Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires tire rubbing against strut

A year after I purchased my '99 mystique through carmax, i finnaly got a flat tire today. I never noticed before, but the rear tires are a different namebrand than of the front set. When i removed the rear, passenger side tire to replace it, I noticed that there was excessive wear on the inner sidewall of the tire. The wear was consistent with a shiny spot on the strut. Is there any obvious reason for this? Prior to this flat, the car would always shake around 65 mph. Now, and I know it is not intended for these speeds but I was curious, I drove the spare tire at that speed and there was almost no shaking. I ordered four new tires through tire rack, but I would still like to know what caused the tire to rub against the strut. The tire size is 205/60/15 on a factory mystique wheel and the suspension is completely stock, nothing to this car has been altered since I purchased it.

rim may be bent causing rub and vibration. tire shop should be able to check it for you. Could also be something bent on the car. Try to find out if body work has been done on it.

Wow, I have never heard of this, I was about to say maybe your aligment was out of specs, causing your inner shoulder to wear faster than the rest of the tire. A bend on the strut itself, though very unlikely, may be the cause of this. Also, a worn out control arm bushing (I've seen sometimes worn down to where they are gone) could cause the tire to stick out at the bottom and cave in at the top, thus causing it to rub against the strut. My guess is that you are getting the rough ride from the tires having what is called feathering on the edges, due to bad suspension or/and bad aligment.

Never mind, I just reread your post, you said INSIDE SIDEWALL. Scratch out anything I said about uneven wear on the shoulder then.

Have your car checked by a mechanic who specializes in aligment and/or framework.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to replace the tires, give the car an allignment and balance the tires, if that doesn't fix it then i'll check everything else. I considered the wheel being bent, but the wear on that tire goes completely around, it does not break off at any point. I looked around the trunk area and undercarriage, but I dindn't find any signs of body work. Is carmax known for selling wrecked vehicles? The rear driver side tire might give me a defenite answer, since it's the same brand tire . Also, the flat tire does have the same wear on the outer wall, just not as visible.