Prado rv6 tyre wear problems

try a 4wd alighn ment specialist (dont know where you are currently taking it) might cost a few $$$ but mystery problems can really sap all the fun. I had a brake problem with vibrating brakes that couldnt be identified by 2 franchise mobs so I took it (skyline) to a brake specialist and it was an easy fix. as for the vibe apparantly this is a known problem with Prados which cant be fixed (check out letters section of latest overlander)

Krausz.
Your problem is almost certianly a front end alignment problem.
A lot of tyre places dont employ trianed staff, they can look at a front end and have no idea what they are talking about. I sugest you go to a front end specialist who will fix the aligment and get rid of your vibration. Eric.

Hi Krausz
I used to own a 1997 Prado there were many mod's carried out by Toyota
I had the noise/vibration at 110 kpm and Toyota fitted a mod to the mounts on the body to chaisse and some chunks of metal to the chaisse rails fixed the problem
Tyres there were mod's to the front end
All mine were carried out under warranty
also there is a mod to the rear end
good luck
Regards Richard

krausz,
I don't have a Prado but the wheel allignment by a 4x4 shop, as already mentioned, could be the tyre problem. I have just replaced my tyres due to excess scrubbing and had them rotated and wheels alligned every 3 -4 months. After a visit to Fulcrum (Brisbane) I found out that the chain store I had been going to was only doing toe in and never touched caster and camber. After a search of the archives on this site I found some threads on the same topic. One in particular, by Mr Diamond talked about my exact problem where allignments were not done properly due to a range of reasons. One reason being that the operator (not a mechanic) doesn't know how to do allignments properly. Had I read the archives when I bought the last set of tyres I would have gone elsewhere for allignments and saved myself a set of tyres and a lot of annoyance.

Black Jack

Hi Krausz.
I have a 1998 Prado World Cup which is an RV6 with electric pack.
I note you are running 205 tyres and the standard tyre for an RV Prado is the Dunlop Grandtrek 215 X 16.

I experienced the same scrubbing issues with the Grandtreks finding that we chewed through one set per trip which was typically 50/50 Northern roads Birdsville track, Kimberly etc and the rest bitumen for the fast run home. At cold settings I ran 37 PSI in the front and 39 in the rear and run a Big Red under the bonnet for daily checks and sand driving.

After multiple trips and many $$$ visiting wheel alignment specialists I went back to Toyota who were the only people who provided a decent computerised read out of all four wheels which showed that alignment varied but was within the manufacturer's specifications.

Having tried all else the next variable was the tyres. As you probably know, the 215 is purpose built for the Prado and after much research I found the Kelly Safari 225/75/R16 to be a good size macth for rolling size etc and it's light truck construction. They are noisy and you need to keep the pressure a tad higher but after two trips and no flats I'm looking to get at least one more out of them and they are wearing very evenly.

Cheers
Le Roy (Adelaide)

Agree with the others about the alignment issue - there's a lot of dodgy operators out there. I had a 97 RV6 and didn't like the performance of my tyres (215/80/16) either. Best thing I ever did was get a set of plastic flares from Toyota, bung GXL rims on and fit 265/70 tyres. The wider tyre made all the difference to the handling, and although the tyre is a bit bigger, it actually made my speedo nearly perfect for accuracy. You used to be able to find GXL rims for about $60 new, but they are getting rarer now that the new Prado has a 17 inch rim. Good luck with it.