AdventureSubaru Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Trying to help my friend fix up her Impreza. She's in a tight spot financially and is driving a beat up, $400. 200k+ 93 L Sedan with crappy 13 inch wheels and tires on it. Thanks to some of the Milwaukee guys I got a set of 14 inch Legacy Aluminum rims and some nearly new tires for her on the cheap. I was swapping over the new wheels for her this morning when I found this on the front drivers side tire. It is only worn this way on the drivers side tire. The steering wheel shakes/vibrates as she's driving. it is wearing unevenly as you can see the tire has tread on the outside edge near the bottom of the photo but has a bald edge on the top of the tire. I'm pretty green when it comes to steering/alignment stuff. trying to make this car decent and as reliable as possible for her. Is this something that can be fixed with just an alignment? Or am I looking at replacing ball joints or something else? Edited February 10, 2012 by AdventureSubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 woah crap that's freaking nuts! have you simply jacked it off the ground and checked for play? any looseness or noises? clunking? play in tie rods, wheel bearings? uneven wear like that *can* be a bad strut. any leakage, how does it return or compare to the other side, any noises on bumps? the way it was explained when mine did this is that the strut is too weak to keep the tire on the road so in certain situations the tire drags across the surface instead of turning with it. subarus don't often have tie rod, ball joint, or steering issues so none of those are immediate suspects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red92 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 have you simply jacked it off the ground and checked for play? any looseness or noises? clunking? play in tie rods, wheel bearings? uneven wear like that *can* be a bad strut. any leakage, how does it return or compare to the other side, any noises on bumps? When you have it jacked up, in addition to checking for play, get a bright flashlight and look closely at the spring on that strut too. That tire wear looks a lot like a less-advanced stage of the same wear that my '94 had when I bought it. The spring was rusted, and had broken in two places. It can be easy to miss too - one of them had broken right after the very first coil at the top, and it had simply pushed up and re-seated itself, pinning that broken end up there. You would NEVER see it with the car on the ground, and even at full extension, it would have been easy to miss. But the strut spring was at least an inch and a half shorter because of it. Strut springs rusting & breaking was a common problem, and Subaru actually issued a recall for it.... but only for 1995+ models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Make sure the ball joint and tie rods on that side don't have any play. If they check out (no movement) then check the tire for abnormal spots on it. Could be a separated tire which would cause vibration and weird wear (a raised spot on the tire where the plys of the tire have come apart from each other). If it also seems to not be separated, then go get an alignment. If anything, the alignment shop should be able to figure it out. At minimum, its a positive camber issue which also would cause the vehicle to pull that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Make sure the ball joint and tie rods on that side don't have any play. If they check out (no movement) then check the tire for abnormal spots on it. Could be a separated tire which would cause vibration and weird wear (a raised spot on the tire where the plys of the tire have come apart from each other). If it also seems to not be separated, then go get an alignment. If anything, the alignment shop should be able to figure it out. At minimum, its a positive camber issue which also would cause the vehicle to pull that direction. Not that a car like that couldn't have worn parts, I'm gonna second the 'bad tire' idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptEditor Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Definitely inspect the suspension, but how old is the tire? The last 4 on the DOT number will state the week and year that the tire was manufactured. If the tire is older than 2000 it will only have 3 digits at the end of the DOT. If the tire is over 6 years old I would not use it! DOT should be XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX XXX if there are only 8 digits on the side of the tire then look at the other side of the tire. It should have the full 11 or 12 digits on the other side. Also, Is the rim bent? -Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptEditor Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 If you are sure the suspension is safe to drive on, put the new rims and tires on and inspect them weekly for odd wear. Also if that steering wheel shake goes away it's a sure sign that the old wheels/tires were definitely faulty. I'd still get an alignment asap, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 good points about tire possibility and simply putting another wheel/tire on there to see if that was the cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 can't feel any play. The wear is just in that one spot. Rest of the tire is fine. I'll swap good tires on and see what happens. Spring/strut seem fine too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Usually the rule in uneven tire wear, is when the tire is not even worn "round" the tire circumferance, that is it a defective tire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Seems like that was the problem. New tires on the front and the wobble seems almost non existent. Saves the trouble/cost of an alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I have seen that wear before, and chances are your new tires will wear the same way. There is an alignment issue, and a worn bushing or balljoint somewhere in there. The new tires will feel fine for a while, but because cars generally require positive toe, they will start to press against the worn bushing, reach a limit, and pop back out to another position, scrubbing the tire off just at the limit point. Since tires are not absolutely perfect, it will start with a minor variation in the tire profile, and eventually scrub a consistent section of the tire off. And to compound the problem, since these can have 4-wheel alignment issues, it could be caused by the rear suspension as well. Weak bushings are hard to spot, since all arms are supported by multiple bushings. I'd start with an alignment shop. Take the old tire with you to show. It is possible that it is a faulty tire, but in my experience they are rare now. A tire scrubbed that badly will be distorted in addition to the wear, so it may appear off round or center but only possibly because of the scrubbed patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Seems like that was the problem. New tires on the front and the wobble seems almost non existent. Saves the trouble/cost of an alignment. Not getting a wheel alignment when fitting new tyres will only save money in the short term. If you want new tyres to last a long time the wheel alignment should be mandatory... Well, in my opinion anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 okay. I'll keep a close eye on it. If I see any uneven wear, I'll have her take it straight to an alignment shop. It's only FWD so it can't be too expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 my first thought was bad strut, or bad tire... bad tie rod ends and/or ball joints usually cause funny wear all the way around, not just in one spot not sure about costs down your way, but up here in north central WI a full 4 wheel alignment costs about $70 - 80, give or take if the shop is any good - they will check things out before doing any alignment work and let you/her know of any problems that should be addressed before doing an actual alignment - as in "aligning is pointless unless you take care of X, Y & Z first". they will probably assess a labor charge in that case, but it shouldnt be too terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 yeah, I'll do some pricing. This is an oddball front wheel drive so it should only need a two wheel alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red92 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 okay. I'll keep a close eye on it. If I see any uneven wear, I'll have her take it straight to an alignment shop. It's only FWD so it can't be too expensive. Why risk it? If you drive it long enough that you can see the uneven wear, then you have ruined another set of tires... If you have some sort of stockpile of cheap tires, this might be acceptable... but generally, an alignment costs a lot less than tires. yeah, I'll do some pricing. This is an oddball front wheel drive so it should only need a two wheel alignment. What makes you think it only needs a two wheel alignment? A rear end that is out of whack can completely change how a car handles and drives, which can certainly lead to uneven front tire wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 yeah, I'll do some pricing. This is an oddball front wheel drive so it should only need a two wheel alignment. The shop i go to wont do only a front wheel alignment - they feel that is only doing half the job, and i would have to agree. matters not if it is front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or all wheel drive, if you only do half the job by doing just the front, and the back end is still out of whack, you are still going to have problems, and you will be scratching your head trying to figure out where... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoupedUpSubie Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 yeah, I'll do some pricing. This is an oddball front wheel drive so it should only need a two wheel alignment. A front wheel drive isn't all that odd. Many parts swap over but a few don't depending on if its auto or manual. I believe there are a few adjustments in the rear end but don't quote me on that. Some cars do only require the front to be aligned. If you need any help figuring out what parts will swap send me a PM, chances are I have figured it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 okay. I'll keep a close eye on it. If I see any uneven wear, I'll have her take it straight to an alignment shop. It's only FWD so it can't be too expensive. By the time you actually see uneven out-of-round wear, the tires are shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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