I forgot about the knocking noise I've had in the past, which went away
after torqueing the crap out of the shock mounting bolts.

So far as the tire wear, talk to a good alignment shop for another opinion.
IIRC, bad shocks tend to cause "cupping" of the tire tread.  What you're
describing sounds like a toe-in adjustment problem (though I am NOT a front
end guy).

Karl Wolz

the van, got out, put his hands on something in the area I
described, and was able to produce the same noise by shaking it.  He said
that he routinely uses Bilstein shocks, but the ones I have are some kind of
non-Bilstein heavy duty shocks, which are not recommended.  I really don't
know anything about this stuff.  The mechanic also said that he couldn't be
sure of what the problem is until he puts the van on a lift, which is a good
thing.  He also said that by feeling the tires, he could tell that the
shocks should be replaced.  He said that when you run your fingers over the
treads, they should be smooth going either from left to right or from