I did a search on this and there was some discussion about problems with abnornmal inside tread wear, usually appearing at about 15,000 miles.

My sleek black beauty is at the 15K mark, and today I inspected the tires (my 15K checkup is Monday). Sure as ricers, the inside tread on both front tires is abnormally worn. I don't think the tires are goners... yet, but they will be in not a whole lot a more miles.

Inner tread wear is a sign of improper negative camber. So, my question is this... has this been identified as a common problem with 2003 models (my build date is 6/27/02), AND more importantly, has Mercury figured out what the problem is and devised a fix?

Next question - this far into the game, is it safe to assume my dealer has the proper alignment specs for Marauders? Should I hit them up for a free alignment?

Now, the tire question. Should I have the tires removed from the rims and swapped side to side, so the worn inners become the outside tread (the remaining tread is fine and worn evenly), or leave them as is? Should I toss these tires and replace them?

Is the full size spare the same size as the fronts? What if I removed the better of the two worn tire and had the spare removed, thereby only needing to buy one front (i,e., have the better old tire be the spare).

Last question --

My dealer does not have a Hunter GSP9700 for wheel balancing. The local Chevrolet dealer does, as does the high end dealers (mercedes, lexus, cadillac, etc.) I also note the both the Honda plant in Lincoln, AL., and the Mercedes plant in Vance, AL have these machines. Is it worth taking my car to a dealer with one of these machines? There's a Tire Pro shop reasonably close to me with a GSP9700, so I wouldn't have to slink into Serra Chevrolet or Serra Toyota.