2004 Ford Focus 2.3L Zetec rear suspension wear onto tires

Brought my Ford Focus in for tire service due to unusual tire wear at

32,000 miles. Got tires warranteed for 60K. I replaced standard 205-R50/16 tires that came with care with Bridgestones of the same size. When tires were removed, tech noticed wear on the inside of the tire due to interference , apparently, with the rear suspension. The tech also owned a 2002 Focus which displayed similar issues with tires. Any expereince out there in solving the problem? Is it mis-alignment of tires, improper design, and placement of the strut, wobble of the tire, a loose strut or something else.

Car has been mostly problem free for the last year (since pruchsed new) except for sqeaky brakes in the wet, and a coming dealer visit for a non-operational Cruise Control. Looking for some leads I can follow to identify this problem quickly. Do not want the wear problem repeated with the new tires.

I checked around the tires in the resting state and did not fell any obvious interference problems. There appeas to be about 1 1/2 inches clearance at the point of strut contact to the axel and wheel. At the top, there appears to be about 3/4 of an inch from the edge of the tire to the edge of the shielded strut. Do things move around down there that would cause contact when a car is turning?

Reply to
Dan Roy
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Negative camber is by design, I believe.

Ron

Reply to
Freedom55

From my experience, similar to yours, at 30K + miles the left rear tire was shot. Don't know about interference but I found an alignment guy, after many alignments, that knew what he was doing and he aligned my car properly front and rear and he solved all my problems. My car also used to jump sideways in the rear when hitting bumps. If you notice that at all it's got rear alignment problems. Trust me, Ford aligned it and two other alignment shops before I found this ACE guy. I have new tires now, a proper alignment and it's a new car. A 2001 wagon SE.

That's my take on it anyway.

Reply to
Happy Go Lucky

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