Most likely you need to have an alignment done.
It is probably the toe that needs to be adjusted.
It's possible your tie rod ends are worn out and need to be replaced
(extra $$).
It is also possible that the camber isn't set right.
These things can be off just a little bit and cause quite a lot of tire
wear over many thousands of miles.

You don't say what kind of Oldsmobile it is, but I have a 90 Ciera and
I got new tires at Sears for about $45 a tire last fall. They were on
sale. You might check there for what they have on sale.

I didn't need an alignment done (which usually costs about $65 more)
and I didn't get the road hazard warranty and all that. But of course
by the time you add in new valve stems, wheel balancing, tire disposal,
and tax, you're still looking at about $170 for 2 new tires. That's
pretty good though- and it's worth the money when you consider it's for
your safety on wet or icy pavement.

The name of the tire was Goodyear Weatherhandler. This model of tire
you can only get at Sears- Goodyear makes it for Sears and does not
sell them through their own tire stores. I think treadwear was about
60,000 miles.

One good thing about getting tires for American cars is that they seem
to be a lot less expensive than getting tires for foreign cars. Why
this is I'm not sure.

Anyway, hope this helps you.


Nate Nagel wrote:
> Wally wrote:
> > Hi.
> > I have an '89 Olds car with 4 Goodyear Aquatred tires on it.
> > I need to replace the front pair of tires as the car will not pass
> > state inspection because of tread depth. I want to just replace the
> > front tires as the rear tires are still in good shape, tread-wise.
> > Question I have is that the tread toward the inside of the tire on both
> > the front tires is worn down more than the outside part of the tread.
> > What does this signify and what do I need to have adjusted when I bring
> > the car in to replace the tires?
> > Also, I do not want to spend the extra $ on new Aquatreds so what is a
> > decent tire/brand that I can put on the front axle given the rear axle
> > still has Aquatreds?
> >
> > Thanks.
> > Walter
> >
>
> First of all, you need an alignment at a minimum, and the alignment tech
> may very well find some other issues with the front end that need to be
> rectified (tie rods, strut bearings, ball joints, etc.) to make the car
> safe. But if they didn't appear on your inspection report, make sure
> you really need them.
>
> Secondly, if you get new tires, you should rotate the tires so that the
> newest ones are on the rear of the car, to keep the vehicle stable in
> bad weather conditions.
>
> good luck,
>
> nate
>
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