Have any of you guys experienced this on your Contour.
I was wondering if this is common on these cars. Mine has some inner wear, but the alignment guy said it was within specs.
my last set of tires, which were worn down to 3/32nds of tread were worn evenly across the tire... My new set which I have had for around 12000 miles is wearing evenly, except one tire, from the rim being bent... There are a number of things that would cause the inside to wear faster than the rest of the tire, check around, look at suspension, make sure rim isn't bent, check the tire itself...
Did he say the alignment was within specs???
Static alignment while he's checking it is one thing, but if anything at all is loose, the alignment goes out while you're driving.
What year???
How many miles???
Does the car go straight well or does it wander around???
Does it pull to the side when you hit the gas??? coasting???
Did you get that vibration problem taken care of???
And no, inner tread wear is only "common" on cars with lots of negative camber which you should'nt have unless the car is lowered or the springs are sagging.
Ball joints? Control Arm bushings? Two things that I know can kill your dynamic alignment and therefore the inside of your tires.
I just took my KDWs off and put winter tires on and I noticed the same thing-on all four tires. (I've only had the car for 10K miles, and I'm sure the previous owner rotated the tires--he was very aggressive on the maintenance.) I figured that just meant that I wasn't cornering hard often enough. I fully intend to rectify that situation!!
The car has about 89K miles, with at least 30k on the tires. I rotate about every 6 to 8K miles.
One of the tires, Goodyear Eagle HPs is severely worn and the belt is protruding on the inner edge. The rear two were changed under warranty about 12K ago and have plenty of life remaining.
I am going to Sears (sorry, they are the cheapest by far) to get two bad ones replaced tomorrow with the same model.
I never did cure the vibration problem; maybe these worn tires were the cause. I am also going to have the good two inspected and re-balanced. One that was replaced last year had a tread seperation that made a noise similar to the one I have now.
I am inclined to think that my vibration is either tire or wheel bearing related. The noise/vibration seems to get a little worse when making a left hand turn, indicating a possible bad right hand bearing.
I did an inspection of the of the suspension and steering components myself. Everything looks good and tight. Also, the right lower control arm and outer CV joints were replaced under warranty at about 50K, so they should be good.
Sounds like the classic too much negative camber, but how?
i believe that can happen if the tierods become worn and allow the alignment to have "tow out." if your car isnt lowered id check the tierods.
Tie rods misadjusted, worn control arm bushings/bent control arms, struts/springs sagging, toe out, all of these could be held in suspect, especially in conjunction with each other...
Get it to a suspension shop and see what they can do. Since you've got over 70K miles on the car, I'd definitely look at new struts/springs and control arms. Worn tires simply amplify the effects of a misaligned car, as they can cause vibrations and the steering wheel to jump all over the place when going over uneven surfaces.
Tie rods can do it to, as stated above, which then requires some adjustment at a suspension shop in the form of an alignment.
Best of luck!
I had the same problem with my last set of KDW's. I got an alignment when the new tires went on and found that the tow was out of whack. This causes the feathering of the tires which was in turn causing a vibration that started at about 70-80 mph. As the others have said, get the alignment looked at and then rotate the tires on a regular schedule and check the tire pressures regularly.
The tread wear although not real bad, seems to be at the extreme inside of tread on both front tires (shoulder).
I am going to get the alignment checked again soon as well as the tie rod ends.
Coincidentally, the fronts were changed last Friday and the vibration has vitruallly dissappeared and the ride is a lot quieter and smoother. Could it have been one of the tires? I will find out on Turkey Day, since we are headed to Grandma's house in Ocala, about an 1.5 hour drive.
Will keep you posted.
P.S. - I need to go back to Sears to get the right front rebalanced...one of the weights fell off the tire on the ride home from their store last week! I heard the thump in the wheel well and saw the weight bouncing on the road in my rear view mirror! Its hard to find good help these days.
Oh your way to grand ma's house swing by Virginia I'll balance them for you lol
The inner shoulder tire wear probably contributed to most of your vibration issues, as I've had this happen once. My front tire inner shoulders were just about down to the belt as well, and I had TONS of vibration and quirky handling (bad alignment didn't help at all, either).
Without an alignment, your swapped tires that you've got up front now with do the same in a couple of months, though it sounds like you're getting this checked.
JaTo, what was the cause of your inner tread wear - alignment?
...Went back to (another) Sears to ALL tires rebalanced. Funny, all but one had new weights in different locations. Hmmmm?
As for my innner tread wear, every front wheel drive vehicle that I owned has had this phenomena.
The only true way to balance a rim/tire is to balance one time, take it off, spin 180 degrees, put it back on the machine and spin it again, if it zeros out again then it is balanced for sure, but if it doesn't, have them keep doing it until it zeros twice in a row after a 180 degree spin... I have tried this myself at work and found it gives a much smoother ride than just balancing the tire the 1 time and throwing it back on the car... Also, make sure the tires are not out of round, that will give you a bad vibration as well...
This is actually a common thing on Contours, especially SVT's. I'm still experiencing it with my car. Frequent rotation seems to be the main thing that helps. It is especially difficult on tires with a stiff sidewall and a hard tread compound.
I believe that it is mainly caused by the unadjustble camber. The camber built into our cars makes the car handle better in the twisties, but it also makes it more sensitive to toe settings. Toe settings must be set close to 0. Too much positive toe agrivates the condition.
A possible cure for the situation may be the installation of the caster / camber adjusters such as BAT sells. A camber setting closer to 0 should make this much less sensitive, but control in hard cornering may suffer as a result. If I ever need to replace the front struts, I'm sure that I will add adjusters at the same time.
Anyway, my $.02 worth.
my svt had the same problem. bought the adjustable plates from spmotorsports. had them installed and brought back within specs for 80 bucks. 2 new tires later, 5,000 miles and no sign of inner wear yet
Originally posted by DanB:
JaTo, what was the cause of your inner tread wear - alignment?
...Went back to (another) Sears to ALL tires rebalanced. Funny, all but one had new weights in different locations. Hmmmm?
As for my innner tread wear, every front wheel drive vehicle that I owned has had this phenomena.
Alignment. Toe was WAY out of spec on both fronts. As Jim said, aggressive tire rotation (I'm doing mine about every 2K miles) definintely helps things out.
Get them to dial in toe as close to zero as possible (both sides). Check your camber specs, too. If they are too far off, save your tires by getting a camber kit put on the fronts.
As my springs/struts relax, I may have to get a kit myself, as I'm marginally out of spec on my front passenger's side and the front driver's side is barely within spec...
I think my problem may be toe alignment, judging by the location of the inner tread wear - at the extreme inner edge for the most part.
I amm contemplating changing the original struts first. Got about 90K on them.