Tire wear patterns

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:25 am

My tires wear out on the outer edges (front tires only) faster than any other areas on tires.... is this normal due to cornering ?

thanks,

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:59 am

This should help you out:

Click here for a helpful resource...

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:49 pm

Well, if my alignment is good, and my car has not been recked, why would my camber be off? according to the link, my wear patterns are due to camber issues ........

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:01 pm

Is your car lowered?

I know my camber is horrible because I haven't gotten camber correction bolts, yet.

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:11 pm

Nope, stock.......

CA180 · Post by **CA180** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:17 pm

have you ever had an alignment? my 2005 started pulling after 7000 miles, with the stock setup. When i got it checked it was out by a little. These things can happen over time. Try an aligment. Also outside edge wear can be caused by over inflation of the tires. Just some ideas

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:38 pm

most tire places will throw up your car on the alignment rack for free - go get it checked - save the life of your tires now if it is not too late. Try Sears or NTB - those are the two that come to mind right now. Oh, and Camber could go out even if you hit potholes, bumpy roads, rough roads, hit an object in road, curb it, there are numerous reasons why, so get it checked first. Also, check your inflation psi.

Ifixyawata · Post by **Ifixyawata** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:06 pm

I need to get in and get my alignment checked. I've worn one tire down to the belts on the outer edge, and I'm most of the way through the one on the other side now. Still seems like 40k is early for a car to have such problems.

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:13 pm

well here is the problem, i just installed my tires 3 weeks ago, and the vehicle was aligned on the same day, I'm starting to see slight outer edge wear on both front tires.......

?????

Ifixyawata · Post by **Ifixyawata** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:14 pm

If I were you, I'd take it back to the place where you got it aligned and have them re-check it.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 3:35 pm

Sounds like too much toe in to me.

Matt

warock · Post by **warock** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 4:34 pm

when I bought my 04 srt-4 it had way to much camber in it stock not sure if it was neg or pos camber but once I lowered it , it straightened out .
the car never had 5000km on it and all 4 tires was toast.after dropping it and getting the alignment checked they wore even. never had another problem, might want to check your air pressure as well

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:47 am

I have a question about alignment shops, of course they try to get your alignment within a certain range .... how could we be sure that they have these specs correct (other than giving them the specs my self)? I'm asking because in an alignment i had once, and once i got the results back, my car was noted as a 99 neon, when i asked about it, they told me it was not a problem, but it seems their software was out-of-date..... ...

also (matt), why would toe-in cause such an issue? i thought toe-in was supposed to cause feathering not un-even wear......

thanks for the feedback from everyone ....

warock · Post by **warock** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:32 am

when the tires are toed in to far there is almost a push effect on the out sides of them , kinda like they are sliding on the outside edge ever so slightly

OB · Post by OB » Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:23 pm

too much positive camber mang. the outer edges are under higher loads than the inner when the camber is too positive. youre sure youre alignment is correct? if thats not the issue, id say check all your suspension components for damage. it has to be one of the two.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:41 pm

latief wrote: also (matt), why would toe-in cause such an issue? i thought toe-in was supposed to cause feathering not un-even wear......

If it's bad enough it will cup, but if it's not very severe and has been like that for a while it can have the same effect without the appearance of cupping. Like warock said, it wears because the outside scrubs more when toed in. Is it the one side or the shoulder block you're wearing away? I know if you push it hard in the corners it doesn't take long to wear out the outside shoulder block on stockish sized tires - especially if you autocross.

It could be camber, but I really don't think it is. It would require a lot of positive camber before you started seeing a lot of wear on the outsides, like something is seriousloy f-ed bad.

Matt

esteinmaier · Post by **esteinmaier** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:11 pm

OK, here's the low-down. Excessive tire wear in the following locations will usually be caused by the problems listed below them, and excessive toe in or out will amplify the effects:

Outside edge of the tire - Excessive toe-in, positive camber, or too positive for driving habits. (Hard cornering wears the outside of the tire first unless camber is adjusted for it)

Inside edge of the tire - Excessive toe-out, negative camber. (If driven hard in a straight line instead of cornering)

Both edges of tire - Cupping, caused by under-inflation

Center of tire only - Bulging, caused by over-inflation

ewetho · Post by **ewetho** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:36 pm

Ditto esteinmaier's post with the addition of inner edge wear is also possible with hard cornering by spinning the inside tire on hard acceleration.

So if you like to really push it outer wear could be hard driving. Might also notice light scuffing down the top portion of the shoulder and sidewall.

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:40 pm

Personally, get a 4 wheel alignment done!
My work uses a laser alignment machine and we have the OE settings for my car wether it was an ACR or not...
The tech that did my alignment is a perfectionist muscle car fanatic, he is slow but his work is flawless....
After my wreck I had a 2 wheel alignment done and he did it for cheap. But the car to me still did not handle like it did prior to the wreck. Then I asked him to do a 4wheel alignment, thats when things changed....
When a 2 wheel alignment is done the fronts are based on the rear wheels and a preloaded spec. When you have a 4 wheel alignment done the machine bases its specs on OEM settings and then the laingment tech tries to get all 4 wheels to within the so called spec.
After the 4 wheel alignment was done on my car, all 4 of my wheels were at exactly 0 degrees....not -1deg or +1 degree within spec, exactly 0degrees... my car drives straight as an arrow and all 4 of my tires are wearing evenly!