Abnormal wear on outside edge of front tires?
09-04-05, 07:00 AM
#1
EV ftw!!!
Thread Starter
Abnormal wear on outside edge of front tires?
I did a search on this topic - "abnormal wear on front tires" and only this thread https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...+worn+bad+edge came up.
My tires have less than 15K miles on them, (Bridgestone S-03's 245/40 - 18's in front and 275/35 - 18's in the back) however the front tires outside edge is almost completely worn. Roughly about an inch wide around the tire.
Clearly this is an alignment issue as I am not an aggresive driver 80% of the time I drive.
When the Lexus dealer aligned my car last year after I put on the Tein Flex suspension, I remember him clearly saying he aligned the wheels properly and had to do something different from spec because the car's ride height was not OEM. What he did different, I don't remember now.
Anyway, the point of this thread is how should I resolve this issue?
1. Should I take off the front tires and swap them left to right so that the worn edge is on the inside now so that the tires wear evenly on both edges? (stupid option I think)
2. Should I get the car aligned again and if yes, what exact settings should I tell the dealer to make the front for toe and camber? My car is lowered to just less than a finger gap between the tire and fender (I have 245/40 - 18's in the front).
3. Should I replace the tires? I would rather not do that as I just got a new set of tires (won them in the raffle at Lexfest
), as the rear tires seem to have tons of life still left and I would really just like to fix the alignment issue at the front and keep using the same tires for as long as safely possible.
Recommendations?
My tires have less than 15K miles on them, (Bridgestone S-03's 245/40 - 18's in front and 275/35 - 18's in the back) however the front tires outside edge is almost completely worn. Roughly about an inch wide around the tire.
Clearly this is an alignment issue as I am not an aggresive driver 80% of the time I drive.
When the Lexus dealer aligned my car last year after I put on the Tein Flex suspension, I remember him clearly saying he aligned the wheels properly and had to do something different from spec because the car's ride height was not OEM. What he did different, I don't remember now.
Anyway, the point of this thread is how should I resolve this issue?
1. Should I take off the front tires and swap them left to right so that the worn edge is on the inside now so that the tires wear evenly on both edges? (stupid option I think)
2. Should I get the car aligned again and if yes, what exact settings should I tell the dealer to make the front for toe and camber? My car is lowered to just less than a finger gap between the tire and fender (I have 245/40 - 18's in the front).
3. Should I replace the tires? I would rather not do that as I just got a new set of tires (won them in the raffle at Lexfest
), as the rear tires seem to have tons of life still left and I would really just like to fix the alignment issue at the front and keep using the same tires for as long as safely possible.Recommendations?
09-06-05, 01:36 AM
#2
hameed, swapping the tires is a very bad move imho, coz' you are putting the bald side on the inside now, where it's actually what should really grab the road. and i think you should always try to find the root cause, not a badage fix.
i think alignment is off not in the sense of camber, but the toe.
1)first of all, how often do you do alignment. doing it once a yr is the LEAST imho, since the gs is soooo sensitive to alignment
2) when you alignment, i suspect the camber is maxed out alreayd, so that's ok. but how about the toe? you must ALWAYS have certain toe in. if that setting is off, you get bad wear (very fast indeed)
3) check the bushings on the car, are they good, worn, or cracked? bad bushings can lead to bad alignment (no matter how you adjust it) and it can cause severe tire wear
i think alignment is off not in the sense of camber, but the toe.
1)first of all, how often do you do alignment. doing it once a yr is the LEAST imho, since the gs is soooo sensitive to alignment
2) when you alignment, i suspect the camber is maxed out alreayd, so that's ok. but how about the toe? you must ALWAYS have certain toe in. if that setting is off, you get bad wear (very fast indeed)
3) check the bushings on the car, are they good, worn, or cracked? bad bushings can lead to bad alignment (no matter how you adjust it) and it can cause severe tire wear
09-06-05, 08:14 AM
#3
EV ftw!!!
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by rominl
hameed, swapping the tires is a very bad move imho, coz' you are putting the bald side on the inside now, where it's actually what should really grab the road. and i think you should always try to find the root cause, not a badage fix.
i think alignment is off not in the sense of camber, but the toe.
1)first of all, how often do you do alignment. doing it once a yr is the LEAST imho, since the gs is soooo sensitive to alignment
2) when you alignment, i suspect the camber is maxed out alreayd, so that's ok. but how about the toe? you must ALWAYS have certain toe in. if that setting is off, you get bad wear (very fast indeed)
3) check the bushings on the car, are they good, worn, or cracked? bad bushings can lead to bad alignment (no matter how you adjust it) and it can cause severe tire wear
i think alignment is off not in the sense of camber, but the toe.
