heel/toe wear at 7000 miles!

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I bought new a Toyota Hilux pickup with factory Bridgestone LT tires. They came with 45 psi on all tires from the dealer, and that's what I have kept them at since. I load only light to medium loads at the back and only on occasion. I have yet to rotate the tires, which are only at 7000 mile mark. The rear tires are fine, with nice equal wear, but BOTH fronts now show some heel/toe wear throughout the whole circumference. The affected tread blocks are the row just inside of the middle of the tire tread. The inner and outer shoulders are OK. The wear is obvious and affects the trailing edge of each tread block.

I am going to cross rotate the 4 tires this weekend front to back and will have to check the front suspension factory alignment later. If the alignment is not correct, then obviously I will have to adjust 'em and go with factory specs. But if the alignment turns out to be good and at factory specs, I'm inclined to change the toe, in an effort to improve the wear situation. Should I go to slightly more toe in or toe out?

Finally, should I also experiment with front tire pressure? I'm at 45 psi, and the manual says inflate the fronts to 42 psi.
 
I would take it back to the dealer before you rotate them so they'll see and hopefully fix the issue.

With toe wear at 7k, something is not correct.
 
Bring it back to the dealer for an alignment check and front end check. If the tires were properly inflated there should be no unusual wear on a new vehicle with only 7K miles on it.
 
I'd go for alignment first. The dealer might even rotate them for you.

I thought Toyota wanted 5k tire rotations?
 
First, you must not be in the US as Toyota doesn't use the name Hilux anymore in the US. That means I can't look up the tire specs - and I'm unclear about the 45 psi. I suspect that isn't the spec, but the shipping pressure. So can you tell us what tire size you have and verify what the vehicle tire placard says for pressure. (It's on the driver's door frame.) And do you happen to know what Toyota calls the Hilux in the US?

Second, some heel and toe wear is to be expected. It's a function of 2 things: Slip angle (for the fronts) and torque (for the rears). Assuming for the moment that driving gently is what you do, then I would look at the vehicle alignment - toe in particular.

It is my opinion that the published vehicle alignment specs are too wide - by half. Not the target value, but how much off that target value is allowed. I think toe needs to be within the inner half of the spec tolerance for good tire wear - so when you do get your alignment ask BEFORE to get the print out. Also ask the alignment tech BEFORE he starts to get all the alignment value within the inner half of the spec. If he won't agree to that, find someone who will.

On the other hand, if driving ah …. let's call it with spirit, then back it down a bit.
 
Good post there sir, I have found that if the alignment is off that you get wear on the inside or outside edges… This is on one of the bands near the center, so it may be slightly over inflated causing the tire to round out on the bottom and exposing those edges to cornering forces. I would drop the pressure slightly, do a rotation and drive another 7000 miles. I have had vehicles that required rotations every 5000 miles to keep the wear even, they were inexpensive tires on a heavier vehicle.
 
Could the 42 PSI spec be intended for carrying max load? I have a Toyota Tacoma (similar to a Hylux) and I normally run my tires at 30-32 PSI. The tire wear is perfect and the ride is good in that the tires do a decent job soaking up road imperfections.
 
Folks, I looked at the door placard and it says fronts should be 35 psi; the rears at 42 psi unloaded and 65 psi loaded. 35 seems low to me for LT tires, so I will experiment with 40 psi for awhile. I have just completed a 5-tire rotation all around, crossing the fronts to the rear as per the manual. The manual says recommended tire rotation is approximately 6000 miles, so I guess I'm slightly over the numbers.

Toe-in is barely a hair from 0 so I suppose it is correct, judging by the "visually align the outer front and back edges of the front tires with the rears." (Front and rear tracks are identical.)
 
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Originally Posted by berniedd
…… (Front and rear tracks are identical.)


Are you sure about that? If so, it would be the very first vehicle I've encountered that way - not that I am on a quest and check every vehicle I can, but I have checked quite a few.

Side question: Is the heel and toe wear on the front or the rear?
 
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Sorry I wasn't specific before but my vehicle is a rear wheel drive diesel 4 cyl 2016 model with manual transmission. Sorry if I gave the impression it was less than a year old but I didn't think its older age mattered in the discussion on tires. We bought it to transport materials for the house I and the wife were building. Didn't use it much for other purposes, hence the low mileage. (We have other cars we use for our daily commutes.)

Well, I did a web search and found this website and it says front and rear tracks = 59.4 inches for year models 2015-2018:

https://www.autoevolution.com/cars/...-hilux-double-cab-2015-24-6at-4wd-150-hp

The wear is on the trailing edges of the nearly center tread blocks of the front tires. The inner and outer shoulders are OK.
 
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