I would check for wear in the front suspension components, i.e. bushings,
ball joints and tie rods. Excess play in these components could cause
alignment settings to change, causing the differences in tire wear you are
noticing. I would find a good front end shop to check all of these
components out to make sure they are within wear limits.

Tim Hannink
Goldibox - 1987 Westfalia Camper, Wolfsburg Edition
Winter Park, Florida
http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jason Stevenson" <jstv4man@HOME.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2001 8:42 AM
> Subject: Abnormal tire wear 1984 Vanagon
>
>
>
> To the list at large-
> I need help (yet again).  I need some ideas on what might be causing the
> problem I'm having.  As the title suggests, I'm having seriously abnormal
> tire wear, especially in the front.  I have a 1984 Vanagon (standard).  I
> replaced the tires about a year ago, when I bought the vehicle.  Shortly
> thereafter, I noticed accellerated wear on the insides of the front tires.
> That was easily solved by having it aligned front and rear.  I then
rotated
> the front tires to the back, and vice versa.  It wasn't too long before I
> began to see rapid wear on the fronts again (this time on the OUTside of
the
> tires).  I naturally assumed that they had simply not done the alignment
> quite right, so I took it back, and they redid it free of charge.  They
told
> me when I picked it up that one side was off by 1 degree.  I remember
> thinking that didn't seem like enough to account for that kind of wear,
but
> went on my way.
> A short time later, I noticed still more wear, especially on the front
> tires.  I'm now past the service warranty period on the alignment.  But
I'm
> starting to think that isn't the problem to begin with.  The most obvious
> thing I can think of is shocks.  Does that sound like my best bet of what
to
> do next to the experts on the list?  Or should I be looking elsewhere in
the
> suspension/wheel location system?
>
> Thanks in advance-
> Jason Stevenson