1)first of all, how often do you do alignment. doing it once a yr is the LEAST imho, since the gs is soooo sensitive to alignment
2) when you alignment, i suspect the camber is maxed out alreayd, so that's ok. but how about the toe? you must ALWAYS have certain toe in. if that setting is off, you get bad wear (very fast indeed)
3) check the bushings on the car, are they good, worn, or cracked? bad bushings can lead to bad alignment (no matter how you adjust it) and it can cause severe tire wear
I will get the car aligned this week. When it is in the shop I will find out if the bushings are worn or not.
09-06-05, 10:29 AM
#4
Sounds like the toe is off but it could be some suspension part that is worn and the tolerances are opening up. Usually accompanied by cupping depending on how severe the alignment or suspension wear. Check the tie rod too.
Most the front ends for my cars spec at +1/16 toe. The manual allows +/- a bit. Negative toe will wear the insides and an over positive will do the outside. On stock height it usually means a positive camber issue.
In the past, I've swapped tires left to right but only if there is sufficient tread. That has given me an additional 5K in those instances. As a safety issue, I agree with Henry.
Most the front ends for my cars spec at +1/16 toe. The manual allows +/- a bit. Negative toe will wear the insides and an over positive will do the outside. On stock height it usually means a positive camber issue.
In the past, I've swapped tires left to right but only if there is sufficient tread. That has given me an additional 5K in those instances. As a safety issue, I agree with Henry.
09-06-05, 12:06 PM
#5
Originally Posted by rominl
1)first of all, how often do you do alignment. doing it once a yr is the LEAST imho, since the gs is soooo sensitive to alignment
Based on the experiences of friends and acquaintances, this is all too common a result of alignments.I'm preparing to lower my LS430 with a Tein CS kit, but one thing I REALLY fear is never getting the alignment perfect again. So, I'm borrowing a set of corner scales and string alignment system from a road-racing friend, and getting a baseline on the stock settings before changing anything. Then, after the coilover, I hope to set it back like it is now as a starting point.
09-06-05, 01:14 PM
#6
i6turbo, sorry to hear the problems you have man, it really sux when you try to make things better but in turn things got worse.... well the way i see it is, if you start to see uneven wear, that might mean it's too late already. that's why i tend to do that often. but of course, i have a dedicate shop where i know they know exactly what they are doing, that's important.
and hameed, you are very welcome man! tires are tear and wear items and we know they are not cheap, so it's important to make sure we keep everything in spec. by talking to different mechanics and stuff, i learned how each bad alignment can affect the tire wear. also, with worn bushings, coz' the wheels themselves and move ever so slightly when you accel, brake, turns, or hit bumps or potholes, even if you spend top notch money for alignment, they could be all gone as soon as you leave the shop.
also another thing to keep in mind is that we have aftermarket wheels, in your case 18s and 8.5/10 setup. to get the most out of it, getting everything back to "factory spec" might not be what you want. you might need some slightly different settings here and there. maybe you can try a good shop that does race cars setup, they have more insight probably. the shop i go to they do a lot of race cars.
and hameed, you are very welcome man! tires are tear and wear items and we know they are not cheap, so it's important to make sure we keep everything in spec. by talking to different mechanics and stuff, i learned how each bad alignment can affect the tire wear. also, with worn bushings, coz' the wheels themselves and move ever so slightly when you accel, brake, turns, or hit bumps or potholes, even if you spend top notch money for alignment, they could be all gone as soon as you leave the shop.
also another thing to keep in mind is that we have aftermarket wheels, in your case 18s and 8.5/10 setup. to get the most out of it, getting everything back to "factory spec" might not be what you want. you might need some slightly different settings here and there. maybe you can try a good shop that does race cars setup, they have more insight probably. the shop i go to they do a lot of race cars.
09-07-05, 11:13 AM
#7
I've relayed my observation at a local Discount Tire shop that just 
Basically, the machine showed green for in spec and the tech tightened it and it went into the red and stayed there. He didn't bother to dial it back and went to the other side. My thought was that he felt it was "close enough". 
My experience is that I have a handful of good alignments that I felt were
Even the same tech who did a great job before dials in a 
the next round. That is a sad testament to the shops you put your trust and $$ in. 
Basically, the machine showed green for in spec and the tech tightened it and it went into the red and stayed there. He didn't bother to dial it back and went to the other side. My thought was that he felt it was "close enough". My experience is that I have a handful of good alignments that I felt were
Even the same tech who did a great job before dials in a the next round. That is a sad testament to the shops you put your trust and $$ in.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
