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Re: Tire wear mystery
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Re: Tire wear mystery -
03-08-2007
, 06:25 AM
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Newly bought 2001 Outback 5-speed, 125K miles. I have a tire mystery. When I bought it, the car had two like-new tires, and two mostly finished tires with feathered sawtooth wear pattern and patchy flat spots. (Goodyear Regatta 2, if anybody cares) The odd thing is that the worn tires are on the LEFT side of the car, as opposed to the back or front. In the first weekend I put 600 high-speed highway miles on the car, and the front right tire is already starting to show the same sawtooth wear, and rounded edges to the outside tread blocks like somebody's been using the corners for erasers. Back right still looks new. There is a slight vibration that I feel in the floorboards and steering wheel at 50 mph, which becomes a strong vibration at 85 mph. Going through a curve with any real steering effort in either direction, the vibration in the steering wheel disappears. Car tracks straight. Fuel economy for 600 all-highway miles mostly somewhere around 70 mph is 23 mpg, which seems low but I don't know if that's got anything to do with the tires or just driving too fast. Since then I've been driving slower and not feeling much vibration. All of this seems a litle strange to me. Why are the tires on one side dramatically more worn than the other? If the vibration in the steering wheel goes away on curves, doesn't that indicate vibrations coming from the back? Why am I seeing accelerated wear in the front? If this makes sense to anybody, please let me know. I can't decide whether to buy two new Regatta 2's while there's still enough tread on the good tires for them all to match, or just leave it alone until the most-worn tires are done, get four new (better) tires and four-wheel alignment, and see if it all goes away. ~Adam |
tires the same model AND very near each other in total wear.
Often, vibration is tire/wheel related and older tires may have some
bubble/tire seperation beginning.
A car may begin 'cupping' or have other odd tire wear if shocks are
failing or a wheel is out of balance as resonant 'bouncing' can occur.
Its POSSIBLE someone put the the worn tires on one side to try to
decrease strain on the center diff since tire wear was uneven.
I'd expect getting 4 new tires, with a good wheel inspection/balancing -
coupled with a good wheel alignment, to alleviate most of the problems
you mention. Also, try to inflate the tires to at least the manual or
'door' specs - most folks prefer to add 2-3-4 lbs above those pressures.
Carl
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#2
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Newly bought 2001 Outback 5-speed, 125K miles. I have a tire mystery. When I bought it, the car had two like-new tires, and two mostly finished tires with feathered sawtooth wear pattern and patchy flat spots. (Goodyear Regatta 2, if anybody cares) The odd thing is that the worn tires are on the LEFT side of the car, as opposed to the back or front. In the first weekend I put 600 high-speed highway miles on the car, and the front right tire is already starting to show the same sawtooth wear, and rounded edges to the outside tread blocks like somebody's been using the corners for erasers. Back right still looks new. There is a slight vibration that I feel in the floorboards and steering wheel at 50 mph, which becomes a strong vibration at 85 mph. Going through a curve with any real steering effort in either direction, the vibration in the steering wheel disappears. Car tracks straight. Fuel economy for 600 all-highway miles mostly somewhere around 70 mph is 23 mpg, which seems low but I don't know if that's got anything to do with the tires or just driving too fast. Since then I've been driving slower and not feeling much vibration. All of this seems a litle strange to me. Why are the tires on one side dramatically more worn than the other? If the vibration in the steering wheel goes away on curves, doesn't that indicate vibrations coming from the back? Why am I seeing accelerated wear in the front? If this makes sense to anybody, please let me know. I can't decide whether to buy two new Regatta 2's while there's still enough tread on the good tires for them all to match, or just leave it alone until the most-worn tires are done, get four new (better) tires and four-wheel alignment, and see if it all goes away. ~Adam |
www.ultimatesubaru.org and www.nasioc.com .
Carl
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#3
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Adam Aulick wrote: Newly bought 2001 Outback 5-speed, 125K miles. I have a tire mystery. When I bought it, the car had two like-new tires, and two mostly finished tires with feathered sawtooth wear pattern and patchy flat spots. (Goodyear Regatta 2, if anybody cares) The odd thing is that the worn tires are on the LEFT side of the car, as opposed to the back or front. In the first weekend I put 600 high-speed highway miles on the car, and the front right tire is already starting to show the same sawtooth wear, and rounded edges to the outside tread blocks like somebody's been using the corners for erasers. Back right still looks new. There is a slight vibration that I feel in the floorboards and steering wheel at 50 mph, which becomes a strong vibration at 85 mph. Going through a curve with any real steering effort in either direction, the vibration in the steering wheel disappears. Car tracks straight. Fuel economy for 600 all-highway miles mostly somewhere around 70 mph is 23 mpg, which seems low but I don't know if that's got anything to do with the tires or just driving too fast. Since then I've been driving slower and not feeling much vibration. All of this seems a litle strange to me. Why are the tires on one side dramatically more worn than the other? If the vibration in the steering wheel goes away on curves, doesn't that indicate vibrations coming from the back? Why am I seeing accelerated wear in the front? If this makes sense to anybody, please let me know. I can't decide whether to buy two new Regatta 2's while there's still enough tread on the good tires for them all to match, or just leave it alone until the most-worn tires are done, get four new (better) tires and four-wheel alignment, and see if it all goes away. ~Adam You may also enjoy searching/posting questions related to your soob at www.ultimatesubaru.org and www.nasioc.com . Carl -- to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) |
#4
