Hey guys. I think I may have some weird tire wear on both front tires. Bought my 2006 LR SE about a year ago and have slowly been fixing various systems. This week i noticed some odd tire wear on the front tires. These tires were not new when I bought the rig. If you notice right where my finger is, it looks like the tire is worn but only in that area of the tire. Rest of tire looks great. Could just be the tire tread design but I’m not sure, Questions / Observations:

- is this normal?
- don’t think it’s the tire tread design (looks like wear)
- steering isn’t pulling left or right
- no steering wheel movement on braking
- should I get the tires rotated and aligned?
- if I take the rig to get tires rotated and steering aligned, do I have to take it to a specialist or can regular old tire places do the work?



Drivers side front


Passenger side front

 

Could need an alignment. Usually that wear is from the camber being off

 

If it is worn on just one outside edge like that, it does indeed need an alignment. It could be off or someone added rods/adjusted height without getting an alignment done. If the wear is on both outside edges, the the tires are being ran on lower than recommenced air pressure, which caused the middle tread area to push up and into the ties and the sidewalls take more load. Wearing just in the center can therefore mean pressure too high.

Some shops will not touch Rovers and some just find them difficult for some reason. Best to just call around. I have Tires Plus do mine. I hate em, but they have a lifetime alignment for less than $200. So I bring it in regularly for alignments and I am nothing out of pocket each time. But the Tires Plus across town would not do my alignments...

 

If my bearings are bad, how do I check them? Can the alignment mechanic check them? Or should go to a specific mechanic?

 

Yes, any mechanic can check them. But if you jack up the wheel off the ground and grab it at the very top and very bottom and work it there should be no play at all. If there is, likely it is a bearing. If you grad side to side and there is play, that is somewhat normal as long as it is minimal and there is no clunking. There is play that way because you are basically manual turning the truck steering. But if there is a clunk, then the tie-rods are worn.