Tires: wear of tires, road hazard warranty, wheel alignment

Question
I purchased two Goodyear VIVA II tires 5/31/07 and the whol tire is bald; I purchased a road hazard warranty also. I returned to WalMart they will replace the tires but pro-rate the cost because I probably had a wheel alignment problem and didn't rotate the tires enough

Answer
Charlotte,

Tire wear occurs mostly in the cornering mode.  The more turns you make, the faster the tire wears.  In other words, if you drive in the city - and make lots of turns compared to driving straight ahead - you will get less miles out of your tires than if you drive in the country - where you drive straight ahead for long distances.

However, if your alignment is off - especially toe - it is like pushing the tire sideways - and the tire wears much more rapidly.

You didn't say how many miles you got from these tires, but I'm going to guess you didn't make it to the point where rotation would be a factor - and that probably means the alignment is WAY, WAY off.

WalMart did you a favor by adjusting these tires, because they probably showed signs of misalignment - which isn't cover by the warranty.