Back tires wearing extremely quickly

[HijackTheLeft]

So for the last couple years, I've been going through back tires like crazy. I'm assuming there's something wrong with my alignment, but I'm not 100% sure because they wear evenly. The last time I bought tires was in October, and they were used tires, but still fairly new. Now both tires are completely bald all the way across. I've tried to figure out what the deal was before, and I think I even posted on here, but I wasn't able to really get an answer.

I know if I take it somewhere, they're going to "fix" things, but I want to try and figure out what the problem is before I take it to get it fixed. I'd hate to spend money on an alignment I don't need just to find out that wasn't the issue. Also, my car drives straight. If I take my hands off the wheel, it doesn't veer to one side or the other.

Does anybody have any ideas?? TIA!

[gnvarnadore]

burnout much? could it be your driving and not something wrong with the car?

[HijackTheLeft]

No, I guess I should have mentioned that. I drive like a grandma. I have a fiance who used to have a phobia of riding in a car, and it still affects her pretty hard, so I have to cater to that when I drive. I used to do autocross, but that was years ago. The tires haven't intentionally spun in a very long time. They'll occasionally get a little chirp if the roads are wet, but aside from that, never.

[gnvarnadore]

what about tire pressure? how many psi do you run in your tires and how often do you check it?

[Tyler]

do you have an lsd or anything?

[sultan]

toe is off

[car nut]

toe is off

If it isn't pulling to either side and your tires are wearing evenly, your toe is probably off.

[HijackTheLeft]

No LSD. That's another reason I know it's not burnouts or anything. If so, only one tire would be wearing.

Is toe something that would be fixed during an alignment? If not, how would I go about getting that corrected??

[adrianfromthecastle]

yes. Toe is adjusted (fixed) by an alignment.

[nando]

correct me if im wrong but if you toe is off then the sides of the tires will wear to much toe in will wear the outside and to much out will wear the inside.

to much air will wear the middle and to little will wear the outsides.

check all you bushings in your subframe and all your suspension parts.

if every thing is tight i would def sugest an alignment.

[car nut]

correct me if im wrong but if you toe is off then the sides of the tires will wear to much toe in will wear the outside and to much out will wear the inside.

You re wrong. That is camber.

Camber:

Toe:

If it was camber, the tires wouldn't wear evenly.

[adrianfromthecastle]

You re wrong. That is camber.

Camber:

Toe:

If it was camber, the tires wouldn't wear evenly.

correcto mundo!

tire wear on the inside = neg. camber + toe tire wear on the outside = posi camber + toe

however, incorrect toe will wear tires out, more so than camber (if toe is correct)

[nando]

true. but if toe is in to much, as you drive and the wheels turn then more of the outside of the tire will contact the road and wear. yes or no?

but also true its not toe because tire wear is even.

maybe caster ... aka trust angle?

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Jeez, just get an alignment.

It's not that big of a deal.

It'll cost less than having to replace tires.

[vancouverbc]

No LSD. That's another reason I know it's not burnouts or anything. If so, only one tire would be wearing.

Is toe something that would be fixed during an alignment? If not, how would I go about getting that corrected??

toe can be fixed during alignment but i thought toe problems resulted in uneven wear. that was the case with my car.

Toe wear - a feathered wear pattern across both front tires, and sometimes shoulder wear on the inner or outer edge of both tires. Toe wear is usually caused by worn tie rod ends, but may also result from worn or loose inner tie rod sockets on rack and pinion steering gears. Other causes include bent steering arms or misalignment in the rear wheels. Measuring toe out with the wheels turned 20 degrees to either side can help you detect a bent steering arm.
Modified by vancouverbc at 6:03 PM 1/17/2010

[adrianfromthecastle]

uneven wear = camber + toeeven wear = toe

[vancouverbc]

uneven wear = camber + toeeven wear = toe

Dumb question: If all your steering/suspension parts are in good shape, bad toe=camber out of spec?

[RustspecS13]

uneven wear = camber + toeeven wear = toe

Not quite. Uneven wear = compounding problems. IE worn out suspension parts and alignment out of wack. Blown struts/coil overs, excessive toe and/or camber.

Even wear= Alingment out but may not have bad struts/coils/bushings etc.

But the front reacts different to alignment problems then the rear as well.

Either way we need to know more about your car.

For instance, if you throw coils and lower a stock s13 say 4 inches, your front toe goes out to around .7-.8deg and camber is 2-3deg. The toe alone will give a nice 1/2-1in wide strip of wear on the inside of the tires, while the camber wears evenly across the inside half of the tire.

The rear toes in a tonn, and adds a tonn of negative camber. On the same car as above it was around .8deg total toe in and 3.6deg of camber on both sides.

Stock has .1-.2deg of toe in front and about .25deg toe in rear and about 1-1.5 deg camber front and around the same in the rear all stock.



That car has too much toe in, probably at the 1deg total mark, or 10 times factory spec. The guy complains its very darty and skips when hitting low traction spots like dirt or water, that's because the tires are fighting each other.

But to find out whats going on with your car, we need pics, or find an alignment shop that will inspect your car for loose/bad parts and maybe even check the alignment. The company i work for will do this for free, try to find some one local to you that does the same.

Oh and my buddies s13, the toe was even left to right, just far above or below spec, so it wouldn't cause a pulling issue, just tire wear, and really horrible traction in wet/snow/ice type conditions.

~Alex

Edit- and this is toe out wear:

[Gabes13]

My mother has really bad tire wear on the inside. I doubt she's running -8 degrees of camber on her Camry.

[HijackTheLeft]

Wow, thanks for all the info. I have Eibach springs all the way around and Tokico blues, resulting in a good ~2" drop. This didn't start happening until a couple years after the suspension change. I'm sure I need an alignment. I just wanted to find out for sure that an alignment would fix it. If not, I would get that problem taken care of first, since it's a little more pressing. But since it will, I'll start looking around and see if I can get somebody to take a look at it for me. Anybody in the central VA area?

Edit: Also, the suspension was professionally installed.
Modified by HijackTheLeft at 2:09 AM 1/18/2010