I noticed my drivers front tire is showing a lot of wear on the outside corner, and am leaving on a trip early tomorrow AM. Tire shops are closing, and I need to decide to rotate that front tire to that backside, or to just take my wife's minivan and leave her driving my call on her small errands the next few days. Tire pressure is OK. Tread is mostly gone in that corner, tire seems OK otherwise. It doesn't pull, noticably, but may be a little...sluggish turning? My trip is about 300 mi, each way.

Thx in advance,

 

I would guess, from the lack of responses, that no one wants the liability of telling you it's OK to drive 600 miles on worn out tires.

The chances are very good that you can go and come without any problems. Your idea of rotating the tires to a location that puts less pressure on the outside edges seems like a good one, if you have to drive somewhere.

That said, if there is a bald edge on a tire, I wouldn't drive it at highway speeds.

I vote for letting your wife have a little fun on slow errands after you rotate the tires.

 

And I can see it's a bit unfair to ask. So, I'm going ahead with rotating, with a little comfort gained from looking closely and seeing the problem doesn't look anything like critical, just needing attention as soon as I get back. My tires are aging, so I guess I'll be buying sooner than later. Decisions about run-flat vs otherwise is now impending....

Thanks for replying,

 

It's hard to help without seeing what "a lot of wear" on the outside corner means. And yes, rotation is a good option since the rears don't work the outside corner much under normal driving. Unless you corner like a wild man all the time in right hand turns, an alignment or other repair sounds to be in order.

A picture or two, miles on the tires, depth of remaining tread (center of tire), and other data would be helpful.

 

If you up your air pressures a couple pounds it'll help them run more in the center of the tread and not roll over as much too. Might ride a little rougher but.....

 

Thanks for the replies. Sorry I can't post a picture - that'd have made my request a lot more reasonable. It's dark now, and getting a good picture wouldn't be easy and by now what's done is done. My fault for not thinking of the picture initially. Good thought about adding a little pressure.