uneven tire wear

'04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some 'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable list.

Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm thinking it's not a toe problem.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Reply to
George
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Did you have the alignment checked? And the noise is probably either the r/s hub bearing, or a scalloped tire. Have you checked the balance, too?

Reply to
Bill Vanek

I just replaced the right hub. No change on the road noise. (: Tires _look_ OK, to me. Alignment is next, if I can't find something over the weekend. But, again, can toe cause wear like this, if it's not pulling? I know there's camber ... but, on a Cavalier? It seems pretentious.

Reply to
George

Definitely a toe issue. Front toe does not affect 'pull', but does affect tire wear if not in spec.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

Again, the wear is just on one side. That's why I thought, if it was toe, it would be pulling.

Reply to
George

Regardless of the exact cause, it should show up when the alignment is checked, at least if they know what they're doing. But I also mentioned scalloped tires. Balance and/or crappy tires contribute to this problem, along with some other things, and that sort of tire wear can cause the noise you're hearing. The noise could also be from a rear tire or bearing, but that would be unrelated to your main question.

I'd start with the alignment. You replaced the struts and control arms, and that can throw off every aspect of the alignment to some degree.

Reply to
Bill Vanek

Do you mean the tires have worn like that in the 30k miles SINCE you replaced those components? You'd need a really odd camber vs. caster offset to have that wear on only one side and not have the vehicle pulling. This is typically seen on a car with a bent frame/unibody that had a very "talented" alignment tech compensating at some point. Do the top mounts for the struts look modified?

If it was aligned, when the parts were replaced, and it doesn't pull, it's probably the best they could do and you should be happy the tires lasted this long. Rotate the next set more often.

GW

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

Again, the wear is just on one side. That's why I thought, if it was toe, it would be pulling. "

Do some research on alignment. The only directional parameters are Caster, camber, SAI(kingpin), and rear toe.

Front toe is a tire wear determinant only, even if toe is out of spec on only one side. Period.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

My guess is that the camber is off. It's not usually adjustable on this car but you can check the front bolt on the A arm to see if it is. If there's an orientation mark on it, you might be able to adjust it to add more positive camber. You should take it to a shop and have them do it. It should only take a short while to adjust it or they may have to add a bolt that allows them to fix the problem for cheap. If that ain't the problem, it could get expensive.

Reply to
dsi1

dsi1: "My guess is that the camber is off. "

Read the original post. He states car does not pull. Camber can indeed be a tire wear culprit, but it does not apply in this case.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

This ain't rocket science.

Reply to
dsi1

A little more detail:

- I replaced the control arms about 2 months ago. If the tread wear was already happening, I should have seen it then. I do miss things, but it's kind of obvious. ... So, there's a good chance it started with the control arms.

- I just checked the camber, at least roughly - parked on a level surface, and put a level across the rim. It looks right: both wheels were plumb, within less than a degree.

I suspect there's a problem with my control arm job. But, it's not like there's any adjustability there: just 2 bushing bolts, the ball joint, and the stabilizer link. I've gone back over it, and things are tight. I'll re-check, but I don't think expect much.

AFAIK, if it was a toe problem, it both wheels would be worn. So, the big question: is there any way, other than camber, to have just one tire wearing?

Thanks again.

Reply to
George

Could be toe out. Are your roads crowned? Assuming you are in North America, perhaps the left tire is working overtime trying to keep the car from ending up at the curb or ditch.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

Why are you bothering with all of this, instead of just having the alignment thoroughly checked by a reputable shop? Once you know which measurement is off, it's a lot easier to determine the cause. Right now, you're making a science project out of a simple problem. If you don't trust the alignment shop to do the diagnosis and repairs, then get a printout, and post all of the readings here.

Reply to
Bill Vanek

Well, trust issues. In 40+ years, I've never taken a car to a repair shop, except for state inspections; so, I have no clue who's competent. Plus, my sister just had an alignment done, and they left it toe out. Two wrecked tires. Add in whatever personal baggage I carry around, and I'd like to at least have a better idea what's going on before I take it somewhere. Which is all I'm asking - what could cause this sort of wear on just one tire?

Reply to
George

I like that idea; but, if it worked that way, wouldn't this be the normal wear pattern for toe-out?

Reply to
George

It's been my experience that one tire often goes straight while the other is toed out. I don't know if that is due to looseness in bushings, road crown, etc.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

It depends. If it is worn evenly across the tire, but at an angle, it's obviously camber. But if it's just one edge badly worn, there are various odd things in the steering geometry that can cause it, none of which you are going to be able to correct on your own. There are also tire issues to consider if the geometry is to factory specs. You need the measurements before you do anything. You can't accurately correct the toe or the camber or the caster without proper equipment, so just ask around. There has to be some place that has a decent reputation. I also understand that it's pointless to pay someone to put the car on a rack and just measure it without doing the alignment at the same time, so just do the whole alignment, and you can post both the before and after readings here. There are people here who do know what they're doing, and they can tell you if the readings make sense in the context of your problem. But that does bring up one other thing - make sure whoever you use will print out the readings for you. Don't stumble into some shop that has ancient or broken equipment that can't print it out.

Remember too, that they are supposed to check all steering related parts for wear, looseness, etc.

Reply to
Bill Vanek

IMO, that's your answer. Could be mfgr defect, could be installation error. If a licensed shop had done it, they would have aligned it (and found they couldn't) and would have sent the part back as defect if necessary.

GW

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

The big answer is yes - it could be a bad wheel bearing. First check the bearing on that tire. That should only take you a few seconds. If it's OK, check the front bolt on the arm where it attaches to the subframe. If there's no alignment markings on it, take it off and see if it's an eccentric bolt. If it is, replace it to move the arm inwards. If it is not a camber adjusting bolt, you might consider replacing it with one. You probably can buy these at your local parts store. My guess is that they would cost less than $40 for the kit to do both sides. Please don't mess with the other side. You can also buy these online for around $20.

You also need to learn how to check the toe by feeling the tire. It's simple and only takes a few seconds to do. Why have you not learned to do this?

Reply to
dsi1

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