Hello All:

My '99 E-350 5.4L has pretty much ruined new front tires in 20,000
miles. They've worn their inside edges (though not to the point of
undriveablility) far more than the outside, and they've become so cupped
that it's like driving on a cobblestone road. The rear tires are like
new (all four put on at once). My '89 E-250 did the same thing, but this
van only has 43k miles on it! And, it has the same vibration problem
that the '89 did. Does this happen to anyone else? For the cupping, I
need to check the shocks, I guess, but if they went bad in 43k miles,
that would be pretty unusual. The thing tracks and handles fine, but
there must be something wrong with the alignment for the tires to wear
so unevenly. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

PS- My '97 Grand Marq with 172k had its last set of tires, cheap ones
from Sam's Club, last 90k! I know tires won't last that long on trucks,
though.

PSS- Gotta hand it to Ford, this van got 17.5 mpg to Colorado and back,
pretty good for a heavy vehicle.

CN
St. Albans WV

What we see a lot with these vans is that an owner (usually a contractor of
some sort) will empty a lot of equipment out of the back so they can
continue working while the van is in for service.... This can really upset
the wheel alignment process since so much depends on the ride height of the
front suspension... Let's not forget to add that too many alignment shops
will tell a customer that caster and camber are non-adjustable on these (and
that is what we call a load of BS).

Inside edge tire wear will almost certainly be the result of too much
negative camber ( partly poor alignment and partly from likely being heavily
loaded) and/or toe out. The cupping most likely from weak shock absorbers.

HTH.