came home after a 100 mile trip today to find the right ( pass ) front tire looking like this, smells like burnt oil......
not sure it if matters much but I had a tire rotation done about 3 days ago, but didn't notice anything till today ?? could it be spilled coffee or something ??
2005 Ram 1500 SLT 4.7 with 97 K if that matters
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4x4 or 4x2? Tire shop could have used a solvent to loosen lug nuts or something. Wheels look pretty clean, have you recently gotten a car wash? It almost looks like mud.

 

4 x 2 , I hear you about the solvent, but its only on the RF wheel ??

 

If it was 4x4 I was gonna say it looks like CV grease.

Probably worth your time to pop that wheel off and take a better look at where that grease is coming from. Remember to use a torque wrench when you put it back on, I had a few lugs walk out recently from using a cold torque wrench

 

took the wheel off today and it appears to be something that was sprayed on the outside of the wheel cover, like a solvent to loosen the lug nuts

good call hillbilli

now for the bad news looks like I found a bad lower ball joint boot while I was under there ....arrrgh

 

Glad it wasnt anything major but it sucks about the ball joint. At least you found it before it eats up your tires. Be sure to replace it with a good greasable ball joint like Moog and you should be set for a few more years.