Left Front Tyre Wearing On The Outside

[Tham]

My Corolla KE70's left front tyre is wearing on the
outside. This happens even after new tyre
replacements. Doesn't appear to be a tyre fault.

The steering has been aligned several times with
camber adjusted to specifications.

Both outer tie rod ends look ok. The left inner tie
rod had been replaced not too long ago, and the
right one still looks alright. The left lower arm bush
still looks good and the ball joint too. The rack is a
little worn, but is still in fair condition and free play
has been tightened.

Front shock absorbers have been replaced recently,
and both front coil springs still seem strong, the
height of the left one similar with the right one.

In fact, all steering and suspension components
still look good. The chassis and crossmember look
in good shape too.

The wheel alignment man, mechanic and even air-
conditioning man are scratching their heads and told
me to "just leave it alone, not worth changing any
more parts considering the age of the car".

Any opinions ?

[Pimpola]

Do you live in an area with lots of roundabouts??

[M.J.H]

How many K's before the edge starts to show wear?
How often do you swap front to rear etc?
If you feel across the tyre does it seem lumpy or feathered anywhere?
What size tyre and what brand is it you are using?

[Vios-GT_07]

hm... could be pot-hole damage to something like a lower arm, or possibly the struts/strut tower / wheel hub?

just lower it and get some pimp action happening.. negative camber ftw !

[oldcorollas]

how do you adjust camber on a KE70?

if the camber is ok (ie, strut not bent), and the toe-in is ok... and your steering parts are ok........ then something is majorly wrong..

does the car "crab" when driving straight?

[Tham]

how do you adjust camber on a KE70?

if the camber is ok (ie, strut not bent), and the toe-in is ok... and your steering parts are ok........ then something is majorly wrong..

does the car "crab" when driving straight?

I don't think the car tends to "crab", but it now slews
towards the left, due to the left tyre wear on the
outside, if I let go of the steering wheel.

Here's the alignment specs based on this tyre man's
computer settings (an FMC machine), whom I went
to yesterday :

Caster : Min: 1 deg 30 sec, Max: 2 deg 30 sec.
(Not sure what my readings are, not shown
in the printout.)

Camber: Min: 0 deg 35 sec, Max: 1 deg 35 sec (Negative, I believe).
Left camber 0 deg 43 sec, Right 0 deg 53 sec.

(The left camber was at 0 deg 12 sec a few years
ago, so he used a hydraulic jack to push it in. This
is how they usually do it over here, since it can't be
adjusted. A crude way really, and a risk of damage
to the shock absorber and wheel bearing if overdone).


Toe-in : Min: 0.0, Max 0.6 (in mm, I think).
Left 0.3, Right 0.5

Kingpin: 8 deg 20 sec. No reading shown for my car.


This is what I found in a KE70 book (one of those
Charlton's manuals) recently :

Caster: 1 deg 50 sec
Camber : 1 deg 9 sec
Toe-in: 0 to 2 mm
Kingpin: 8 deg 6 sec

[Tham]

Do you live in an area with lots of roundabouts??

Yes, that could a factor.

Quite a number of roundabouts in this area.
And I've just noticed yesterday that the right
tyre is wearing out more on the inside edge too.

[Tham]

How many K's before the edge starts to show wear?
How often do you swap front to rear etc?
If you feel across the tyre does it seem lumpy or feathered anywhere?
What size tyre and what brand is it you are using?

The outer edge starts to show wear after
20,000 km or so.

I swap from front to rear after about this same
distance too.

This current set of tyres, Imperium, an Indonesian
brand, aren't particularly reliable. There isn't any
real lumpiness, but there is some uneven wear
across the surface of both tyres. However, the
extra wear on the outside of the left tyre was also
present in the previous set of tyres, Silverstone
STV 128, a better tyre. I use 175/70 R 13.

[Tham]

hm... could be pot-hole damage to something like a lower arm, or possibly the struts/strut tower / wheel hub?

just lower it and get some pimp action happening.. negative camber ftw !

Yes, that was what I thought at first.

