Torque Bind?

[Stevo F]

Not my car, but a '96 Outback I'm looking at on Ebay. It initially sounds pretty good, headgaskets and timing belt just done along with tie rods, brakes, CV boots. I asked about torque bind and the ownder described what he feels as

 

"The car is shuddering sometimes on initial acceleration while turning. Not every time though, and it may not even be noticed by a less perceptible person. I researched the issue and it likely is the torque bind starting to rear its head".

 

Does this sound like torque bind or another issue? There is one tire with approx 1/16" less tread than the other 3 nearly new tires so it sounds like it was run with unevenly matched tires for a while.

[1 Lucky Texan]

that is technically too much tread wear difference (assuming they are the same model tires, if mixed brands, that's a definite problem!)

 

if the car is automatic, have the guy use the FWD fuse under the hood and report if the symptom is the same. If the problem is gone - quite likely to be the tire issue, if not, could be an problem internal to the trans.

[Stevo F]

Thank you. I let it pass anyway- From the Autocheck, looked like somebody rolled the odometer about 50K a few years ago. Good suggestion about the FWD fuse though.