Tire Rubbing Q.

[Fred Cheng]

Help!  Help!

[edit ] Pics added a few replies below. [edit ]

Did a search, but closest post was An Nguyen's about his control arm and tires rubbing during Auto-X...

A few months ago, I noticed that my front left summer tire was losing about 2PSI/week.  I thought it was just due to oxidative build-up between the rim and the tire (because that happened with one of my other summer wheels/tires).  So, I didn't really think anything of it other than the fact that it's been annoying to have to put air into my front left tire every weekend.  Alright, so today I put my winter rims/tires on and when I took the front left summer set off, I noticed that the inside corner of the tire is "rubbed away" and the only explanation I came up with is that it's been rubbing onto the nut that's right above the tire when the wheel's on the car.  It's so bad that in 2 parts of the tread, you can actually see the underlying "fibers".  Weird thing is that I've had my current GC coilver sleeves on Koni Yellows (and GC upper shock mounts to increase travel, and SPC camber kits) since 2001, lowered about 1.75", and I've had the 17/45-215 wheels/tires since 2000 and I've never experienced any rubbing.  What could have cause it to rub all of a sudden?  Is something limiting my suspension travel all of a sudden?  I know the suspension moves "downwards" freely... how can I test the upwards movement?  Could it have been from something from the road being stuck in the suspension momentarily, rubbing away at the tire, then falling back to the ground?

There seems to be no problems on the right front tire.  And, again, the left front never had problems for the past 3 years, until now... I'd hate to shell out $250+ for a new tire, only to get it eaten away again.

[edit ] Pics added a few replies below. [edit ]

Hope someone could help me diagnose this.

Thanks!

Fred

[Fred Cheng]

Damn, I need to get some pics up to show you guys... I'm worried that if I get a new tire for $250, it'll just get wrecked again...

Ritchie suggested that it might be either my camber and/or toe-in, which I guess is possible.  I had my alignement done when I lowered it again back in 2001, and haven't checked on the alignment since; it was put back to as close to factory spec as possible. Is it normal for the alignment and/or toe-in to go outta whack over time?   Btw, I don't remember hitting any pumps suddenly or jarrin over potholes, etc...

Thanks!  

Fred

[Nathan Tralenberg]

I had a couple of friends that had their cars lowered and over about a year or two the camber did get worse. This is very possible that you may have the same problem. Best bet is to take it back in, wont cost you much and is cheap insurance, also rules out that that may not be the problem.

[Kimyee Lai]

Get an alignment.  Your toe is off.

[Ritchie Hui]

Get an alignment.  Your toe is off.

See thats what I thought it was... but can toe wear take off chunks??

[Fred Cheng]

Thanks, Nathan, Kimyee!

Could the alignment just crap out within the previous year?  'cuz like i said before, I've had the alignment done after a few days of settling, and since then I never noticed any kind of uneven tire wear over the past few years when I swapped the summer and winter sets back and forth...   I hope it's as easy as getting my alignment done!  



Here are some pics:

The first three pics show the gashes in the tire; that's 2 gashes along a "ring"/"ridge" that goes almost all the way around the circumference of the tire.  The left side of the pic is the "inner" edge of the tire (i.e. towards midline of the car).  There are 2 separate gashes, 1 being longer than the other:

1:


2:


3:




This last pic is a crappy attempt to show the "ridge" on the inner edge that goes around the circumference of the tire (left side of pic) created by whatever the problem is:

4:


Fred

[Fred Cheng]

So, I had an alignment done today, and the corner in question was actually in spec!  The guy looked at the tire for me and he suspects that the damage is NOT due to a bad alignment because (if you look closely at the pics) the wear is NOT even all the way around the circumference of the tire; i.e. it's worn out much more in 2 or 3 particular spots, such as where the tire went right through.  He suspects it's a "manufacturing defect" on Yokohama's part.  He said that it looks like the inner part of the tire "shifted", and that he's seen this before, but not to this extent.  Has anyone else heard of this?  "Shifting" of the inner workings of a tire?!?   How can a $225 tire do this?!?  :shock:

Fred

[Mike Schmid]

Send the pics to Yokohama and see what they say?  maybe they'll reimburse you if it is a manufacturing defect.

[Kimyee Lai]

Looks pretty even all the way around to me...If it's not toe, then it's actually rubbing on something, but it definately looks like wear to me.

[Fred Cheng]

My camera sucks!  haha.  Sorry.

If you look at the first and the third pics, and compare the edge seen at the top vs. that seen at the bottom of the pic, you can kindof see how it's not even wear... the bottom part is worn more than the top; there's more of a "rut".  Not sure if you can see...

Anyone heard of this happening though?!?

I have a feeling Yokohama will just blame it on my camber (which, even with an SPC camber kit, is at -1, whereas factory spec is -0.6).

If it's rubbing, wouldn't I see some sign of it on the suspension parts?  I see nothing... like no "cleaned-off" bits or anything like that...

Fred