Chaya Eve wrote:
The alignment was last done about two years ago.
The tires are about a year old.

Done by an expert at a specialty alignment shop? Done by some bozo at the
tire store?

Do you have the paperwork from the last alignment? Did they make dramatic
changes to the alignment?

My inclination is to suspect that alignments done by the average tire shop
are apt to make things worse rather than better.

My take on this is that it's either "normal" for a car that is driven by
necessity (slowly) on twisty steep (10%) mountain roads for 10 miles (5
each way) every day, or there is something wrong.

This is true, and one person's "slowly" is another person's "way too fast."

If I were the original poster I would take the car to a real alignment shop
and have them check over the suspension and the alignment, and you should
point the tread wear out to the alignment tech. And they should let you talk
to the actual alignment tech, not just to some manager. And if that came
back without any real changes, I'd keep driving and not worry.

However, I might consider investing in higher performance tires next time
when these wear out. They may or may not last longer, but they will sure
make driving those twisty roads more enjoyable and more safe too.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."