Uneven tire wear: Outside edge.

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Hey Guys,
I’ve got an issue with uneven tread wear on both front tires on my 2006 Aveo; the right side is especially bad.(outside edge wear.)
It seems to have gotten worse lately, I just got back from the tire shop from getting them rotated and rebalanced; I get them done religiously every 5k miles. Along with all wheel alignment around every 6-8 months.
Does anyone have any idea what is causing this? at face value, this seems to be textbook positive camber misalignment, but as I said, I get the wheels realigned fairly regularly.

I did some major front end work on the car about two years ago (37 k miles ago), in hopes to prevent this type of abnormal wear. Unfortunately now I've got to get the right tire replaced. But of course I’d like to correct the underlining issue fist.

Here’s a list of the work I performed and parts I used:

· Front Strut & rear Shocks Replacement: Monroe 72296 Front Strut Assembly Right, Monroe 72295 Front Strut Assembly Left, 2 Front Monroe 905906Strut-Mate Strut Mounting Kit; 2 REAR 5794, Monroe Sensa-Trac Passenger Car Shock Absorbers & x2 rear mount kits from Rock auto.
· Control Arm Replacement Right &Left: Dorman 520-162 Control Arm Right side; Dorman 520-161 Control Arm Left side. from Rock auto.
· Tie Rod inner and ends: 2 MOOG tierods; Ft Inner ES800034; Fnt R Out;1 ES800033 L. from Rock auto
· Drivers side/Left Half shaft; Passenger's side/Right Half shaft: Cardone Select66-1420; Cardone Select 66-1422. from Rock auto.

If anyone has any idea what is causing this or what else I should have serviced, I’d be most obliged to you.

Thanks!

[slayerized6]

Did you get an alignment after doing the suspension work? If not, that's your problem

[jimzdat]

Well, he noted that the alignment is checked every 6-8 months - which seems excessive under normal circumstances, unless a lot of routine work is being done.

Based on my automotive experience, I'd pose the following:

- When the alignment is performed, is the shop putting weight in the car to simulate a driver? In such a small car, it doesn't take a lot of weight to impact ride
- Is the same shop doing the alignment every time? If so, take it elsewhere, even if it costs you a little more. I had an alignment done on my last truck (2003 Silverado, crew cab dually), and 6 months later it ate a set of front tires. Put new tires on it and had another shop align it - found the alignment waaaaaaay out of whack. Don't just trust that it's being done right, just because they always have done it
- I see nothing related to wheel bearings - a failing bearing won't always make an ungodly amount of noise, but can cause the wheel to sit off kilter; since the axle nut clamps the bearing races in place, it can prevent excessive play from being obvious. May want to have a shop slightly loosen the axle nuts, and then check for play in the bearings.

Just my thoughts, might be worth looking into...

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Thank for getting back to me on thisguys.

Jimzdat,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.
I seriously doubt that the folks atFirestone place any weight in order to simulate passenger load.
I always take it to the same shopnear my dad’s house. Funny thing is that a few days before I had the tires rotated& balanced (by a different shop), I had Firestone perform an alignment but they failed tomention that my front right tire had been chewed up as described on my initial post.I don’t know how the computer generated printout showed that the front left sidewas more misaligned that the front right side.
Thanks for the advise, I’ll get it “realigned” within the next few days.

[Melveo]

Watch them align it, people half ass alignments and only put it in the green. Make sure it's exact, be picky, it's you car you want it dead perfect. If they say it's not possible, you shouldn't be there in the first place. I check mines every two weeks because I'm maxed out on the coilover swap and I know some impacts throw it off. I do all my own alignments, I work on cars. Take almost an hour just to get on the rack itself lol

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Thanks for your help and guidance withthis fellas.
I took my car to get aligned and guess what was discovered? The technician discovered a lot of play when he moved the front wheels.
As a result, they are recommending that inner and outer tie rods be replaced. (estimate $423.00) I declined and have already ordered the parts from RockAuto.
Any idea why they would have failed so prematurely? I changed these 37k miles ago.
I have never changed the wheel bearings, (car now has 158,720 miles) I never been too eager to attempt a wheel bearing repair, It seems everyone who has attempted this repair has had a bear of a time. Also, going around town asking who willbe willing to use their hydraulic press to pop them in/out is not very appealing. A few years ago, (before I discovered this forum,) I went around asking who would be willing to do my water pump (with my own parts) and most shops looked at me as if I were crazy. Also, I don’t know what all the symptoms are. I certainly do not hear any grinding or whining coming from the front end. Do you all think the wheel bearings should be changed?

[Melveo]

Wheel bearing would be a up and down play in the wheel inner and outer would be side to side. Wheel bearings would be a roaring noise when driving. And a camber like wear in the tires

[jimzdat]

If they found that much wrong with the tie rods, chances are the bearings are fine - if it aint broke, don't fix it.

As far as premature wear, it can probably be chalked up to low quality parts and crappy roads - even MOOG parts are suffering from lowest-bidder quality issues

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Yes, I’m also a subscriber to that famous, “If it ain't broke”… philosophy.
Yeah, the roads around here are pretty crappy, that’s the main reason why I have the alignment done with such regularity.
So it's no surprise that the previous job only lasted 37k miles.

I just received confirmation that RockAuto has shipped out my parts; I’ll be tackling this job after work on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

Thanks to gothstone for his amazing write up, “Howto replace Inner and outer tie rods”- published on 11/09/2013.
Thanks to slayerized6, jimzdat and Melveo for all of your support!

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Hey Fellas,
The Rock Stars @ Rock Auto sent my part super-fast, they arrived today!

I was about to begin the tie rod Inner & outer replacement job when I noticed that both (left & right control arm bushings had some tearing (see shots below).
I replaced them along with the tie rods two years ago. I even took especial care to support the control arms so that they wouldn’t be hanging too much when I was installing them. What I mean is, I installed them mimicking the same angle that they would be normally when the car would be driven to avoid any additional stain on them.

You guys reckon, I should wait on the tie rod replacement and order and replace the control arms as well; all at the same time? Or is this normal wear and tear on the control arms?



Thanks!