Nissan Armada & Infiniti QX56 Forums banner

Front end alignment / outside tire wear

11K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  liquid1 
#1 ·
Our 13 Platinum 4WD gets its tires rotated by me every 7500 miles as recommended in the manual. This last time before I did the rotation I noticed that it is wearing the outside of both fronts badly. I only noticed because it has worn down past the outside tread. It is right around the 22,500 mile mark and is running Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II's that it came with. I checked the rears and you could see that the outside was worn more than the rest of the tire which I assume was from when they were on the fronts last time.

My opinion of these tires has been generally negative mainly due to the fact that they hydroplane pretty easily on the highway and the last thing I want to be behind the wheel of is this Armada dancing on top of water. They also don't bite very well in the snow. So the tire wear and the hydroplaning made me think that maybe it's an alignment issue since I check the tire pressures every month or so and keep it at 36psi all around. Plus if it was related to low tire pressure, the wear would be on the inside and outside of the tires. It doesn't pull one way or another when driving it, but maybe it is off equally so I took it to my local Nissan dealer for an alignment.

When I brought it in, they connected it up to some alignment checker in the bay by the service writers desks and the report came back with the alignment being within spec all around except for the right rear being .1 off (The rears are wearing perfectly). It showed camber for all 4 and a combined toe for the front and another for the back and the combines toe for both the front and back were within spec. The writer looked at the report for a while then said it didn't need an alignment so off I went and rotated them. I typically go front to back (since that is what the manual says to do), but the service writer suggested I swap the rears then go front to back so the left rear ended up on the front right.

Our Armada is mostly a city commuter with occasional long road trips.

So do you guys see uneven wear on the fronts? I am assuming not since I searched for threads before posting this and didn't find anything.

The dealer said it was probably related to the tire. I am not sure I am buying that either although I already have a poor opinion of them from the hydroplaning.

Are those alignment checker devices accurate? What do you guys think its issue could be? Should I go get an alignment at another shop or is the Mada going to chew through a set of pricey tires every 30-40k?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Outside tread wear on the front is caused by too much positive camber, too much toe in, or hard cornering with low inflation.
Proper alignment is critical for good tire wear and handling. I would have the toe in checked by reliable technician.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply scr38.

I must say I am surprised that this thread has been looked at 212 times and nobody has replied that they do / do not see any abnormal tire wear in the front.

Anyway, I took it to a mechanic I trust to have a look at the alignment. He said that the toe was off on both fronts a bit and the rears were way off. They adjusted up all 4 corners and from their report, it was all within spec so I will see how it does.

My mechanic was surprised it was so far off for being a 2013 with 20k on the clock since it doesn't really see any bad roads unless we travel back to Michigan to see family.
 
#4 ·
The tires on my 2012 Platinum are wearing very evenly across the tread. The tires get rotated every 7500 to 10,000 miles. My truck came originally with Michelin Latitude tires; I replaced them with less than 20,000 miles on them due to cracks in the sidewalls. I now have Michelin LTX on there, which I also had on my 2006 Armada, and I'm very happy with them. I've never had my Armada aligned, since the tires are wearing evenly and the truck doesn't pull, I haven't seen the need.

Keith
 
#5 ·
I also have never had my Armada aligned, and tire wear is perfect with 140K miles.
 
#6 ·
I've had my Armada aligned a couple of times right before we bought it back in 2009 and 1 time since. I had to align it due to me changing the suspension and I'll be having to get it aligned again in a bit for same reason. What a lot of us have noticed is that you need to make sure that you have it aligned by someone who is good and trustworthy because our rigs can be a real pain to get properly aligned. I always suggest requesting before and after print outs of the alignment from the shop you're having it done at.
 
#7 ·
I trust the mechanic I brought it to as he has done other work for me and others and has a great reputation locally. He also did a before and after printout from his alignment gear showing the results. I can't say that he is an alignment expert, but I suppose time will tell as I burn through the rest of these tires.

Thanks for the responses. Now I know that once the Mada gets aligned correctly, I can expect decent treadlife out of the tires.
 
#8 ·
tire wear

Found good advice on this site before but I have not found a clear answer to bad tire wear. I purchased a 2010 QX56 with 35K on it. The dealer put new tires on it. I noticed the first month the back end would break loose and jump to the right on any road imperfection. Brought back to dealer and had 4 new tires and alignment done, Same problem. 4 tires and alignment at 3 other locations and same problem. It is wearing out the outside of the right rear within 10K to 15K miles. Any suggestions on what else could be wrong.
 
#9 ·
Found good advice on this site before but I have not found a clear answer to bad tire wear. I purchased a 2010 QX56 with 35K on it. The dealer put new tires on it. I noticed the first month the back end would break loose and jump to the right on any road imperfection. Brought back to dealer and had 4 new tires and alignment done, Same problem. 4 tires and alignment at 3 other locations and same problem. It is wearing out the outside of the right rear within 10K to 15K miles. Any suggestions on what else could be wrong.
When you have your alignment done, are they doing a 4 wheel alignment? Our trucks are very sensitive to rear alignment, and judging by what you are saying about the rear stepping out over bumps, it sounds like something might be wrong in the rear.
 
#11 ·
My 2010 Titanium had the MS2 and tires were wearing normal. Did find a few of the Arm bolts needing re torqued due to popping and bumping noise in front end. I have the Latitudes on the new 2015 and will be keeping up with tires and rotations.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top