Do_Ster

i wanted to know if a bad strut would cause abnormal tire wear and/or a bump, on a tire. i just recently had to replace two tires because they had really abnormal wear on them. as if i locked up the brakes at the same location on the tire for a 1,000 times. the rest of the tire was fine. i took the car in for a tire balance because it was shaking on the freeway. now that i got new tires, the shaking has stopped, but still noticeable around 75mph. so my question again is does having a bad strut cause abnormal tire wear like how i described above? thanks in advance for the reply and sorry if this post sounds confusing.

L8apex

Bad shocks sound entirely possible with that wear pattern you describe. Have a look at the shock and see if there's any oil leaking out. Or just bounce the car up and down and see how many oscillations it goes through before it settles back to normal ride height. Anything more than one full cycle would indicate a bad shock.

dsowers19

how old is the car? Might be wheel bearings, but not likely unless it has tons of miles on it. I would check under the car and make sure all the boots for things like the ball joints, cv shafts, and tie rods ends are ok. You could also jack the front end up and shake the tires bakc and forth to see if there is any wobble in either one.

Do_Ster

the cars a 94 with about 140k on it. would bad struts, would it cause vibration on the freeway? i don't think it could be anything like tie rod ends or ball joints etc. because after i replaced the tire, the vibration on the freeway stopped dramatically but was present nonetheless. i replaced the tires recently and the vibration seems to be getting a little worse everyday

Do_Ster

bump

IVI

it could have been a number of things

yes it could have been bad shocks
why dont you inspect the shocks

it could be a bad wheel bearing

is this in the front or rear that this happend?

it could have also been from improper wheel balancing.

Do_Ster

yes i've inspected the shocks/struts and they rebound just fine. it's weird, both the front and rear both experience the same funky tire wear. the only one that hasn't yet is the front passenger. all my cv joints, axles etc. all seem to be in good condition. anyone got any ideas? and thanks for all the peeps who replied.

Feriofan

Do you have a suspension enhancements?? or is the car lower than what is suppose to?? b/c I had a problem like that, but I was missing a camber correction kit.. and a good allignment..

Do_Ster

no man, my car has a stock suspension. anyone with some ideas?

Do_Ster

bump

Do_Ster

bump for the day crew

BatuKing

have you checked your cars alignment? if you have excessive caster then it can cause wheel shimmy at higher speeds.

Do_Ster

i just recently had an alignment. going back to what i've said, the shimmy in the steering wheel dissappeared after i had my tire replaced and the vibration lessened dramatically. so i'm thinking that the funky wear on the tire caused the steering wheel to shimmy. i had the tires replaced about a week ago and now the vibration (little before) is coming back a bit harder and the steering wheel is starting to shimmy a little again so, what i'm trying to figure out is what is causing the vibration? and how come when i replace a tire it goes away dramtically? i've checked the shock, good rebound. i've checked the axles, cv joints, good shape. alignment done recently. but i think it's odd that just replacing the tire got rid of most of the problems i was having. so whats up? thanks for all the replies so far.

dsowers19

did you check the wheel bearing yet? Alot of times if you let the car go for a while with it wobbling as you described, the wheel bearing would go bad causing the tires to wear uneven and give you a shaky ride.

Proglow3

I had a real big shake problem once...it ended up that my CV joints were wearing out and needed to be replaced. You said you checked those though. I wouldn't think that your springs (what makes your car stay at it's normal ride hight) is going to be your problem. Although a lot of miles on them, not the problem. Someone else posted that your bearings could be going bad due to the vibration...that's true. 170,000miles and now they're experencing excess vibrations, they probably have flat spots on the bearings...ect. gather a little cash and get them replaced....I would. Just another question, have you checked your tire pressure or your lug nuts recently? Make sure they're good to go.

Do_Ster

thanks for the replies everyone, here's why i do not think it is the wheel bearings, after i replaced the tire, the shimmy and the vibration were gone for a few days. same thing happened a few months ago and that time i replaced a rear tire and the vibration and shimmying stopped. but now it's coming back again. i've checked my tire pressure and lug nuts already. any more help? is it possible that i just got a bad batch of tires? i had pirellis 600 at all four corners, they were practically new when i bought the car, now only one pirelli left on the front passenger. again thanks for all the replies so far.

EG TYPE-R

sounds to me like you wheel balance was way off. to have only a bump in one spot means that the problem is in one spot not all the time like a strut would be. the way you originally described it it sounds like the tire balance. also with 2 different tires on the front your bound to have some problems. get 2 of the same tire for the front and make sure you get a good balance.

thats my 2 cents.
misha

civtegra_hybrid

it's one of two things it's either bad struts or tires are not bal. but it your case, you got new tires and when you hit 75 you feel it, so I would go with bad struts,

Do_Ster

thanks for the replies but i don't think it's the struts because i checked them, no leakage and it rebounds fine.- yeah i'm golnn a try replacing that last pirelli i had and hopefully it'll cure the problem, if not, you'll see this thread at the top later

Proglow3

Those struts are super old though! 170,000 miles. Routine maintenance should have changed them out...probably a couple of times by now.