On our coach with 30,000 miles, our Toyo front tires are showing an unusual (for me) wear pattern. Both front tires have wear on both inside and outside edges, that is what I would call a "step-down" wear. There is a step-type ridge between the center ribs and the outside edge, on both the inside and outside edges on both tires.

I have always kept the front tires inflated to 120 psi - cold, per all the Toyo directions and the WRV placard, so they're not underinflated. The fact they're wearing on both inside and outside edges doesn't seem to indicate an alignment issue.

We have Koni shocks, with about 10,000 miles on them since replacing the Bilsteins at 20,000 miles, so I don't think it's a Koni issue.

I called Les Schwab in Yakima,who installed the SmartTire system when it was new, and they said it was typical of bigger coaches that don't have a tag axle, and the only solution was to rotate the tires with the rear outside duals, which I plan to do, so I can get a little more wear out of them.

Perhaps others have seen this - any ideas?

Mine are wearing exactly the same. I'm at 46K miles now. Since the wear is even on both sides I just assumed it had to do with turns and cornering and was unavoidable. There are a couple tire dealers/distributors on this forum, maybe we'll hear from them.

I'm not in a panic over it right now as I'm saving for a new set, due to age. I just noticed a couple little checks at the last washing. Time to go!

I had the same problems on our 2003 38' Alpine. I discovered that one bearing was loose on the front axle. Over a period of several years The bearing required more and more tightening. What I believe was that the bearing cup had not been properly bottomed out when originally installed in the wheel hub. After that had been resolved I had the Front End Guy in Union Gap at Franks Tire check my alignment. He had done the first 70 for WRV. I replaced the front Toyo's with GY 670's. He checked the alignment and thought it had not been properly done AT WRV. He did the coach and tipped the axle back. It sure drives nice and no sign of wear so far. ie 5k miles last winter. I have posted this comment before. Iron Mike, North Pole Alaska.

Old Forrester,
I had mine rotated and the front end alignment done at about 27,000 miles. The tech who did the alignment said that you gotta rotate to keep the front ones right.

Old Forester
I'd like to hear how the Koni's compare to the Bilsiens, espcially when there is porposing. By the way I have the same tire problems up front.
Thanks
Jim
06 apex

This wear you are describing sounds like what the industry calls "River Wear". Usually caused by straight line running. This wear is normal in most cases. As Hugh says, you need to rotate the tires.

Another cause of this could be overinflation, causing the tires to not have constant pressure across the tire footprint.

quote:

It sure drives nice and no sign of wear so far. ie 5k miles last winter. I have posted this comment before. Iron Mike, North Pole Alaska.

Wait a minute Mike, where do you go in the winter time at the North Pole

Thanks for all the responses. I was intrigued by Tom and Patty's comment on "River Wear" from a lot of straight line running. The coach has had a lot of that in the two years and 30,000 miles we have owned it. That's probably the major contributor.

As far as inflation, 120 psi in the front has been well established by Toyo as mandatory for their tires, so I'm honoring it in case there is a tread separation issue down the road.

I thought the only good solution is rotating the tires, and you have all confirmed that, which I am going to do this weekend or next at Les Schwab in Union Gap. I am looking for a convenient time and place to align the coach; have a lot of good ideas and input from many of you on where to do that, but I just have to find a good time since I'm also in the process of building a new house.

As far as the Koni's vs. Bilsteins, I think they do help porpoising. They seem to help keep the coach a little more stable. I haven't found them to be helpful on reducing impact of pavement cracks in the freeway because they feel stiffer to me than the Bilsteins. My overall evaluation is better control, less pitch and yaw, but a firmer ride than the Bilsteins. I think they are a better shock but on a good / better / best comparison, I would probably say Bilsteins are good, Konis are good+ to better-, and Road King are best (but also very expensive). If my Bilsteins were getting a little worn, I would replace them with Konis, but I wouldn't take a new set of Bilsteins and replace them with Konis, based on 20,000 miles on the Bilsteins and 10,000 on the Konis.

Thanks again for all the input; it helped a lot.

Tom and Patty...We come to the lower 48 for the winter months. It cost us somewhere around $1400.00 in fuel one way so we have left our coach at my brothers in Selah, Wa. and flown back to North Pole, AK just outside of Fairbanks.For half the price of fuel and only 5 hours it took us to get home.

Old Forester. Les Schuab is the best for tires but their alignment facility is makeshift on one of the concrete pads. I went to Franks Truck close to the corner of Autanum and South first street I believe. The guy that does the alignments has been there for many years. My brother checked his credentials out by where he had done alignment work around yakima. We grew up on South first and I left but my Brother has lived there and done business only with the good ones, So says my Brother. See you some time...Iron Mike Ellsworth

I recently switched to Koni's from the original Bilsteins. Previously the porpoising made me feel like I had no control of the coach as it came up from the bottom of a dip and unweighted but the Konis seem to have eliminated that problem. I was surprised the difference was so great.