Any experts on here ? my question is this , my front near side tyre is noticeably more worn on the outer than the rest of the tyre . Ie not all even wear across it , so I assume the tracking requires checking and adjusting? So as my tyres are approaching the wear markers anyway. Pop down to a fairly local small garage And ask them can I have hit something on the road to cause it to be out. Guy puts car on the Ramps and looks underneath with a torch spins the wheel etc. Says nothing at all wrong , sometimes tyres just wear like that. However the offfside tyre wear is fine. I then said when I get two new fronts I’ll get them to check and adjust the tracking. His reply to this was, people who advertise wheel alignments are just doing it to make money and it’s a gimmick , there is nothing that can physically move. Something would have to be broken or bent. I find this statement a ridiculous one to comprehend. Anyone know some technical stuff regarding this ? thanks stevie
Most cars can only be adjusted for tracking, which is the alignment of the front wheels to each other. Some sports cars also have adjustment for caster and camber angles. Camber angle being the vertical position of the wheel and caster is the vertical position as it turns with the steering. If you are wearing the outer edge of just one wheel then something is not right. It is possible that it’s a faulty tyre, I would keep a close eye on it and check the new tyres. If the new tyre wears the same way then you will need a proper alignment check to see if it’s a suspension component or the chassis that is bent. Some garages do offer a full 4 wheel alignment with hunter gauges, I don’t really trust them as they are only as good as the guy using them and when they were last calibrated. You can do proper accurate alignment checks with some long bits of wood some axle stands thick fishing line and a ruler, they used to do F1 cars this way. I had a Honda S2000 which has fully adjustable suspension linkages front and rear, I had incorrect tyre wear on near side front so did a full diy alignment and got it perfect, the handling was much improved.
I very much doubt the chassis is bent , I got the car when it was 12 months old and it was fine . It’s never been in an accident ever . It’s now 5 years old and never had any kind of wheel alignments ever done on it . Tyres are nearly done now on front . Down to wear markers almost .
Well like I said get the new tyres fitted and the wheel alignment done, then keep a close eye on the tyre wear.
I can tell you from personal experience that wheel alignment is not a gimmick. And 4 wheel alignment is possible on most cars. Those who specialise in it are trained and the machines are calibrated (usually). My last BMW was out as it was twitchy and wore the inners badly. Being RWD it needed 4 wheel alignment. It cost me £85 and drove much noticeably better for it. The trained mechanic told me that it's because suspension and torsion rubbers get old and steering & suspension arms distort with people bouncing off kerbs. I looked under the car afterwards and could see that they had adjusted the bolts in the rear wishbones as there were clean patches to the side of the bolts as the bolts are designed off centre to allow the adjustment of the geometry. Another guy local to me had his done at KwikFit who made it worse. I told him where I went and they confirmed the alignment was out, so he took the bill to KwikFit and got a refund for the failed alignment.
Other than what has been mentioned, the camber on the road can have an effect. Also if you use a lot of roundabouts especially at speed, that could possibly wear the outer tread on the near side tyre.
I have to agree here. The son in law was a tyre fitter for years and front nearside wear is very, very common and its all due to roundabouts and driving style on them.
Quite interesting hearing some of this , and surprising . When I get tyres I’ll be getting them from formula 1 auto centre . They’ve fitted 3 lots so far for me . Never 1 mark etc on any of the alloys . Highly rate them , pretty sure they do wheel alignment as well . Not sure if I’ll need 2 or 4 wheel alignment
Do any women have access to the car? Your wife perhaps? Most womens idea of parking close to the kerb is to first mount the kerb and then drive off the bloody thing. I hate seeing "one female owner" on auto trader ads...as if that's a selling point.
Lol Only me ever drives the car , believe me it’s 5 yrs old , not one mark on any of the alloys . Never has been . It’s the first thing I look for buying a second hand car . I hate kurbed alloys with a passion
For what its worth, putting my forensic vehicle examiners head on for a moment, one of the biggest causes of uneven front tyre wear is where the steering has been used whilst the vehicle is stationary, for example when carrying out a 3 point turn. It does not seem much, but it causes flat spots and uneven wear over quite a short period of time if done regularly and most drivers are guilty of this. Some brands of tyres and cars are worse for this than others. Advice is that steering should only be used when the wheels are rotating which I appreciate is not always possible. Not saying I am right, just another option I have come across on quite a few occasions and have suffered myself.
Use to see this in my Toyota days. Some tyres have a thicker edge in the tread. What i mesn is when new the tread may be 7-8mm but on the shoulder only 5mm as the tyre was thicker. When the tyres wore they gave an appearance of worn shoulders whilst the rest of tyre looked ok but it was the tyre design( from memory Bridgestone) that said wheel alignment is important alongside driving style etc. Its obviously not the fact your right knee is down when cornering
Totally agree, always rotate tyres from nearside to offside & front to back as well. But what really bugs me is I've a 2016 Navara had from new with just over 30k's original tyres still probably another 4k's left, but when I change them I will keep the same continental cross country tyres spec and I can guarantee they will only last 15k !! WHY ? Tyre fitters tell me all the vehicle characteristics & parameters have changed over the years, worn out bushes etc... I don't get that you have the tracking etc checked it all set up accordingly the vehicle still more or less does the same day to day routine daily drive and the tyres last 1/2 the mileage.
I bought a new Fiat Stilo quite a few years ago, When it went in for 6k service I was told both fronts worn on inner edge and need replacing, 6mm tread on outside nothing on the inside, It took 4 years for them to sort, 5 sets of tyres. some cars can come from the factory wrong.
I would avoid the garage stevie & find a proper place. The front wheel tracking can be misaligned if it has been misadjusted or generally if you hit a bump or a pothole. It is worse if you run low profile tryes. The knock can bend the steering arm on one side and give you uneven wear on that tyre only. I once hit a pothole and had to replace the tyre after 2000 miles because of edge wear. If you think you might have hit potholes, kerbs or bumps, worth checking the steering bushes & track rods. A lzer 4 wheel alignment is the only one I recommend assuming it is not operated by an idiot or a monkey
