Tire wear

Post by **jblackburn** » 21 Jun 2011, 17:09

Any particular reason for this to happen on the inside of that right tire? I'm thinking bad tie rods that won't hold an alignment. Control arm bushings and ball joints are fine, I checked. And the tie rods LOOK ok, but I think one of them keeps unscrewing a little bit.

I should point out that the tires on the back that are new-ish and were on the front for about 10,000 miles show absolutely no signs of weird wear around the inside edge like these.

: Left side

: Right side

SimLyons · Post by **SimLyons** » 21 Jun 2011, 17:35

Assuming that all is good and tight in your suspension (based on all your good advice) it could be what you say. Since you will have to realign anyway (can't really burn up a new tire can you?) you could mark the adjusting nut position with a grease pencil (or in my case I used my wife's fingernail polish...the color she no longer likes). Sure looks like something loose! If not, has to be out of adjustment.

Post by **jblackburn** » 21 Jun 2011, 17:51

The struts are old and I have no budget at the moment to replace them but everything feels good and tight, not like when I've had bad sway bar links, a bad control arm, or a busted spring seat. Sway bar link on that side is beginning to tap a little bit, but I'm going to replace them, get new tires, and have it aligned.

But what accounts for (what appears to be) the adjustment of the tilt of that wheel? Is that the tie rods?

gilhuly · Post by **gilhuly** » 21 Jun 2011, 18:42

There are two possibilities: Either you are toed out or you have enough negative camber to wear the inside of the tire. Most issues (80%+) are related to toe and that can be inner or outer tie rods, control arm losing it ...The car was professionally aligned? That having been said, Its not THAT bad. I see plenty worse weekly. Those tires have worn fairly evenly and are pretty spent.

Post by **holler1** » 21 Jun 2011, 19:34

Clearly the right tire is worn more, but to me, both and especially the right one, look like they might have been underinflated. The right one looks very worn on both inside and outside edges. I can't see the inside of the left one. What pressures do you run in front? Mine used to wear like that until I started keeping the pressure above 40 psi.

Post by **jblackburn** » 22 Jun 2011, 07:19

It was professionally aligned back in December after getting out of the body shop. As some of you may remember, it took a hit from a snowplow in the left rear last winter that bent the rear control arm/axle a bit. Control arm was fixed and axle was shimmed. Winter was rough on our roads and they're full of potholes, so I probably hit something recently after I rotated the tires and knocked it out of alignment.

The steering wheel hangs ever so slightly (barely even noticeable) to the left when driving straight, but the car tracks in a perfectly straight line if I let go of it. I had it back multiple times to fix the alignment after it kept pulling right once they did it, and they finally got it right - but they said all the measurements (camber, toe) were well within spec for the car model. I think they weren't doing the full 4-wheel alignment right.

I run 34 front/32 rear. Anything more than that and the car rides like a piece of crap. The Yokohama's on the back are wearing just fine with those pressures - even wear all the way across. The left tire looks fine all the way across, it's just that right one is worn down to almost smooth around the edge, and I want to fix it before dropping $250 on new tires. Feathering around the edges is apparently a common problem with these BF Goodrich tires on the front (the Touring T/A are better than the old Traction T/A's I had) - but they still suck in wet weather traction-wise compared to the Yokohama's and I won't be using them again.

Gilhuly, so you think replacing inner/outer tie rods would be money well spent? Or should I take it into the tire shop first and have them take a look at it before aligning?

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 22 Jun 2011, 07:30

Hard to tell from your pictures, but how much tread is left at the deepest spot? How often did you rotate these tires, and in what way?

Post by **jblackburn** » 22 Jun 2011, 07:34

Not much - they're pretty worn out. On the left one, from the top of a large paperclip to the inside part. Same on the outside of the right.

I'm not complaining; I got a good 37,000 miles out of them, but I don't want the right side to wear out again.

They were rotated every 7500 miles. Front to rear.

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » 22 Jun 2011, 07:50

That's a pretty rough estimate - but it looks like that'd be about 6/32'? That's deep - new tires are typically 10-12/32. I can clearly see you are not to the wear bars on the left one (2/32") and on the outside of the right one, so I suppose that might be right.

From your description, it sounds like this is a recent phenomenon, and I'd be betting on toe out, probably caused by a knock on bad winter roads. I'd certainly want to check it before shelling out for new tie rods, which are not known to be particularly problematic on these cars.

Post by **jblackburn** » 22 Jun 2011, 08:00

Hmm...yeah I guess that would be a bit much. Maybe half that distance? There's not a whole lot of tread left.

Great, that's what I needed to know! I will take it into the alignment shop then and not worry about the tie rods for now. I imagine they'll let me know if it can't hold what it's set to.

I've driven a car with bad tie rods before, and it would wander all over the road and shake, especially when you hit bumps. Mine's nothing like that - it's planted to the road at all times.