Went to this other alignment man yesterday, who
had a good look, and he said the left lower arm
and its bush still looked good. Struts and hub
looked alright too.

[Tham]

This other alignment man I went to yesterday
checked and said my values were still within
specs, and he just made some minor adjustment
to the toe-in.

He checked all steering and suspension components
and said they looked in good order, except for the
rack which was a little worn, but the free play was still
alright.

He looked closely at the left tyre, and concluded that
underinflation was the cause of my problem. But I
was thinking that this would cause both edges to
wear too ? My tyre pressure is usually set to
26 - 28 psi. He pumped it up to 30 - 32 psi.

He then flipped the left tyre over, and swapped it to
the right side. However, this caused the car to slew
to the right when driving, though not so pronounced
(slewing to the left) as on the original position.
So he swapped them back again, and flipped the left
tyre to its original side.

I'm thinking of asking him tomorrow to just flip the
left tyre over again, but leave it in its left position,
and see how the car steers.

[oldcorollas]

I don't think the car tends to "crab", but it now slews
towards the left, due to the left tyre wear on the
outside, if I let go of the steering wheel.

no.. it slews to the left because it is fucked. something i smajorly wrong and the guy who is measuring it is not finding it.

if they have bent the strut before, and then measure the castor etc from the sturt, it's going to be wrong.

i am guessing your castor is rooted.

[The Real Roadrunner]

my guess was going to be something to do with castor also,

other contributors could be uneven corner weights (im going to hazard a guess that the front right tyre has more weight on it than the front left) this can be due to a number of factors but mainly unevenly sagged springs.

have you had a thrust alignment done? or just a front static alignment?

how do your rear tyres wear? right side quicker than left? (this could be due to a single spinner also)

something is certainly wrong but need more info.

cheers
linden

[jdm86gtz]

I'm getting similar wear on my AE86 and I was putting it down to all the roundabouts I use (9 on the way to work) left-front outside wears the quickest which i was putting down to lots of steering right and putting weight on that section of the tyre. Castor should have no major effect on tyre wear. Are you driving hard around roundabouts etc.?

[71TA22]

I would get your chassis allignment checked.

I had exactly the same issue with my TA22 years ago. Spent a lot of time (and money) on new steering/suspension components and having the allignment set up to spec but it would still pull to one side.

Put the car up on a jig at the smash repairers and found one of the front chassis rails and strut tower was slightly out (and it was only mm). Got the chassis/strut tower pulled back into position and no more problems.

[Tham]

If they have bent the strut before, and then
measure the castor etc from the strut, it's
going to be wrong.

I am guessing your castor is rooted.

my guess was going to be something to do
with castor also,

other contributors could be uneven corner
weights (im going to hazard a guess that the
front right tyre has more weight on it than the
front left) this can be due to a number of factors
but mainly unevenly sagged springs.

have you had a thrust alignment done? or just
a front static alignment?

how do your rear tyres wear? right side quicker
than left? (this could be due to a single spinner
also)

something is certainly wrong but need more info.

cheers
linden

Yes, someone from the Rollaclub forum also did
mention that the caster could be a factor.

It never occurred to me that once they had bent
the strut to adjust the camber, the caster settings
would go haywire too. That's what they did, just
bend the strut with the hydraulic pump (called
"pumping the camber" here), then measure all the
alignment settings including the caster as usual.

In any case, nobody over here in Malaysia will, or
knows how to rather, adjust the caster on a KE70,
including many other older cars here. Most times,
during a wheel alignment service, all they do is just
correct the toe-in, plus the camber if it is adjustable,
otherwise they "pump" it. Alignment servicemen
over here aren't exactly very competent.

I'll try changing the springs sometime. Coil springs
are made locally here these days, and aren't very
durable - they last maybe two or three years at most.

Er....thrust alignment ? As mentioned, the alignment
shops here aren't very good, and I doubt if they will,
or have the expertise (and the equipment) to do this.
None of them has ever aligned the rear wheels in all
my years of driving a rear-wheel drive car.

Yes, I have noted that the right rear tyre tends to
wear a bit faster than the left.

Thanks for the info.