Odd tread wear

[scomo]

If you were to stand at the rear of my Tahoe, all 4 tires are worn on the right side shoulder. All of them... When I first looked at the set upon purchase, the passenger side tires looked like the had some wear on the outside (right ride) shoulder, but I just figured the previous owner had neglected to rotate the tires properly. Later, after I had climbed under the truck, I noticed that the inside of the driver's side tires were worn in the same manner.

I'm totally perplexed by this and can't come up with why these tires would be wearing like this. Could it be an alignment issue or perhaps a tie rod? I also wonder if my AWD setup has anything to do with unusual tread wear.

2004 AWD 5.3 Tahoe
Thanks - -

 

[Sepiroth]

Could be due to low air pressures. Alignment issues also.

 

[wwcnd]

im not a mechanic by any means but I have always heard that once tires start wearing in a certain pattern ( I mean wearing enough that you can actually see the pattern of wear such as right side etc) they will continue to wear that way even if rotated, swapped etc. if you bought the tires used maybe the dude you bought the tires from had the problem and not you.

 

[05tahoelt]

I have this exact same problem, did you ever figure out what the deal is?

 

[scomo]

I have this exact same problem, did you ever figure out what the deal is?

I did. Apparently, it is just an allignment issue. I took it in to my shop guy and he told me that's all it was. I believe it is uncommon, but apparently it happens. I figure the previous owner of my Tahoe didn't maintain balancing/proper inflation and the tires (Bridgestone Dueller H/T, OEM tires) started wearing irregulary from the start. Since the Dueller H/Ts are generally bad tires on these trucks anyway, it wouldn't suprise me that letting them fall out of balance early would cause them to wear irregularly throughout the life of the tires. I just purchased a new set of Michelin Cross Terrains on clearance from Tirerack.com. From what I understand, these tires and an allignment job should fix me up.

 

[05tahoelt]

Thanks, I have the bridgestone dueller HTs as well. Damn things are noisy as heck because of the way they're worn too. Ill be tire shopping come spring

 

[ugachs24]

Thanks, I have the bridgestone dueller HTs as well. Damn things are noisy as heck because of the way they're worn too. Ill be tire shopping come spring

Yeah the OEM duelers h/t's just lasted me 30k.