Strange tire wear - any advice would help

265/75R16 Falken Wildpeak AT3W E rated, running 36 psi. Getting near 60K miles (I know thats a lot ) and the front tires are getting noisy and wearing strangely. Lots of tread left though, so thats not an issue.

In New England the roads get a lot of salt/brine treatment in the winter. This shit gets everywhere, including my tires obviously. On a dry day, it can act as sort of chalk test, and the front tires are displaying an unusual wear pattern.

Salt covered road that is usually the same color as that driveway.


So what i'm wondering is if my UCA's (SPC) might have bad ball joints and need to be replaced and contributed to this wear. It's been a while since I did that...

I got an alignment less than 10k miles ago before driving cross country so I dont think thats the issue.

I'm aware that I will ultimately need to replace all 4 tires, and dont have an problem doing that. I hesitate to get new tires and then end up with premature wear. Basically, I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this before and tracked down the issue.

Also, would putting the front tires in the rear correct this wear pattern over time?

Thank for any and all input!

Drivers side:


Passenger side:


Rear pass for reference. Other side looks the same.

 

Just looking around and came across this
Your tire wear could be Due to some mechanical irregularity of the vehicle such as worn bearing or shock absorber. In addition to normal rotation, the tyre is effectively ‘jumping’ or ‘bouncing’ in service. The effect of this causes a gradual and progressive irregular wear pattern.
Your UCAs, front end feel tight if you jack up your wheels and check?

 

Looks like you're not rotating your tires. Mine do the same (with good alignment) if I don't rotate every 5,000 miles.

 

Rotate tires more often

 

Yeah that makes sense. When you've had this happen, did rotating the fronts to the back even out the irregular wear?

 

Lack of rotation and worn shocks as mentioned above. Probably not getting that wear pattern to go away.

 

Shocks are newish (15k) fox 2.5 factory and not abused off-road. Just fire trails and gravel roads. Probably the UCA. Old enough that the bushings could have gone as well as the ball joints. Looks like I'm in for at least 2 new tires

 

So if the shocks are new. Cupping as seen in your pic( diagonal pattern)is usually caused by poor rotation habit( not being down often enough) imo rotate your tires every oil change (5k miles) or a worn suspension component.