I bought a set of Treadwright's "Warden"-style retreads on BFG A/T carcasses. Have been really happy with them until just recently noticing a strange wear pattern where certain sections of the tread are almost lifted or heaved above other sections. It's making sort of a ribbed effect and the tires have become noticeably louder.

Has anyone ever experienced this on retreads or otherwise? It's only on the fronts and especially the front left. My only possible guess at this point is that I do have a bit of fender rubbing on the occasional really hard turn, could that have shaved the rubber in this odd pattern?

They're up for a rotation but not horribly overdue, run at even pressure, not wheeled particularly hard or at low pressures for long periods of time. I'm stumped!

 

You really need to call/email Tread Wright. They could have a defect in the tire.

 

Yeah, I've sent them a note but was curious if anyone had seen this before...

 

Is the odd tread wear consistent all the way around the tire? It may be feathering. Have you rotated the tires? My guard dogs from treadwright did the same thing but they are a little more aggressive and more prone to feathering

 

Seems more like an alignment issue than a tire problem.

 

Try to get a pic of the wear. By your description.. I'm with Kingfisher. Sounds like alignment. If it is a tire issue it likely has more to do with inflation than quality.

 

I'd be willing to bet you're seeing feathering, where one edge of the tread blocks seems to be ramped up. This has been a problem on every front coil-sprung Jeep I've had. I've never been able to get rid of it entirely. My '02 TJ did this right from the showroom floor, and my 98 XJ does it too. I've read where some have had luck using .5 to 1.25 degree adjustable front ball joints to better dial in the alignment, but with the normal fixed joints there's only so much alignment adjustment that can be done.

One other "race car driver" trick... If you're like a lot of people, most of the time it's just you in the Jeep. When you get an alignment done, put something close to your body weight in the driver's seat before they align it. Some people use bags of concrete or steel weight plates. For skinny guys it may not make any difference, but for bigass bears like me at 270 pounds with size 13 wedding rings, it can help with "real world" alignment.

 

Interesting, the description of feathering has legs in terms of what I'm seeing here. I've never experienced (nor heard of) it before but that would make sense, especially the bit about riding around solo in the car 95% of the time since the wife hates the XJ (much to my enjoyment)! I guess I've just kept up on rotations well enough in the past to not notice it but this is the first set of new BFGs I put on since lifting.

Either way, I'm going in for a rotation and alignment on Friday at the local tire specialist shop...thanks for all the input, y'all.

 

I have ran treadwright tires for a long time and I have had this problem twice. The first time it was my ball joints and the second time it was my alignment.

 

Good to know, I'll have them check both. So, I'll assume from the "long time" comment you are otherwise happy with Treadwright?

 

I had the same thing happen to maxxis buckshot tires on a different xj a few years ago. Don't know what the cause was. But it has only happened to those tires. Next ones were fine.

 

Absolutely! They are awesome tires!

 

You could have a shifted belt in the tire's carcass that is causing a high spot. Post a pic and put an end to the guessing.

 

Had the Jeep jacked up this weekend and confirmed it was due to mostly shot ball joints - took it in and the guy at the shop also referred to it as feathering or scalloping. Moved the bad tire(s) to the back and going to have the ball joints and u joints replaced this week.

Thanks for the input all, Treadwright is off the hook - ongoing quality of the tire itself can't be questioned.

 

Just wanted to say thank you for reporting back. So often on these forums we never get word of what ultimately fixed the problem. For those of us that spend a good deal of time trying to help other members, it's nice to get some feedback.

Once you get the joints replaced an get some mileage on the front tires, let us know if the problem recurs.