Tire wear questions

[DrDusty86]

My zx2 Escort has slightly worn down the wear bars on the inside of the front right tire. the drivers side looks fine. about a year ago I put new outer tie rods on it and had it aligned. They did not report any problems during the alignment. I have about 35-40K miles on this set, which in my experience is GREAT for a little 14" tire. It drives straight, with the wheel centered and doesn't pull. Tire pressure is 35psi @ all corners. I would say I have about 35% service life out of the other 3 and 25-30% out of the front right, not a large difference. I rotate them every 10k miles, I'm thinking in terms of revs per mile on a 14" 5k might be better.
The car is a 99' and has 203,xxx miles.
Should I look for something or just rotate them now and call it a day?
Thanks,
Dusty

 

[jorton]

I am now doing 5k rotations which is great for tires but at some point I think I'm going to have to replace lug nuts. Also, it's not easy to get the right torque without a torque wrench. Last time the nuts were too tight. Before that they weren't tight enough.

You should get 1 new tire that's the same circumference as the one on the other side. I guess it would be easiest just to get the same brand and model.

 

[DrDusty86]

I have BF Goodridge Touring tires on it at at 4 corners. They are all the same circumference. I'm thinking 5k rotations would avoid this. I'm going to start.

 

[rpn453]

I wouldn't bother doing anything other than a rotation if most of those tires' usage was prior to the alignment. Maybe that edge was already worn down a bit extra before that point.

I like to keep the two best tires on the front as much as possible to maintain a consistent tread depth between the four tires. Once the front tires are noticeably more worn than the rears, it's time for a rotation. Just don't use tires that are at the wear bars on the back, and keep the set closely matched in terms of tread wear for balanced handling and traction.

 

[mechtech2]

After so many thousands of miles on that alignment, who knows if it is still OK?
Alignment can go out after a hit/bump 10 seconds after a good alignment.
FWD cars need rotation more than RWD. I also suspect a bit of toe out on that side.
Keep your cold tire pressure 2-3 lbs over the door sticker, too.