why are the insides of my front tires wearing?

Posted By: whiplash

why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/17/08 02:26 PM

Past 2 years I've gone through 2 sets of front tires. The insides are wearing real fast. I've taken it to get aligned and the shop says it all adjust ok, which I have a hard time believing. The front suspension was rebuilt about 40k miles ago with polygraphite bushings everywhere, could something have gone bad?

Posted By: dOrk !

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/17/08 02:31 PM

Obviously ...they do not know what they are doing. Take it to another shop and get a written quote and then file a complaint with the automotive repair complaint dept in your state.

OR at least threaten to do so ... to get your money back.

Posted By: Scott Carl

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/17/08 03:51 PM

Quote:

Obviously ...they do not know what they are doing. Take it to another shop and get a written quote and then file a complaint with the automotive repair complaint dept in your state.

OR at least threaten to do so ... to get your money back.

If all your parts are good and they are getting "correct" readings then they are using the equipment wrong or reading it wrong or refering to the wrong specs. Level is level, toe-in should be a no-brainer, and degrees plus or minus is degrees plus or minus.

As 440guy says, they apparently don't know what they are doing.

Posted By: RTDaddy

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/17/08 08:02 PM

Did you back off on the torsion bar adjustment bolts to lower the front after having it aligned? This would change the camber and cause what you are describing?

"IF YOU'RE UNDER CONTROL, YOU AIN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH."

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/17/08 08:23 PM

Quote:

could something have gone bad?

The alignment guy is supposed to check the suspension for worn parts and recomend replacement of needed parts but many are too lazy to check, or just assume since you replaced the parts you know what you are asking for.

Yes before taking it to another shop have someone help you inspect the suspension again.

Have someone move the steering wheel back and forth just enough to start getting the wheels to slightly move. Look at the suspension for sloppy movement. Find out where this movement is and fix it.

Have the same person start the car and put it in gear, go a couple of feet and stop. Look for movement (front to rear) on both front tires. Excessive movement means something is not right.

How do you drive the car? Remember this is old technology and this car was not design to go around corners fast.

Whats the size of the tire? These cars were never designed to take wide tires or other than stock offset wheels either so your wear could be considered normal for your application.

How long did the tires last? Toe is the number one cause for tire wear but the are a lot of factors that can affect tire wear.

Posted By: TC@HP2

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 01:24 AM

I disagree with the latter half of the previous post, but that isn't the topic at hand.

your tires are wearing because you have too much negative camber. If the shop can't tell that, then find a new shop.

Posted By: buildanother

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 01:29 AM

Probably has a bit of toe-out, or REALLY negative camber.

Posted By: CJK440

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 01:48 AM

Quote:

Probably has a bit of toe-out, or REALLY negative camber.

Are the tread blocks feathered in such a way that would signify scrubbing from the center of the car out??

Posted By: craigsmytcudas

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 01:55 AM

look at three things .1 lower control bushings for out of round bushings visual.2 big blocks some times have frame rail settleing this can be fixed with 3 degree offset upper bushings by moog common on drag cars or cars that have been run hard.3 the strut bushings could be fine on the alignment when static but when moving forward they allow the lower control arms to pull back and cause camber issues, this can be seen when power brakeing and a person on the outside can see the deflection if so tighten up the strut nuts .good luck

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 03:03 AM

Quote:

I disagree with the latter half of the previous post, but that isn't the topic at hand.

your tires are wearing because you have too much negative camber. If the shop can't tell that, then find a new shop.

If it is a camber problem you could easily see 1 degree it on a level road. Since I�ve been aligning cars for over 15 years I can easily see as little � degree or less without a gauge.

How long do the tires last?

If you put a car's camber at additional 1 degree neg, drive it 5,000 miles. Take a look at the tires afterward. It would take at least 5k to as much as 10k miles to show.

Now put the toe at 1/2" toe in or worst toe out and try to drive it the same amount of miles. You won't make it to 5,000 before the cord shows.

On most cars wear is when braking, the tires will want to toe out at this time. If you have all the suspension components in check the toe will ideally zero. I suspect with the older cars this would be more. That�s why having suspension components in good condition is a must.
What were the specs? If it was a good shop they would have a print out. Not that you could actually trust the readings as it is easy to make them anything they want. But if you can trust the readings and they were all in the ideal range then the readings are changing when you are driving. Ie braking, going around corners, etc. meaning worn components.

You would not normally see feathering of tire tread on front tires unless it is a severe toe problem since they go around corners, this typically scrubs any feathering off. It is typical of rear tires with a toe in condition. Even then you would not normally see it in a rear wheel drive car.

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 03:10 AM

So yes it can still be a camber problem if it takes the tires a while to wear.

But a bad toe condition will wear tires out faster than camber.

Posted By: farmington

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 10:47 AM

I get my alignments done at an old fashioned frame shop. their techs actually know about front ends and how to really align a front end.

Posted By: HealthServices

Re: why are the insides of my front tires wearing? - 10/18/08 03:15 PM

Oh yeah I believe with the old school way you have to understand a little more. With a lot of the newer systems it is just clamp on a few heads and do what the computer screen says. Monkey can do that. The problem with a lot of the new systems is you got Gorillas working with the machines. It is very easy to knock a machine off calibration. The boss does not want to fix it but still wants the tech to go thru the motions.