Tire trouble!

Dude, the ball joint recall has nothing to do with freeplay that could cause premature tire wear. As ray responded to your cross post in alt.toyota, the alignment is done because of the recall (removing ball joints requires re-setting the alignment), not because the original ball joints may have been scratched during assembly. But feel free to buy a dodge that really DOES have loose ball joints before 30k miles.

If you're lucky maybe you can still get a Ford Exploder with Firestone tires?

What brand/model tire out of curiousity? Have you attempted to contact an affiliated dealer to see if there may be any coverage for the tire there?

It's been my experience that tires on new cars are warranteed by the tire's manufacture, not the auto dealer. Call who ever made the tires and enquire.

Skip

I don't think the ball joints in the recall will affect tire wear as badly as you describe. Since you have not actually described what the tire wear is, I would like to suggest that there are many things that you can do to affect tire wear even more than ball joints.

Actually, if one actually looks at what is done to replace the ball joints, it is clear that the recall can easily be done without affecting the alignment at all. I was surprised to see this, but it's fact. They only CHECK the alignment, and adjust if needed but odds favor it not being needed.

My daughter had a used Tacoma PreRunner that had been ofroaded (we think) and the lower control arm on one side was a bit tweaked -- it had some deep scratches where the truck had be driven over large rocks, I suspect the deep scratches resulted from being drug, but I digress. Her truck had the recall done, and the front end was the same afterwards, so it must have been straight even before the ball joints were done. The service department noted that the alignment was inspected/checked, but there was no note that it had been changed. A quick inspection of the parts involved shows that the ball joints can be replaced without altering the alignment settings. An alignment after the ball joints is more of a CYA approach to the repairs than a requirement of the repairs.

1) OEM tires are usually not warranted for mileage. 2) Why didn't you look at the tread on your tires and notice rapid wear far before they were worn out? 3) Were the tires correctly inflated all the time? 4) If the alignment was so bad that the tires work in 11k, there usually is something so wrong that the driving feel is off. Did the truck pull left or right? 5) Buy another brand at your peril. There is no perfect brand. Every other brand I know of has many more problems.

Ken

SSSHHHHHHHH! You'll spoil it for everyone! You're absolutely right, Jeff. Toyota put the alignment in the recall to cover their ass. I haven't seen one yet that needed re-aligning. The ball joints and studs are tapered, so they self-center when being installed.

Not to mention they recall the lower ball joint, but the load bearing ball joint is the top one.

There you go Hot Rod. Think Toyota screwed you buy a Ford or a Chevy.......Then we'll discuss SCREWED......