excessive tire wear

I have a 1998 grand caravan. The tires outer edges on the front tires have nearly worn through on a set of 4 firestone ft70c ttires. These are 70,000 tires with a little less than 30,000. I had the front end aligned at a dealer 7,000 and they still have worn down to almost nothing. the head mechanic at the dealer suggested just buying the less expensive tires and living with the outer edge wear. Is this the best advice, or is there something else that could be causing the wear problem?

Excessive tire wear is not normal.

My first instinct would be to get the alignment looked at, but you've already done that.

Other things to look into would be the suspension, like shocks, bearings, ...

i lowered my 2000 Grand Caravan Sport. I used Eibach Pro-Sping Kit, which only included the springs, and I left the stock shocks. i've been rotating my tires every 6000 miles and at 28000 miles i've now noticed my rear two tires are completely worn out. these were factory tires and there is no tread left on the rears and barely any left on the fronts. could there be something wrong? i know the alightment is right.

I've only done some light reading regarding lowering vehicles. I am certain that if you lower a vehicle, you don't just cut the springs.

A lowering kit is required, and new "shorter" shocks may also be required. If I were you, I would take your vehicle into a good suspension shop, explain the whole situation to them, and they could probablly correct any possible errors.

yeah.. i didn't cut my springs... i acutally bought ebiach pro-spring kit for the caravan.. but i know, cutting the springs kindof messes thing up...

Originally posted by angldrkns9
yeah.. i didn't cut my springs... i acutally bought ebiach pro-spring kit for the caravan.. but i know, cutting the springs kindof messes thing up...

Did you install the rear shackles, too? If not, you might be putting too much weight on the front, and wearing those tires faster, or actually slightly "lifting" the rear (because of the weight distribution) and causing problems.

i installed the shackles too. it seems that the rear tires are wearing faster.. i think it's my cornering habits... =P

Say, what is the prognosis of your vehicle not starting ? Was the dealer able to locate the problem ?

Do you drive the caravan like Mario? This is most likely your cause. i see it all the time at my shop. The van handles pretty well, so the take corners like in a sports car, and it'll wear the edges pretty quickly. If you like to drive aggressively, get a performance oriented tire, not the 70,000 mile granny tires. You also could have a little more negative camber put in the alignment. This will help with the problem.

that's why i'm getting ultra-high performance tires.. i'm looking into the SP9000 sport... talk about over-kill for my mini-van... haha

angldrkns9, sounds like your drive your Caravan like they do in Nascar !