford & Dodge still used King-Pin Straight Axle at the time)

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I had my truck in at the shop a couple months ago and had them replace both upper/lower ball joints and inner and outer tie rods, so I would have a nice tight front end that wouldn't eat my $500 dollars worth of new tires. I believe and I've probably put 1500 miles on it since then and I haven't put new tires on yet, but you can see the outer 3" of the tire is wearing badly compared to the rest of the tire. Now these tires are already shot, but you can easily see the wear. Why can't shops just set the tires straight ahead? Ever since I've had this truck it has always worn the tires unevenly in a weird way. Think of like a slanted roof. The tires stayed worn evenly, but the entire tire itself wore at an angle. This time it's actually the shoulders wearing on both front tires. Do I just bring it back and pay another $75 to have them align it again? I would think their would be some kind of warranty


The front tires need a little Toe-In per the Alignment Specs, Though Tech's/Shops rely on Alignment machines more than they should, Back in the "old days" we would physically measure the Total Toe-In while on the Rack & after a test drive to make sure nothing shifted.

I don't know the toe specs on your truck but 1/8"-1/4" Total Toe is norm on most fullsize trucks Pick a spot on the Thread & measure the distance between both tires on the front then the back of the front tires, The Difference will be the Total Toe.

Towing heavy loads that drops rear ride height/raises front ride height WILL Alter the alignment settings.

Making constant tight turns (U-Turns) with alot of Positive Caster....Will wear tire at an angle, Especially with a heavy engine like a Cummins B-series....

Back in the 60's though the 80's, Most heavy duty truck alignment specs called for 0 Caster & 0 Camber......They drove like $hit, But people didn't have the driving dynamic expectations they do today out of a 3/4 ton/1 ton truck, Even though the steering/suspension geometry hasn't changed much. I'm guessing this is a 2wd Dodge? Save for the Rack & Pinion, It has the same Long Arm/Short Arm style suspension that came on a 1960 Chevy pick-up (Ford & Dodge still used King-Pin Straight Axle at the time)


If I remember right it's .05 degrees negative toe.

 

[CapriRacer]

First, even if the toe is fixed, if you don’t change the tires, the new wear pattern will be on top of what is already there. So a tire worn on one side will continue to look like a tire worn on one side.

Second, front tires on a RWD will tend to wear both shoulders. That’s because the front tires are trying to move all that mass and the rears are just following. Note: the rears tend to wear in the center, so RWD vehicles need to have regular rotation to wear the tires evenly.

Third, one sided wear is more likely a camber problem – and some shops don’t know how to deal with changing camber if the factory doesn’t provide adjustment.