Silverado Tire Wear

rarnoldsb

I own a Silverado LT, extended, 5.3, 3.42, and the
tires are wearing (feather edges.) I have had the
alignment done twice, rotated them @ 7000mi and
again @ 12500mi. The Dealer said this is normal
"Alignment within factory specs.", "normal
charactoristics for these vehicle to wear the
outside edge, recommend tire rotation every 4-6k
miles." He went on to say that this condition is
also normal with Doges and Ford trucks! Any one
have any ideas?

dannyp

i have heard that the 99 and 00 frames have been
made lighter on gmc and chevy. so the suspension is now changed and causing various problems.one story i heard was when the rear end was jacked up on a silverado the frame bent almost against th e cab. i was told that the suspension could not be
up graded because of th e lite frame. i'm trying to get more info of this but have not have much luck.

dsmazz

Check your tire pressure EVERY WEEK. If you are underinflated, the outer edges of your tires will wear. (Overinflated the middle will wear.) Once a wear pattern develops in a tire, it does not go away; even if the cause is corrected.

You might want to have the balance checked. If the factory just static balances (don't know that they do or don't), you may want to invest in a dynamic balance. I doubt this would cause the wear, but it could affect the rate of wear.

If caster and camber are correct within spec; is the dealer checking the toe angle? If wear is on the outside, the wheel may toed in too far. If wear is on the inside, the wheel may be toed out too far.

Also, if you have a 4x4 with the pushbutton 4x4 option, keeping this in autotrac will lock the hubs all the time. This might have some minimal effect on tire rolling when turning.

Just a few thoughts.

vince4

If you are a ricky-racer and really push it in the corners the tires will wear that way no matter what.

mgdvhman

On/Off road type tires will be even worse for showing this due to the knobby pattern. And the fact they just wear faster.

Like said..check pressure often...as the cold hits...you will be amazed how much the pressure can change. My rears went from 80 to 65 with just the change in temperature one time.

I have the on/off road type...and just rotated for the first time at 10,200 miles...the fronts had more outside wear..but no bad patterns..and the rears were flat as glass. they also ride just fine being on the opposite ends now.

- Tim

obyone

General tires? If so, tell dealer to call General to send you another set. A couple of people including myself have had multiple sets of Generals and the continued feathering problem.

obyone

by "soft" sidewalls...

scooterdude

....are in question here? I've had nothing but Gen Grabbers on my Sierra for 10 years and never gotten less than 60,000 miles out of each set, without even rotating regularly. Is it possible they've recently changed their compounds in the last year or so??

obyone

with the '99 - '00 Silverado are the AMERI660AS P255/70R16

quadrunner500

My 99 Silverado 4x4, with 23,300 miles, has the Firestone P265 Wilderness A/Ts. They are wearing fairly evenly. I have rotated them twice. No vibrations, original factory balance job.

But what I noticed, was the especially minimal wear on the brake pads, all 4 wheels. Looks like they could go 45-50 thousand miles at this rate.

I'm easy on it.

scooterdude

How's your ride with the Firestones? I've seen a mixed bag opinion throughout the topics here...and having never owned any, I'm not sure what to think. My truck arrived yesterday (won't be able to pick it up 'til next week) and I'm guessing the Wilderness AT's are on it. After checking the Tirerack site and a few others, I 've been considering upgrading to the Michelin's right from the start, or even back to my faithful Grabbers. But if the Firestone's are fine, why bother, right? I also like the sound of your brake pad wear...

quadrunner500

I've been satisfied with my Firestones. Decent wear, decent ride, relatively quiet, no vibrations. They are part of Bridgestone now. Not saying you wouldn't like the Michelins, but you should at least give the Firestones a try.

quadrunner500

I have almost 25,000 on the Firestones now. Look like they are good for 45-50k miles. Could be the way I drive. Jeff Gordon could learn a something.

I'm not saying I won't try some other tire, but I don't think anyone knows what's better. Pretty sure I don't want the Michelin or Goodyear. Maybe the Bridgestone Dueler A/T with Uni-T, if I had to choose today.

gnipper

Quadrunner,

I hope to be able to give a report on the Bridgestones in about 6 months. Hope to take delivery of my new Z71 by the second weekend in April, it is going straight in for the Bridgestone Dueler AT - 285's. The Firestone store where I've checked prices definitely pushed that tire over the Firestone, and I like it better than the BF Goodrich, which seems to be the most popular tire out there. After seeing Goodyear on the web I didn't like their tire, so I'm not shopping any further.

What has sold me on the tire - the Uni-T construction, half aggressive tread (the truck may never even be off the road), claim of still a smooth quiet ride, Warranty of free replacement - 50,000 miles, and 30 days no questions asked return if I don't like em at all.

I'll let you know in several months.

Greg

mgdvhman

NEEDS to learn a few things this year.

What happened to him man?

- Tim

rcoos

I can't comment on my truck because I only have a couple of hundred miles on it. My brother has a '99 4WD reg.cab & he has about 20,000 miles on his truck. He has a lot of tread left on his tires. I hope my tires will wear as good as his has!

rcoos

quadrunner500

Hey, you want him to change his own tires?

His chief mechanic, Ray Evernham quit to run the Dodge Intrepid next year. The rest of his rainbow warriors mutiny'd over to the Robert Yates team of Dale Jarret and Ricky Rudd.

dbhull

Other drivers are jealous of all his wins and now don't want to play in the sandbox when he is around.

z71offroad

This doesn't mean much, I used to do alignments at an independent shop. 75% of the cars would be put on the rack checked and driven off.Wouldn't even have to lift a wrench. Easy $40 for the shop. if you were to look at the spec book there is alot of slop. sometimes as much as +/- 3/8" on toe and +/- 3/16 on camber. You may have to take it to a good shop and have them adjust it to the specs you want.

sixaxe

Dude get a new truck. I
found out on the inside that they messed up the suspention and i'm seeing a
lawyer. I've put on shocks, springs, tires, get rid of it. remember this is a 2WD ONLY PROBLEM,LARRY P.S. DON'T PUT ANY MONEY INTO THE SUSPENTION, NOTHING WORKS

meredith

The PICKUPS Conference has gotten WAY too big....

it is unwieldy to manage, and difficult to use for "newbies". There is entirely TOO much topic duplication, so I will be doing some SERIOUS topic consolidation in the next few weeks, getting us down to not more than 2-3 topics per vehicle type, and ultimately down to 200 topics or less.

THIS weeks consolidation candidates are: F-150's, Silverado's, Dakota's, and Dakota Crew/Quad cabs.

In that vein, please consolidate this Silverado topic to Chevy Silverado - Continued IX and continue these discussions there.

Thanks!

Front Porch Philosopher
SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host