Outside edge of front tires stairstepping

You asked for information. It is NOT normal. Get the front end checked for loose components and alignment, and for running that downhill chicane every day you DEFINITELY want to slightly overinflate the front tires. Give me make, model, and tire installed and I'll give you more ingormation.

That would be a "HUNTER" alighnment machine

There are alignment guys, and alignment guys. Any alignment guy can set a car within limits - it takes a GOOD alignment guy who really understands what is going on to set the alignment perfectly for your driving conditions. I've known and worked with some of the best in the business. Iwas pretty good, but didn't do enough to be REALLY good - unlike my kid brother. He's an opinionated pain in the ass (at least ten times worse than me -) but there's not anyone I know who will consistently give you a better alignment. Any I knew who could are long retired.

You ARE going "too fast" for the tires and conditions. Again - what vehicle, and what tire - and WHAT PRESSURE are you running. Placard pressure for stock tires is about 5psi too low for best cornering wear on most cars - and for heavy cornering with front wheel drive mabee a bit more. I generally run8 to 10 psi over placard pressure - and I get even tire wear and very good tire life.

What year?? What tires do you have on it? Bridgestone Geolanders? or?

Are they 265-65s? a 245-70 will be about the same hight and won't give as much treadwear problems on the corners.

"performance" tires on that machine for your driving would be a TOTAL waste of money - and generally yhey wear a whole lot faster.

Equipment doesn't matter so much, what matters is the guy who did the job. But you don't throw up any red signs here.

I don't know, but the forces on the front and the back are very different, in part because of steering and in part because side-forces are very different.

I'd be more interested in the speed rating. The UT treadwear rating of

380 isn't terribly high but isn't terribly low either.

--scott

It doesn't sound like much of a plan. Just have the toe-in adjusted. You'll probably have to compensate for your worn-out, loosey-goosey, suspension. Then forget about it. This ain't rocket science. Forget about camber too. You can't adjust it.

Short answer, no. Totally different suspension. The front is lateral arm.

The front wheels are the steering wheels. They have the appropriate geometry, the rears do not.

You have a solid live rear axle in that vehicle. There is no possibility of a camber or toe adjustment at the rear. There is no change in camber due to suspension deflections.

Call the hundred bucks *insurance*. A wheel alignment will ensure you get the best life from your tyres.

You should be buying food and rotating tyres as a natural response to life in general. Both are necessary.

If your spare is the same as the 4 on the vehicle, do a 5 wheel rotation. Best look at the owners manual to see how Toyota see rotation best carried out.

I have an issue with point one, first sentence. How can you figure out if it's an alignment issue *without doing an alignment*? This is very much the case since you cannot see why the rears will not have the issue. Since you lack an understanding of steering and suspension geometry, you will need to rely on the expertise of others. As I said, do an alignment check ensuring that toe out on turns is also checked. That will ensure that your steering arms are not bent. If you purchased the vehicle second hand, you have absolutely no idea how it had been driven in its past life. A toe in adjustment can cover up a bent steering arm but the effect will be similar to incorrect toe and will be exacerbated if you are doing extreme cornering. With steering, you

*must* start from a known position. If you cannot recall what was done in your last wheel alignment, you might benefit from another one right now. That way you can get Factory specs, what spec your car currently is and what it has been set to. That should be on the wheel alignment sheet you get as a customer and if you don't get it, ask for it.

Not everyone recommends rotation. It's not even possible on some vehicles. Just replace them in pairs as they wear out. I've personally never rotated my tires on any car, but that's admittedly just my choice. In fact, on the car we're talking about, the feathered tires are probably noisy anyway, so she'd just be moving the noise to the back, where it might be even worse.

afaik, the 4Runner does not have independent rear suspension. To simplify, the rear wheels will be perpendicular to the pavement while the front tire geometry will vary.

Long shot, but what sort of tire? I had a Michelin Anakee 2 front tire on one of my bikes that had a very strange wear pattern. Everyone who ran that tire saw the same thing and Michelin went to the Anakee 3 to correct the issue. Whether it was the tread block design or something else it developed a similar pattern to what you are describing except being a bike it was on both sides. It neither impaired the ride or handling, it just looked weird.

In conversations about this with GM engineers, they did mention problems with certain tires, and with certain vehicles.

Anyway, nearly everyone agrees the alignment should be checked. It's a basic first step - as long as it includes a full check of all the steering and suspension - and really should be done. But if the alignment is right on, then it's time to Google that vehicle and those tires to see if there is a common issue.

Recommendation on the 4runner is front to back only I move mine from front to back every time I switch seasinal tires on both of my vehicles.

That would do it. Especially if you travel it in both directions. Downhill places much more weight on the front end and will wear the tires faster. I would probably rotate the tires more often to try to compensate for the wear. You might want to step up to a stiffer sidewall and maybe even add some camber to even out the wear on the tires a bit.

That's my plan. Put the studs on the opposite end from where I removed them last spring, same with the road tires. It comes close to the 5000 mile Toyota recommends.

But doesn't the higher pressure make the ride a whole lot bumpier, unless the road is perfectly flat?

No. In modern cars you float on a magic cushion of air. otoh, she did say 4runner. At least for the first generation nothing could make the ride any worse.

Indeed. Some tyres do not like their rotation direction reversed so switching front with rear on the same side is the norm there. Some manufacturers specify a diagonal swap. As always, manufacturers advice is best followed.

5PSI is almost undetectable and 10PSI on a 70 series tire still rides a lot better than a "properly inflated" 60 series.

But do you follow the tire manufacturer's instructions or the vehicle? You can NOT go wrong doing a 4 way front to back only rotation.

I run 5# over and don't really notice any difference but handling is improved. At 10# over I imagine you'd see some difference. May be justifiable for the performance gains on tight turns.

In any case, it sounds like a great road to drive on. One of my favorite drives was going over the Futa Pass in Italy. This is where Ducati tests their bikes for performance on turns. There are other roads with tighter turn, but they are shorter than this.

Notice the rules on passing with a solid line. This is common there.

Thank you for confirming why the rear tires could wear flat while the front tires seem to wear, as others said, on the outside edge (feathering) due perhaps to the excessive camber due to the tires "rolling" on the downhill

20mph steep 10% many curves.

My "problem" with doing another alignment is that one was done two years ago due to tires being 'wasted' but in this case, I don't want to waste an entire brand-new tire just to doublecheck that alignment.

I realize this is a philosophical issue but it seems to me to be a crime that alignment costs are such that they waste one of the four things they're designed to save. In the case of the 4Runner, they waste one of two things they're trying to save (the front tires).

It's a philosophical issue though, because it's the same cost:benefit issue you make when you decide to get a heart transplant or a back operation.

Assuming costs in my area are about $100 (on sale) for an alignment and about $100 per tire (includes mounting), the philosophical issue is that the alignment costs 1/2 of what you're trying to save.

Philosophically, is it a smart decision to definitely kill half of what you're trying to save, just to measure to see if it needs to be saved?