2016 Explorer AWD excessive rear tire wear?

[Klutch9]

Our 2016 Explorer seems to be wearing the rear tires far more quickly than the fronts. Not unevenly across the tread, since the wear appears uniform… just quickly. This past winter we drove the vehicle down to Florida on some older winter tires. Throughout the trip the fronts registered practically no wear, but the rears wore down significantly. We just took a shorter road trip on the OEM all-season Michelins, which have plenty of tread left, and I’ve already noticed a visual difference in the rears after about 300 miles; a certain faint aspect of the tread disappeared in that short amount of highway miles.

Vehicle drives great and tracks straight; could it still be an alignment issue? It had the rear toe link recall done last summer and they did do a rear axle alignment afterward, but I don’t think they touched the front. I could just go get an alignment but they aren’t cheap. Let me know your thoughts.

Another question… on this set of tires the rears have at least 2/32” less tread than the fronts now, and this vehicle is AWD (not a true full-time AWD system, just when it feels it needs to be, like most other SUVs now). Will the tread wear difference cause potential damage to the drivetrain components?

 

[tasch72]

When is the last time you rotated your tires?

 

[Danno]

First thought is to have the rear knuckles checked for any play.
I've had to have those changed on our Explorer trade ins, with 60,000 miles on them.
If they check out, definitely go for a 4 wheel alignment.
Unfortunately, replacing knuckles is not cheap, could be $1200 per side.

 

[Klutch9]

First thought is to have the rear knuckles checked for any play.
I've had to have those changed on our Explorer trade ins, with 60,000 miles on them.
If they check out, definitely go for a 4 wheel alignment.
Unfortunately, replacing knuckles is not cheap, could be $1200 per side.

Knuckles are good, and tires are rotated regularly. Had a couple wheel bearings replaced last summer as well.

 

[Cujet]

My F150’s all wear the rears first. In fact, the current situation is so bad from all my highway trips without rotating recently that I need to replace the rears only.

 

[Dave9]

The new/recall-replacement toe link design is one-piece, uses a slot at the knuckle for alignment rather than a two piece threaded shaft adjustment that the old had.

Some argue the new design can more easily cause alignment slip from road impact or if not torqued enough. IIRC, Steeda makes an aftermarket design toe link that still uses the threaded shaft for alignment, and some people opt to get those. Yeah, found them:

Steeda Explorer Adjustable Rear Toe Links (2011-2019)

Upgrade your Ford Explorer's OE toe link to a stronger adjustable toe link from Steeda! Improves handling and driveability of your Explorer.

www.steeda.com

Knuckles are not that expensive. $109 each for Motorcraft on Rock Auto, could DIY the labor then get an alignment.

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Either way, get the rear alignment checked.

The system is supposed to detect differences in wheel speed based on different tire diameter and disable the auto-awd once it's bad enough, but like anything, it's harder on the drivetrain than it otherwise would be, up until that point to be running dissimilar diameter tires. I'd at least change the PTU fluid more often.

For the time being I would rotate the more worn tires to the front, get an alignment done and go from there, though if it's much over 2/32" difference, then I'd see if a local shop will shave down the larger tires to match.

 

[Soft Cars]

There are shops that specialize in chassis and suspension; go there for an alignment. Usually they are the big-rig frame and wheel shops.

Stay away from tire shops for anything but tires.