Tires: Toyota Camry Excess Tire Wear, target value, alignment specs

Question
I have a 2010 Toyota Camry LE, 4 cyld with 12K miles on it.  I have had to replace the 2 left side tires because of what was termed tire cupping.  I have rotated the tires every 5K since the car was new at the dealer's service.  The dealer has inspected the car and said it was a tire problem (Bridgestones).  Took it into tire dealer and they put two new tires on the front (that I paid for), balanced them and stated the aglinment was in tolerances.  I just returned from a 3K trip and appears the left front tire is cupping again (according to tire dealer).  Returned the car to dealer, they checked the struts, wheel bearings, power steering that appear OK, they are currently looking at the alignment, but seemed stumped.  Do you have any suggestions I could pass onto them?

Answer
Duane,

First, tires do not develop uneven wear by themselves.  This can always by traced to some sort problem with the alignment.

First, my experience is that not only do vehicles come from the factory out of alignment, but some of the alignment specs are not conducive to good tire wear.  You need to get a copy of the alignment - before and after.  What you are looking for is camber that is under 0.75°.  My experience is that cambers near or over 1° are prone to irregular wear (what they called cupping).  It doesn't matter what the "spec" is.  If the camber is higher than 0.75°, this will result in great handling, but poor tire wear.  

The vehicle dealer will probably disagree thoroughly with this - and refuse to deviate from the factory specs.  That is understandable.  If they deviate and there is a problem, then the dealership - not Toyota - will be held liable and Toyota will refuse to reimburse the dealer for the work to fix the problem.

The second thing is that the toe has to be within 0.06° of the target value.  That would be the tolerance, not the ideal value.  I'm sure the vehicle dealer will disagree with that as well!

But that is what I think needs to be done to deal with the wear issue.

If the vehicle dealer doesn't agree to put the vehicle at the specs I just mentioned, then I think you should find an independent alignment shop who will.  Needless to say, you'll have to pay for the alignment.  There may also be a need to install some special plates or bolts in order to get the camber as I suggested - but at this point, what do you have to lose?