BobS

I had the front end of the car aligned almost a year ago... at 10K miles.
No signs of strut rub -- then or now...
It was out of spec on camber (negative), and the dealer set it up right.
The Right Front was the furthest out of spec, and the tire wear agreed.

I rotated the tires per the owners manual (R->F, and crossed F->R)
6000 miles later, I have the same sort of wear on the Right Front tire...
Probably 3/32" less treadwear on the outside edge of the tire than the inside.
The tires need to be replaced sometime soon - but I want to know:

Is this normal wear for front tires on these cars?
Everything else I have owned was FWD, and wore the outside edge of the front tires heavier than the inside edge.

--BOB

 

b_a_betterperson

Honestly, the suspensions on these cars are weak. Failed bushings, failure to hold alignment, etc. And funky tire wear is just part of it.

What to do? Have the alignment checked again when you get new rubber. And get General Exclaim UHPs because they're cheap yet still perform well.

BobS

Thanks, BA...

Heading to the dealer shortly to get the situation checked out. Got a great dealer here near Indy who takes care of customers.

I knew someone would bring up the General Exclaim tires...
Just wanted to see if anyone knew about the other BF options.

BOB

TORRED1

I will second the General Exclaim UHP's just put them on my 2004 and they ride nice and are cheap, I went to 235/45ZR17's instead of 245/45ZR17's and they are even cheaper $78 each plus less chance of strut rub, did have a bad left tierod onthe left side at 29k miles, but the dealer replaced it and aligned the car. Will see how things fare

edit those tires are also quiet so far almost 1000 miles on them

BobS

Found out that the situation's not abnormal.. More a result of infrequent tire rotation than of improper alignment.

The tires with the heavy inner treadblock wear both have had a stint on the rear of the car, and one spent 10,000 miles on the front when the camber was definitely out of spec negative. (-0.9 deg)

Sounds like the best way to stay out of this problem is to rotate the tires at 5000 mile intervals.


FYI - the camber specs for these cars are roughly:
FR: -0.2 deg +/- ~0.5
RR: -1.2 deg +/- ~0.5
No wonder the rears tend to wear the inside edge of the tires.