Unusual tire wear? Falken Wildpeak AT/3

Hey Guys,

Wondering if anyone could help me with this. It's been an extremely busy year for me, so I haven't been able to pay as much attention to the truck as usual.

Today I noticed the front tires have a weird wear pattern on them on every other tread nodule.

The wear is only happening on the outside for the driver, and the inner side for passenger.

These have just under 65k miles and put on in 2018.

Any idea on possible causes?

 

They're definitely toast, It's fairly normal for tacoma trucks to have outside edge wear, they are set to have positive camber, but the inner wear is an issue.

Basically you need to have the front end checked (ball joints etc), alignment and tires sooner than later.

 

You got 65k miles out of your Wildpeaks??
Bravo.

 

Hey there neighbor

Looks like it could be an alignment or worn suspension issue you'll want to look into. Even then, that wear doesn't look THAT uneven based on your pic. You're only showing the outside of one tire and that doesn't fully illustrate what you've tried to explain. What we need to see is the entire width of the tread on both tires in order to compare tire vs tire AND inner vs outer within each tire. The very outer tread block does look a bit more worn but the inner edge of that tread block doesn't really look much more worn than the tread blocks in the center and we can't see the inner tread block at all.

Some better pics are definitely needed to better illustrate your issue.

 

Thanks ill get it checked out. Going to rotate tires in the meantime.

Thanks, I'll get a shot of it soon. The posted photo was just what I could snap before work.

Lol I drive like an old person.

 

That doesn't look bad at all to me. Do you have tread depth measurements that show a significant difference in wear between inside/center/outside? Because I can't see any big difference visually.

In your first pic the wear looks very even. In the second pic I can see a little extra wear on the inside. But over 65k miles this is a very minor difference. Of course it may also not me a little wear over 65k and instead maybe there's a new problem and it's only been a few thousand miles that it's been wearing uneven. Because of that, it'd be smart to inspect the suspension and get the alignment checked before you get new tires.

Either way, looks like you got your value's worth on this set and it's time for new tires. Regardless of how even the wear is you're pretty low on tread and more importantly all that cracking would be starting to worry me a little.

Rereading you post I see now you're talking less about inner vs outer wear and more that you're seeing alternating tread block wear - commonly referred to as cupping. But it still doesn't look all that severe. Just hard to tell how long it's been doing that.
https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/what-is-tire-cupping

 

Appreciate your detailed response!

I couldn't find my tire tread Guage thingy, but used a micrometer instead. Did a bunch of depth measurements throughout.


Hoping these will hold out until the end of the year when I'll have extra money for tires. I'd like to get the wild peak AT4's but it's out of the budget right now. If something happens and I need to replace right away, I'll get some cheap used ones to hold me over until then.

Rear tires got more life, so I rotated them to the front and added more air pressure- hopefully get it to wear more evenly for the time being.

Definitely got my monies worth. I'll try get the alignment checked asap.

 

The depth isnt the issue, its the cracking. They could have 10/32nd and still be considered unsafe.

To get a real feel of the dangers, deflate a tire and press down on it to see how deep the cracks are.

I'm not wealthy but I wouldnt drive on these for more than a month while I figure out some replacements.

 

Good point, I'll start looking for some used replacements for the time being. Thank you

 

Cerritos isn’t far from this shop near my old home where they treat you right and prices are great. It’s owned by two brothers. Ask for Manuel, tell him Erik with the Tacoma sent you and what you’re looking for. Best prices around!

https://www.yelp.com/biz/orange-county-tire-sales-and-auto-fullerton-2