Rear tire wear
 

The rear tires wear about twice as fast as the fronts on my 2008 Chrysler Town and Country. Every other front engine, front wheel drive car, including two other Mopar minivans, have worn their front tires much faster than the rears. Alignment and weight-loading are a couple of reasons I can think of that might contribute to rear wear, but the vehicle tracks straight at all speeds, and my wife and I are usually the only 'load'. Any ideas?

Other than alignment and driving style, the key factors will be:

1. Tire pressure...if you run at lower pressure you will generally see more wear (and lower fuel economy). Check your manual for correct settings - generally best to stick with what the factory advises.

2. Different tire brands wear very differently...generally, softer formula stickier tires give better grip but are less long lasting. Harder tires are longer lasting, but you get poorer adhesion from them. Do you have the same brand and same model tire all round? And therefore are you comparing apples with apples or apples with oranges?

What sort of wear pattern are you seeing? Are the rear tires wearing evenly across the tread? If tread is worn on outside or inside only, then suspect incorrect camber. If worn in middle but edges are good, suspect over-pressure. If worn on both outside edges but goo in middle, suspect under-pressure.

If you run the palm of your hand across the tread in both directions, can you feel if the wear is inside-to-out or outside-to-in? If you have that type of wear pattern suspect incorrect toe-in or toe-out alignment.

If still unsure, your tire fitter will usually be able to tell you what sort of wear you are seeing, and why.

Happy Motoring,

That rear cart spring axle would need to sustain damage to provoke toe in/out. Possible though. Think someone on a previous thread had this issue.
Unless the 2008 is independent suspension.

It was a TomC back in 27-5-2013 that had an issue on rear tyre wear, scrubbing inside and outside on different sides, but he didn't come back on my reply, interesting as it was.

I'll try and transfer his findings to you.

If the vehicle has been crashed at some time in its history and not straightened properly during repair, there can be mysterious tyre wear that doesn't make sense.

If you measure the two cross distances between front and back wheels, i.e. corner to corner, it should be identical.

Another test is to have another skilled driver follow you along a straight road and see if your vehicle is "crabbing", i.e. pointing one way and heading in another, if only slightly.

If you drive along a straight road and take your hands temporarily off the steering wheel, does the vehicle take a dive toward one side or the other?

Brushing your fingers gently over the tyre treads may reveal the tread is being lifted to one side and therefore feels 'sharp'. Often call "feathering" of the treads.

A vehicle in UK that has been written off by an insurance company due to severe damage is called "Category D" or catD for short. These vehicles are sometimes repaired by unscrupulous vendors and illegally put back on the road. Strange tyre wear is often the result. I once was in a car on sale many years ago that went great and was cheap. My son discovered the front was one car and the back was another.

Leedsman.

TomC said he had this problem back last year and it was down to knackered Engine mountings allowing car to crab and sway about. Odd answer.
But it sorted problem with new mounts.

Translation - worn engine mounts...new mounts fixed the problem

Lol Hey I'm just havin a little fun on a boring day.