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Terrible inside-of-tire wear on fronts..

Snipey

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
819
Location
Springfield, Ma
I've had this problem for a while now.. and cant seem to get rid of it

The inside few inches of my front tires are wearing terribly fast...the rears are fine.. and the outside of the fronts are fine.

-i've had two aligments done
-new front lca's
-new bat kit all around
-new tie-rod ends
-other susp. parts replaced as well

my next step is to take it to a specialty alignment shop, i've already worn through my brand new tires and i'm not looking to do it again.

any ideas? it has done this on several sets of wheels/tires (16",17" and 18")
 
I can't say I know what the problem is but I can relate. I just got new tires because the OUTside on mine was wearing down. Midas says I need new shocks and springs in the front. I hope you get it figured out soon!
 
Tire wear like that is related to either front camber (too much negative camber) or too much toe, or a combination of the two. Do you have one of your alignment sheets from the previous alignments?
 
I had the same problem awhile ago...Tire Kingdom will give you and print out. The other places I got my alignments done didnt check toe. My toe was way off when I went and looked at the print out. That was the answer to my inside wear. It was so extreme that the tires would look new on the outside and the inside would be almost bursting with wiring.
 
It was so extreme that the tires would look new on the outside and the inside would be almost bursting with wiring.

Yep had that same thing on my 17's. In the past i took it to the ford dealer for the alignment(balise ford..employee discount...meh) but recently found out they just bring it over to monroe to have it checked.

well i wont be going back there for alignment. i'm going to take it to a real alignment place this weekend and get it looked at. i will ask for a printout as well.

another question... the inside of the tires are worn, but not that bald yet... do you think it would be that bad of an idea to remount the tires so the wear would be on the outside? im pretty sure my tires are not directionals...

thanks for the help
 
Camber is not normally adjustable, so most places won't even look at it. If you are running too much camber, you will need to get a camber kit to fix it.
 
i believe my toe is also not where it should be. the car cant decide which way to pull upon any bump or non-perfect road.
 
If you have a BAT kit a good shop should have no issues aligning the car. Heck I've never had a camber kit and a shop had no issues aligning my Eibach's with Koni's which are lower than the BAT.
 
yep.. more and more it seems that monroe or wherever ford took it just was lazy or did a poor job... following the specs for what stock should be and what-not. im glad i only had to pay $35.
 
I pay $75 for my 4 wheel alignments but he lets me hang out under the car with him and talk about numbers to dial in.
 
The most likely problem is too much negative camber. The BAT catalog has a good discussion about it. Lowering springs drives the camber even further negative.

As others have said, we need to see the alignment print out to give you any further guidance.

It is a very sad thing that far too many people that work in tire shops have learned that an alignment is just "set the toe (maybe) and let it go".
 
i believe my toe is also not where it should be. the car cant decide which way to pull upon any bump or non-perfect road.


that could be the tires or the toe. have then set it with toe in, not toe out as the spec says. this makes the car follow the road less, make the steering feel alitle heavier and it helps handling. I'll post my last few alignment sheets.
 
It is a very sad thing that far too many people that work in tire shops have learned that an alignment is just "set the toe (maybe) and let it go".

They usually have no choice since thats the only thing that can be adjusted without add-on parts or crash bolts.
 
that could be the tires or the toe. have then set it with toe in, not toe out as the spec says.

i believe its the tires, but only once the insides start to wear down. it has happened on 2 other sets so far... and the looseness is terribly exaggerated when the insides become more and more worn. so technically not the tires themselves, just a victim of the circumstance.

on the other hand, i will ask for toe in as well. im going to try and get it done today, any quality shops in the springfield/enfield area?
 
They usually have no choice since thats the only thing that can be adjusted without add-on parts or crash bolts.

If they have been properly trained and they have any integrity, they will check the camber and caster to make sure the car is alignable. It is irresponsible to turn a car loose without properly checking it for what it came in for. It is even more irresponsible to turn it loose knowing that it is not alignable without reporting it.
 
talked to the owner of a local shop(grez automotive) that does alignments and he sounded very knowledgable and after explaining my situation he was eager to help me out.
i'll update when its done next week.
 
talked to the owner of a local shop(grez automotive) that does alignments and he sounded very knowledgable and after explaining my situation he was eager to help me out.
i'll update when its done next week.


if that doesn't pan out pm skunk as he knows of a good place in the area, just can't recall the name.
 
here are the alignment spec from my car over the years with Bat Struts and Eibachs. The first time in 05 was after the suspension install. The others where a combination of having the front subframe out, bend rear control arm and new tie rod ends. tire wear was perfectly even until the last ~2 months where I changed the tie rod ends and set the toe myself.

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If they have been properly trained and they have any integrity, they will check the camber and caster to make sure the car is alignable. It is irresponsible to turn a car loose without properly checking it for what it came in for. It is even more irresponsible to turn it loose knowing that it is not alignable without reporting it.

Of course they check that as well, they just cant adjust it them. The machine will give them all three readings at the same time which is why they're on the print out you ask for.
 
The machine doesn't provide caster readings unless you do a caster sweep.

Some alignment operators (I can't call them technicians or mechanics) don't know how to read camber or caster and don't know how to adjust them even if they are adjustable. Worst of all, many don't know how to recognize caster or camber that is out of spec even if the machine displays the out of spec in red. Even worse, many don't care, after all, it isn't their car.

One dealership I worked in didn't have an alignment machine and sublet their alignment to a local alignment shop. The shop seemed to have a good reputation in the community, serving many of the local body shops. We had a car with a slight drift to the right. The alignment readings indicated it needed a tweek in either the caster or camber. It took four times before they got it right. In looking into the problem, the alignment "technician" who seemed very caring and diligent didn't know how to do anything but set toe. When someone finally showed him how to change the camber he was amazed and most certainly didn't understand what the angles represented. My experience has been that this has become all too common, especially since the alignment equipment makers promote that the "machine tells the operater all they need to know".
 
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