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Newly bought 2001 Outback 5-speed, 125K miles. I have a tire mystery. When I bought it, the car had two like-new tires, and two mostly finished tires with feathered sawtooth wear pattern and patchy flat spots. (Goodyear Regatta 2, if anybody cares) The odd thing is that the worn tires are on the LEFT side of the car, as opposed to the back or front. In the first weekend I put 600 high-speed highway miles on the car, and the front right tire is already starting to show the same sawtooth wear, and rounded edges to the outside tread blocks like somebody's been using the corners for erasers. Back right still looks new. There is a slight vibration that I feel in the floorboards and steering wheel at 50 mph, which becomes a strong vibration at 85 mph. Going through a curve with any real steering effort in either direction, the vibration in the steering wheel disappears. Car tracks straight. Fuel economy for 600 all-highway miles mostly somewhere around 70 mph is 23 mpg, which seems low but I don't know if that's got anything to do with the tires or just driving too fast. Since then I've been driving slower and not feeling much vibration. All of this seems a litle strange to me. Why are the tires on one side dramatically more worn than the other? If the vibration in the steering wheel goes away on curves, doesn't that indicate vibrations coming from the back? Why am I seeing accelerated wear in the front? If this makes sense to anybody, please let me know. I can't decide whether to buy two new Regatta 2's while there's still enough tread on the good tires for them all to match, or just leave it alone until the most-worn tires are done, get four new (better) tires and four-wheel alignment, and see if it all goes away. ~Adam |
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#6
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Carl 1 Lucky Texan wrote: A car may begin 'cupping' or have other odd tire wear if shocks are failing or a wheel is out of balance as resonant 'bouncing' can occur. This may seem like a stupid question, but how do you tell that your shocks are failing on a Subaru? I'm used to driving a Windstar and a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity, and the Outback, um, handles a little differently. When I push down the bumper looking for bounce, it just doesn't go anywhere, and on the road it handles so much tighter than the sloppy jalopies I'm used to, that I'm afraid Outback "this is terrible" might still seem really good to me. |
smallish cars. One of my daughter's had a Toy Camry that was VERY bouncy
when driven - blown shocks. Same with another Daughter's Maxima. But how
to tell when they are - um - on the way out? I dunno. maybe someone will
chime in. Offhand, if those 125K miles were 90% highway, you may be OK
for another 50-75K - who knows? If it's tight and not bouncy now, just
start saving for struts.
Quote:
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Its POSSIBLE someone put the the worn tires on one side to try to decrease strain on the center diff since tire wear was uneven. If somebody did that, was it reasonable, or boneheaded? Sounds like the sort of thing I would do... |
from responding to slippage. I wouldn't rely on it though.
Quote:
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I'd expect getting 4 new tires, with a good wheel inspection/balancing - coupled with a good wheel alignment, to alleviate most of the problems you mention. Also, try to inflate the tires to at least the manual or 'door' specs - most folks prefer to add 2-3-4 lbs above those pressures. If I put it off until the bad tires finish wearing themselves out, am I damaging the car? |
Quote:
| Carl |
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#7
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AS wrote: Adam: To begin with, were the worn out tires moved from their original location? If they were, that could explain why only one side. On the other hand, if they were not, a weird wear pattern on only one side of the vehicle would lead me to believe that the car has a camber problem on that side. Was the car banged sideways against the sidewalk/curb? I don't know anything about the past, but there's no damage evident in wheel appearance or vehicle handling at any rate. If somebody did move them, that makes the whole thing a lot less strange. Perhaps the tires wore unevenly front/back, somebody got to the point where two tires were no good and two almost no good, replaced the no good just to sell the car, and swapped the others out to one side to avoid problems with the center diff. That explanation just leaves me with some problem, hopefully as mundane as alignment, causing patchy wear in front. When you say that the right front tire is showing the same problem after the 600 miles, I believe that you really need a 4 wheel alignment. Find what are the angles your car requires and make sure the alignment is left within those specs. I have found that some shops have different specs for some vehicles than those recommened by the manufacturer. I always go for the manufacturer's. You can do the wheel alignment even before you replace the tires as long as there are not major diferences between them. You mean not major differences between the old tires and the new ones I'll put on, or major difference between the tread wear on the older/newer tires currently on the car? Either way the answer is they're pretty different. As long as the depth of the tread is about the same, you should not have any problem letting the 4 tires wear out before replacing them. It's not. The left side is worn down much more than the right. Sigh. |
#8
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#9
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I had way too much tire wear on a pretty new Outback a year ago. A dealer agreed and aligned them. Wouldn't speculate how it happened. I happened to talk to someone else waiting for their car to be serviced later at a different dealership and they said they had the same problem. I asked that service manager what might be causing it and he thought it could be the way cars are tied down on the transport trucks when they are delivered. |
#10
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Newly bought 2001 Outback 5-speed, 125K miles. I have a tire mystery. |
At that mileage, if the shocks (struts) are original, they'd be my first
target for eliminating the "cupping." As explained by others, your tires
are "bouncing" along the road, and after the wear begins, it tends to
accentuate this wear pattern.
Shock mfrs suggest replacement at 50k miles. My experience is like
others in that smaller cars don't always respond to the "driveway
bounce" test, but I've yet to have any go over 100k miles w/o being
"gone."
After that, suggest four matched tires, careful alignment, a couple of
PSI over door sticker, and careful observation for further problems. At
that mileage, it's not impossible other suspension bits may be worn,
especially if they've been trying to do the job the shocks should do!
Rick
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