1997 850 front tire wear very uneven

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 04 May 2014, 10:32

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out why my front tires are wearing excessively fast on the inside edges. I've read a bunch of threads in similar topics on the forum, but can't quite get a good idea of what my specific problem is. Here is all the info I can think of:

These are my snow tires, and I put approx. 4,000 miles on them last winter. In Dec. when I put them on, they all had the same wear. When I took them off last month, the fronts looked like this:

: Front tire wear; DSCN6443.jpg (58.91 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

The rear tires look like this:

: rear tire wear; DSCN6444.jpg (77.14 KiB) Viewed 1476 times

Both sides are about the same, symmetrically worn on the inside edge.

I've read about toe in and toe out alignment things - could this be a problem? The alignment otherwise seems fine, the car tracks nice and straight when I let go of the wheel on the highway.

The strut mounts, spring seats, and stabilizer links appear to have been replaced about 20,000 miles ago. (I've only had the car since Dec, but I have all the prior service records)
It looks like both control arms and ball joints have also been done in the last few years. There was an alignment done after these things.

Overall, the suspension and front end seem pretty tight.

These tires are Nokian Hakkapellita rsi xl tires, and I've kept the fronts at about 35psi, and the rear at 40psi. (about half the time I drive the car I have a lot of weight in the back). I would be hesitant to run the fronts any higher pressure, since this would decrease the traction in the snow.

Thanks for any and all opinions!

Post by **abscate** » 04 May 2014, 10:39

Tracking isn't a good diagnostic for alignment. I guess when your ball joints were done, someone did a bad job setting the toe-in correctly. Were tie rod ends done at the same time? Check them for looseness by jacking up, and gently push/pull wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock while watching for movement in the tie rod. There should be none.

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 08 May 2014, 17:53

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll jack it up and check the tie rods as soon as I can. (I don't have a flat spot where I live but sometimes can find a spot on a nice day in a parking lot down the street). I can't find any record of the tie rod ends being done....
And I'll make an appointment with my trusted mechanic to investigate further!

Jono51 · Post by **Jono51** » 09 May 2014, 04:26

My experience with our V70XC is that these cars are very sensitive to inaccurate front wheel alignment. I had ours done when a tie rod end was replaced but soon noticed uneven tire wear. I took it back and the explanation was that although both sides were within the factory tolerances the error was close to the maximum allowable on each side and that was enough to cause a problem.

Post by **rmmagow** » 09 May 2014, 13:49

Toe issues caused a similar problem for my on my 17 inch summer tires. Actually ruined the fronts in a single season.

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 15 May 2014, 10:38

Update: Everything seems tight in the front end - I jacked it up and tested for any play in the wheels and there is none at all. Tie rod ends seem fine. So I guess my next step is to take it in to the shop and have them make sure the toe-in is set right.

rmmagow - I know how you feel, that is basically what happened to me. My nice snow tires are shot after one winter... Grrrr.

Post by **rmmagow** » 15 May 2014, 14:17

Yeah, I'm still on my snows because they run so well on the car. Pretty ugly 15 inch steel wheels though. I'm going to get a new pair of tires for the 17's and see how they do with a good alignment. Yet another $250.00 I didn't feel like spending. betterthanacarpayment, betterthanacarpayment, betterthanacarpayment. The only mantra that works.

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 23 May 2014, 11:22

Well, I got it in to a good alignment shop, and yep, the toe was really out of whack. Both fronts were about 0.75° off, which apparently is a LOT. So, I just have to not think about the fact that it basically ruined $400 worth of nearly new tires....

But yes, better than car payment, and it is such a nice ride!

Post by **MoVolvos** » 23 May 2014, 15:13

thedancingfiddle wrote:
So, I just have to not think about the fact that it basically ruined $400 worth of nearly new tires....

Those tires are still OK actually and were Toe-Out meaning left front tire pointed to the left side of the road and right front tire pointed to the right side of the road. Toe-In is when both the front of the front tires are pointed towards the middle/opposite side of the road respectively. Toe-In will wear the outer edge of the tires. The ideal is to have O degree Toe that is when both the left and right tires are parallel to each other.

Even when the alignment is still within factory specs they can be point to the extreme opposites of each other thereby wearing the tires quickly. This is where the Techs separate themselves from the guy who only follow instructions and diagrams on the alignment machines.

For next winter just put the even tires up front and uneven tires in the rear and the ones in the rear will eventually wear evenly.

Blessings,
BKM
_

thedancingfiddle · Post by **thedancingfiddle** » 24 May 2014, 15:18

Yes, you're right, the tires will still be fine for another winter at least. Tread depth on the worn ones is pretty minimal for effective snow tires though, even on the "good" outside edge.
I was hoping they would last a long long time, since they are so good in the snow

At least it's not an awd car, so I can run such an uneven set of tires! I'll put the good ones on the front next winter and hope they don't wear so fast!
Thanks again for all the suggestions everyone!