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Car Forum / Honda Cars / March 2008Front passenger tire has uneven wear 99 Accord LX
Hi, I've got uneven wear on the inner wall of my front passenger tire. I had the car aligned back in Dec 06 and the only spec that was out the caster 1.5 (spec is 1.8 to 3.8). The dealer mentioned to me that caster doesn't affect the wear of the tires. He also said that the passenger side (front right) wears out faster. This is new news to me, I haven't seen any mention of this before on the boards. I also haven't rotated the tires as I wanted to replace the front ones. Here is a picture of the passenger (right) front http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0119qa0.jpg Here is a picture of the driver's (left) front. http://img180.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0120ex3.jpg Do I need to go somewhere else and get another alignment or is there something else going on here? I would appreciate any help you could provide. Thanks, Nick Alignment doesn't cause uneven wear. That is caused by something loose/ worn in the suspension or unbalanced/ bent tire or rim. Once the uneven wear starts even if the problem is fixed it will continue to wear uneven. The only fix is replace it. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Nick > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Nick Regardless of what another poster said, alignment CAN and DOES cause tire wear. There are three angles measured - toe, camber, and caster. Of the three only caster will not cause abnormal wear (all else being equal). Toe and camber cause very definitive tire wear. Toe either too positive or too negative (that is the pointed toward each other or away from each other too much) will cause wear on either the inside or outside edges but the wear will exhibit feathering. Camber misalignment the top of the tire is either leaning out or in too much. The wear will be either inside or outside edge but the feathering is not present. The fix is to have the alignment measured and set to specs after the front end components, that is, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. checked. The other poster was correct in that once abnormal wear is well established it will continue to wear in the same fashion sometimes. If the worn tire is rotated, in your case to a rear wheel, then the wear might stop and a normal wear pattern established.... DaveD On Mar 4, 10:32 am, n...@nowhere.com wrote: > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > passenger side (front right) wears out faster. This is new news to > me, News to me, too, I have never heard that before - sounds like bs. If anything, I would think the driver's side would wear slightly faster, due to always having extra weight on that side of the car - but it would be so negligible as to be undetectable, I would think. Dan D '07 Ody EX Central NJ USA > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Thanks, > Nick you're getting uneven tire wear from two things: 1. alignment 2. uneven driveshaft length. bottom line, the dealer is correct. Ok so what happens if the before and after on the alignment are within specs? I replaced the shock on the right side which is giving me the problem last year. Would worn out bushings cause this much of a problem? The car only has 69k miles. You may recall I had a never ending problem with my inner walls on my 95 Integra. I gave up on it as no one could find out what the problem was. The before and after alignments would be in spec. Not to say this would be the case but I want to be prepared just in case this occurs again. >> Hi, >> [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > >bottom line, the dealer is correct. Also if this helps here is the printout from last year's alignment: Front Left Camber -0.3 Range -1.0 to 1.0 Caster 3.1 Range 1.8 to 3.8 Toe 0.02 Range -0.08 to 0.08 Included Angle 7.8 Turning Angle Diff 7.5 Front Right Camber .2 Range -1.0 to 1.0 ***Caster 1.5 Range 1.8 to 3.8 Toe -0.01 Range -0.08 to 0.08 Included Angle 7.9 Turning Angle Diff 8.1 Front Cross Camber -0.4 Cross Caster 1.6 Cross SAI -0.2 Total Toe 0.01 Specified Range -0.16 to 0.16 >Ok so what happens if the before and after on the alignment are within >specs? I replaced the shock on the right side which is giving me the [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> >>bottom line, the dealer is correct. > Ok so what happens if the before and after on the alignment are within > specs? absolutely nothing. "within spec" means it's close enough and that it's uneconomic to try making it "perfect". and your numbers are far from "perfect". AND you're completely ignoring the other factor i mentioned before - uneven driveshaft length. this means you don't have exactly the same torque on each wheel, so one wears faster, the shorter one. bottom line: if you don't like the cosmetics of very slightly uneven wear, as is your case, either buy a vehicle with solid axles or rotate your tires. real simple. > I replaced the shock on the right side which is giving me the > problem last year. Would worn out bushings cause this much of a [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] >> >> bottom line, the dealer is correct. Jim, Thanks for your advice. The only out of spec on the front wheel is the caster which doesn't effect wear. Surly if you looked at the two pictures you can't tell me that the wear on the right tire is normal? When I had the alignment done, I had two new tires put on the front of the car. The car had 56k miles on it at the time. I then rotated the front tires to the rear at 61k miles at which point the rear tires may have had 15k miles on them while on the rear of the car. So I've put about 8k miles on them while in the front and this is what occurred. Please help me understand how a tire on the front of the car with only 8k miles is normal? Nick >> Ok so what happens if the before and after on the alignment are within >> specs? [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] >>> >>> bottom line, the dealer is correct. > Jim, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Nick [usenet etiquette - please don't top post - this thread is really messed up.] your biggest problem is the belief that that tire wear is bad!!!!! compared with most hondas, it's not at all - you should try a camry. as for explanation, despite being "within spec", the geometry is still not perfect. add to that little things such as rubber bushings whose geometry settles differently under load compared to when stationary on an alignment machine, drift caused by following a road crown that is cambered, not flat, cornering right faster than left because you don't have to stop, toe being designed to be different under load because it makes you corner better, using a 2/3 ackerman steering ratio, and the other stuff i said before, you will NEVER have perfect tire wear. you could try messing with front toe to "compensate" for what you see, but i've found that doing so degrades cornering performance. again, that tire wear pattern is not excessive or unusual for an independent suspension fwd. >>> Ok so what happens if the before and after on the alignment are within >>> specs? [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] >>>> >>>> bottom line, the dealer is correct. > Jim, > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Nick Nick, Does your car pull to one side? Depending on how far your caster is out of specs, it won't cause tire wear but it will cause the car to pull. One of the tricks of the alignment trade in such cases is to "adjust" the other settings (camber and toe) to compensate for the caster problem and get the car to drive straight. Depending on the severity of problem, those "adjustments" could be contributing to tire wear. One other question I have - What caused the caster to be out of specs? This is usually caused by a damaged, bent, or worn suspension component. Has this been addressed? Dave D >> Jim, >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > >Dave D The car was involved in two accidents one on each side of the front but I think what caused the pulling to the right side was a pothole my father or mother hit as I noticed it one day I was driving their car. When I had the alignment done last year, the dealer told me that the right shock was leaking and was replaced. I did that as I wanted the alignment to check out. The inner tread is still wearing, and I don't think even after 9k miles on the front it should look like the way it is in my pictures. I want to believe what Jim says is true, but I still think something is not right especially since the car is pulling to the right still. I have it at another dealer today awaiting a callback from them. I'll keep you updated. Nick Here is an update: The dealer found the my inner tie rods had some play and needed to be replaced. Also with regards to the caster they had to reposition the shims by dropping the cradle and radius arms. I had thought everything was ok up until just when I got home. I heard a clank hit the bottom of my driver side floor and thought it was a rock or something but it sounded like metal hitting metal. Then I was on the highway and the passenger side I heard the same thing. Is it possible that the shims came loose? I feel and it may just be me but the car is still pulling to the right but not as severe as before. I think I'll be calling the dealer to have this double checked tomorrow.
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