The tread on the tires

[kookY khang]

The tread on the outter rim of the tires
are much less than the tread on the rest
of the tire. It's only happening to the
front wheels, the car is a front wheel
drive. It's this an alignment problem
or is it normal?

The car is a 2002 Prism with 14k mi

[mrazntre]

wow, this is quite interesting. You will ALWAYS get more wear on your front tires, and especially the right front tire (because people tend to make quicker right turns than quick left turns, NOTICE the rotation of tires when you get a rotation, the front rear swaps down to the rear left). USUALLY, tire wear that occurs only on the outer part of the tire are due to improper camber (you have too much positive camber, basically if you look at the front of the car, you'll see your tires slightly resting more on the outer part of the tires.

check the air pressure in the tires, it might be overinlfated.

GET AN ALIGNMENT. you should be covered under your factory warranty. Hopefully it's just a simple alignment problem.

[mrazntre]

and ROTATE FREQUENTLY! probably 3 to 4 times a year to keep everything fresh. i used to do this about every 3000 miles, but my car was modified.. stock cars are different, my rotations and wheel balancing were free, so i did it frequently. check with your tire company.

[ren28]

I've seen old Mercedes with a lot of castor from the factory. That caused both the inner and outer ring to be worn more quickly. Too much negative camber will cause the insides of the tires to be worn more quickly. Too much positive camber will do the opposite. Too much tire pressure should make the middle wear down faster.

[lethal]

I had that happen to me once. It was because one tire was really underinflated. CHeck the tire pressure, get an alignment, and have your tires balanced and rotated, just to be sure.

[537]

Originally posted by ren28@May 3 2003, 12:13 AM
I've seen old Mercedes with a lot of castor from the factory. That caused both the inner and outer ring to be worn more quickly. Too much negative camber will cause the insides of the tires to be worn more quickly. Too much positive camber will do the opposite. Too much tire pressure should make the middle wear down faster.
Actually, contrary to popular belief:

Negative/positive camber does not have as big an effect on premature inside/outside tire wear as toe-in/toe-out. Granted, alignment jobs check both, but if your tires are wearing out on the outside, your front suspension has too much toe-in. If you're wearing out on the insides of the tire, your suspension has too much toe-out.