Firestone told me that my left rear tire was wearing out faster than the other 3. I asked them what could be the problem and how to fix it.

They recommended me to buy 1 new tire. I declined and they said an alignment might fix the issue. Will an alignment resolve the issue?

 

alignment wont resolve that you have uneven wear on the tire. it will fix your alignment but if you dont get a new tire you will still have tire wear present. and then 6 months down the road you will take your car back saying...i had an alignment...why is there wear here?
so...buy two new tires and get an alignment while rotoating front tires to rear...since the other side is worn probaly as well.

likely cause of tire wear is.......drum roll please....
lack of rotation...rotate your tires every 5,000 or so.
camber
hard driving....example..ebrake drifter?

if both rear tires have been on vehicle for same amount of time...then you can rule out toe. if toe was out of spec then both rears would show the same wear...meaning your vehicle dogtracks down the road.
camber is non adjustable in the rear...or front for that mastter....so your best bet is to rotate your tires more often.

 

Somewhat false. An alignment can fix the wear issue on that tire. Also could be from an improper balance too. Depends on the wear pattern.

but the cheapest thing I would do is the alignment and move that tire to the front of the car.

 

Fronts wear out faster than rears, normally, althouth here I dunno why your rear is wearing out faster. I'd get 2 new tires for the front and put the fronts on the rear like the other poster said.

Is your ebrake dragging? Jackup that rear tire and see if the tire spins freely with ebrake off of-course. Then get a 4-wheel alignment and don't worry about it for awhile (after u get new tires).

 

are you sure about that? In the front the wheels are linked so if one is has toe out the other will end up compensating somewhat, but in the rear the toe is adjusted independantly of the other wheels...

 

I just bought the car a week ago so i do not know if the previous owner did any maintenance such as rotation but im positive he did not do it.

I am thinking of doing the alignment in a month or two when i get more money and then save up to get a new set of tires.

Thanks for all your suggestion.

 

yes i am positive.....for example....if one wheel is straight...and the other is pigeoned toed in (negative toe) ....both front tires would "share" the wear. better example.....if one tire is zero toe...and the other negative .20 out of spec....then both wheels would show negative .10 wear. resulting in a crooked steering wheel. both tires share the wear...it is called total toe.
now in the rear...it is the same thing...total toe. but instead of a crooked steering wheel....you vehicle could dog track. meaning the rear tires are sideways going down the road....or toe-in/toe-out (pigeon toed) you share the wear with toe form side-to side. camber you do not "share".

 

what is somewhat false? you have really good posts in other forums but everything i said up there is true. how do you disagree?

 

You only stated that lack of rotation is the issue. There can be other issues.

 

this is my rec. for his car and his car only. it also could be low psi but i would imagine that he would know if he had a low tire.....or even bad strut/spring.