Uneven tyre wear.

[waynne]

My Tyres are wearing on the outside any idea why. Its the outside inch of both front tyres which re wearing out.

Generally when tyres wear at one edge quickly it means it is time to sort out the alignment but I've never had inside and outside go like this before.

[trooper]

Waynne you might find the problem with your tyres could be due to under inflation!

[StevieDB9]

yeah, about to mention the same thing- tyre pressure too low?

[waynne]

So if I over inflate for the next 10,000 miles it might even out

Thanks for the heads up. I thought I kept pressure pretty much on the ball but, having checked them, they are all 8-10psi down! Reverting to weekly tyre pressure checks - could be a bad set of valves or just a couple of slow punctures. Ah well out with the washing up liquid mix on the quest for bubbles.

[Freddie]

Hi Wayne.

I feel your pain! I have exactly the same problem..

I have considered the obvious cuases:
1. Underinflation (I check them quite regularly, and use Citroen guides to pressures)
2. Tracking (wheels were aligned when tyres were fitted)
3. Driving style (I do give the car some stick round corners, but not as much as some, and no real wheelspinning or burnouts)

Heres the evidence..




The inside of thw tyre still has plenty of tread..


I've had a word with the Saxo lads and the general consensus seems to be: camber/castor/tracking.

Hard driving would also do the damage.. BUT

NOT underinflation, as that would wear both shoulders. Do you agree?

They seem to think that even set up very well, this problem will still occur..

Don't know wether to bite the bullet and go to some suspension specialists, keep shelling out for new tyres; or sacrafice grip levels for hard compounds.

[HDi fun]

Let's dismiss Kwik Fit immediately - this bunch even tried to tell me I had to change the cam-belt on a NIssan Primera SE which is chain driven!!

Find a good independent with a true 4 -wheel rig - Hunter make some of the finest. More important is the operators' inclination to to do it correctly.

You have to get the rear straight first otherwise you're just aligning to an imaginary line. This often involves unbolting the rear suspension totally to adjust camber and caster angles (yep, toe is just the start of it!).

After that's done you can the get the front in line with the rear. Result? A car that goes arrow straight mile after mile with hands off the wheel. Even camber follow is reduced.

[steveo]

they are more or less on the limit!!! if yout tyres were under preesure both sides will be bold and to hard the middle on the tread will get bold too! i think you need a tracking looking at that tyre or your camber could be out to.

[Freddie]

They are wayyyyyy farking past the limit, but money seems to go elsewhere as the car seems to stop and handle fine, even in the wet. Silly I know but thats the life of a student! :S

(Will get them changed soon though, as it's only a matter of time before I'll get pulled for something silly and a huge fine for an unroadworthy car.. )

[waynne]

Freddie - I'd go for some part worn tyres for now if I were you - £12 each typically and that will buy you a little time.

[fingers]

That would be you front wheel alignment. Even if you alignment was done when your tyres were fitted you should still get it checked every 3 months or so. It is so easy to knock it out, all you have to do is ht a pot hole or speed bump tat little bit too hard or brush the curb while parking once too many. This can be caused by camber and castor but is very unlikley.

http://www.familycar.com/Alignment.htm

[Sid447]

This could be too much toe-in,

or the familiar problem nowadays of camber setting,

Factories have altered suspension settings so that cars reliably under-steer.
Even RWD cars which traditionally used to get a reputation of being "tail-happy" have been reigned in and "sterilized" for the masses so that Joe Bloggs and Miss Daisy aren't going to suffer a fit of apoplexy on their way to the supermarket.

You will find the camber settings at the front in most cars now are now in the positive range i.e. 0 to 1 degree positive (where they used to be zero or in the 0 to minus 1 range (wheels straight ahead) before.
This along with less castor angle (to make the steering lighter) which gives less off-centre camber change causes to outside of the tyres to wear prematurely.
(With a reasonable amount of castor angle, as lock is applied the weel station goes to a more negative camber angle to help with keeping the tyre in "square" contact with the road surface when cornering and under suspension compression).

[jonnyb]

it sound to me that if urgetting wear on 1 side and not the other it will be underinflated or tracking

[ben]

This thread is 2 n a half years old

[waynne]

The threads on here never die and are always relevent to others Ben!

[afn33]

Originally Posted by waynne

So if I over inflate for the next 10,000 miles it might even out

Thanks for the heads up. I thought I kept pressure pretty much on the ball but, having checked them, they are all 8-10psi down! Reverting to weekly tyre pressure checks - could be a bad set of valves or just a couple of slow punctures. Ah well out with the washing up liquid mix on the quest for bubbles.

Is your motor lowered mate, if so by how much? Camber angle alters on lowered vehicles gives under or over steer depending on whether its neg or pos and all sorts of idiosyncrasies,low tyre pressures tend to make the vehicle wander lowered suspensions are indeed very prone to this wandering and, for one simple reason,those people that lower suspensions generally fit low profile broad tyres on alloy wheels, Alloys are prone to side wall leakage, so get em checked if this is the case...

[waynne]

Thanks for the tips afn33 - No it's not lowered. I think the pressures were just to low. I tend to keep them at just under the recommended pressure for "full load"

I've had some new tyres fitted and these are coping admirably now.

[old-git]

Alternatively - Bearing in mind that with toe in, camber and caster angles and bends in the road all conspiring to keep the tyre away from being perfectly perpendicular to the road at all times, the wear pattern on this almost bald tyre isn't too bad! If anything had been badly out of alignment the uneven wear would be much more severe. Apart from a tracking check when new tyres are fitted I reckon it is fine.

[Gallcobair]

The problem is down to under-inflation of the tire, over inflation would have the opposite affect (incresed wear on the centre of the thread). Incorrect Toe in / toe out will leave a feathering baldness on the inside / outside of the tire (one bald tire side only per tire).