Uneven Tyre Wear - I Know It's Boring But Please Help Out!

[Chancer]

Okay guys, time for another n00b question... hopefully it's not too dumb.

I did a search on tyre wear and couldn't find many threads on exactly what I'm looking at...

Basically, for about eight - ten months now my left side front wheel has been wearing on the outside edge like a bitch. A few weeks after a new tyre and it will be completely bald on the outside and then work it's way in.

I've had wheel alignments done... well actually my dad did.

You see, my dad is a stodgy old mechanic and even though I am off doing my own things he nicks my car and takes it to the shop for me - or at least USED TO.

That has stopped now seeing as how he would randomly purchase crap parts I didn't want and then want me to pay for them... I'd be like "uh, can't you do something else? Like, um, go home and work on a Landcruiser or something?"

My initial thought was that the wheel must be off camber - two months of arguing with the old man followed. He claimed "the camber can't be changed in a camry."
My response "WTF! Of course there's a way. Maybe it doesn't have a camber adjustment lever or something like some cars, but all because the wheel is out doesn't mean you're going to have to buy a new car..." *bangs head on desk*

So he finally conceeded and went and took some shims out or added some shims or something. I didn't pay much attention as me letting him (at least previously) work on my car has been like a gift to him, you know, 'keep an old man happy.'

Well, ever since he did that the inside of the tyre now wears... But the outside STILL wears like a bitch.

Now that I've managed to distract my dad from my business and cars and things with a Hilux, anyone got any suggestions?

I figure it must have been pretty much near 0 camber for it to start wearing the inside of the tyre... my deduction is that the wear was NOT coming from it being out of camber.

It's a daily driver and I want to drive it daily without a new tyre every month.

The suspension is kind of (well extremely) doughy... and stuffed. Stock standard stuff from 1994 never replaced.

Today I came to the theory that it could be something like the control arm or stuffed suspension causing it to wobble and wear the outside AND still allow the (now adjusted) camber to wear out the inside...

So I figured - a new set of tokico blues. (Anyone got some good suggestions on where to get them in Australia cheap? )

It needs new suspension anyway (back bottoms out on EVERYTHING.)

Now, I don't know if that will have anything to do with the tyre wear though - so anyone got any suggestions?

Control arm?
Buckled brake?
Bushings? (I heard something about urethane bushings or something - reccomendations, where to get them?)

Anyway thanks guys this is an annoying (yet boring - it's not a turbo or anything!) problem that I really need fixed and it's kinda major and I'm stumped.

Hopefully the pros can sort me out!

[macr88]

Toe in can cause wear on the outside edges but to both tires.
Toe out would be the inside of both tires.
underinflation would cause wear on the inside and outside edges.
Lots of fast on and off ramps would cause wear to the outside left tire.
Lots of negative camber would cause wear on the inside and add the
off ramps and you have on the inside and outside..

[Chancer]

Okay some further info to help me narrow down the prob:

Problem only occurs on one tyre. It's not the camber - when the camber was changed on a new tyre, it wore the inside but STILL wore the outside.

Off ramps? You mean like a driveway? Nothing of that nature I can think of but mine and I don't hit it excessive or fast at any point.

Tyre pressure is always fine and checked, and yes different variables have been tried.

So yeah, the usual suspects aren't really the culprits here... any further takers on a suggestion? It's an annoyingly hard to peg problem, at least to me and my unedcuate friends' minds!

Could the whole suspension/bushes track be onto something?

Like I said, it only affects the outside of one tyre... and it's not the camber as when the camber was adjusted it began to wear out the inside AND the outside as well without any of the factors macr88 pointed out above...

Like I said, a weird problem, at least to my eyes.

[BlackCamSe]

Your probibly out of alignment

[Chancer]

As stated - it's not alignment.

That's been done many times with every different variable tried for testing, etc.

Otherwise it would have been fixed eons ago.

[macr88]

You're missing something.
An issue like that isn't a mystery.
Jack up the car and check for something loose. wheel bearings, ball joints, loose strut mounting bolts.

on off ramps from freeway.

[NickR]

Suppose the camber changes under load? A regular wheel alignment would say that the camber is correct, but perhaps you get big positive camber under heavy load (wearing the outer edge) and big negative camber under light load (wearing the inner edge), or vice versa. Worn or bent struts or control arms might cause this. If you drive on bumpy or twisty roads a lot, so the load is always changing, this might matter enough to cause uneven tire wear.

To test this theory, open the left side door, and use it to pull the whole side of the car up and down. Do you see big changes in the camber (or toe)? Then repeat on the other side of the car just to check if there's any difference, because MacPherson strut suspension systems always allow some change of camber under load.

Another possibility, the camber changes excessively when you turn the steering wheel. Again, a regular alignment, with the steering wheel straight, wouldn't notice this problem. And if it's bad enough to cause that tire wear, it should be visible to the naked eye. Turn the steering hard right, look at both front wheels, then hard left, look at both front wheels, and compare.

I don't have much faith in these theories, but if the alignment really has been properly checked, it's the only thing I can think of. Worn tie-rod ends, ball joints, control arm bushings, wheel bearings, etc., would give you noticeable torque-steer, bump-steer, and would presumably have been noticed during the alignment. But you should also jack up each front wheel in turn, and see if you can detect any movement when you push and pull on it, just to make sure that nothing's loose, in case the people who did the alignment missed it.

Edit: a similar case: Uneven tire wear

[Chancer]

Thanks for your informative posts guys - to the shed I go!

You guys are so much bloody smarter than me but I'm learning... slowly.

P.S. Duh, I shoulda searched for "tire" wear as well! Me and my English/Aussie spellings of "tyre."

[Phat Devil]

There is something you should know. In Australia the front left tyre wears faster because of several reasons. Same reason why in the states the front right wears faster

In Australia, we drive on the left hand side, the roads are slightly angled that side. Also roundabout, we all turn right, more stress on the left front wheel. When we turn right at the lights, it is to beat the traffic coming the other side of the road so we go faster =) than if we are turning left.

I had the same problem, also that side (the edge) going faster than the others. That is what the shop told me. It is just the way we drive. The way to combat this is the rotate your tyres regularly and let them "flatten" out again when they are on the rear or swapped to the other side.

[Chancer]

Cool theory Phat Devil... though for the two years before this problem the Camry's wheels worse evenly and there was no such problem and it is quite severe so I know it is not that.

However, that probably compounds the problem and adds to whatever it is that is doing this and makes it worse... glad an Aussie could pipe in!

[Phat Devil]

lol =) np.

I had that same problem lol.

I asked the shops why, if it was alignment probs and they all said that the alignment was within specs. So then i cheated =P

Since my tyres were multi directional, i spun the tyre around so that the balding side was on the inside =D

[simplyxtrippin]

Originally Posted by macr88

Toe in can cause wear on the outside edges but to both tires.

i have this problem right now. the outside edges of the two front tires are worn. i'm thinking of getting it aligned. will this solve this problem? i need alignment ASAP because i just got all of my tires replaced.

the rear seems fine. should i align those too?

[Novice_cardude]

It's usually a good idea to get an alignment with a new set of tires, to ensure that they wear evenly. Also many tire shops offer a warranty thingy so that if the tires do wear, and it shows that you got an alignment there too, it's on the tire shop.

Also, most wheel alignments these days are all 4 wheels.

However just the outside edges being worn could be just from being on the front of the car too long. Hard, fast cornering, or even mild cornering over time will wear the outside edges, that's why you rotate your tires from time to time.