ok guys this is a pizza delivery beater that i put little to no money in, i do keep it in good working order. alignment, tires, oil etc.. i got it aligned and months later it started drifting, without hitting any pot holes or anything, when i hit the brakes the car shakes pretty violently yet the pads are fresh, the rotors a semi warped i suppose, but ive seen WAY worse on this car. either way ill be getting them turned, but here lately when i put on my brakes rolling up to a stop light just like covering them, they make a clicking noise (almost like a quiet'er cv boot pop/click) it also happens when im backing up, not even on the brakes.

at first i thought i had a bad alignment because my tire wear, but its only on this one tire , and it seems to be the one the clicking is from (its not a cv joint) im pretty car knowledgeable, and the only thing i could guess is a tie rod, but would that make any noises? whats a good way to check a tie rod?

this may not look bad, but it fades from tread to nothing to complete wire all the way around the inside of the tire

 

its what we like to call camber if the car is lowered thats why if not some bushings maybe worn

 

Raise the front end off the ground and grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock. With a short, firm movement push at 12 while pulling at six. It should be solid. If not, check the upper and lower balljoints for movement inside the joint. If they are solid but the wheel moves the bearing is bad.

Do the same thing but with your hands at 9 and 3 o'clock. If the wheel moves (other than the movement it would have if the wheel were turning) check to see if the tie rod end has movement inside the joint. If it does, the tie rod is bad.
With that method you can check wheel bearings, balljoints, and tie rods all with one test.

Also for lower ball joints. Raise the car up high enough so that you push up on the bottom of the tire. Do that while watching the lower balljoint. If you see movement inside the joint it is bad.

 

check the ball joints upper and lower, the uppers get play and do some weird things. also check the toe

 

(thumbs up) this is a good tip! i'm gonna have to try this with my car when i have the time.

i know my tie rods are [freak]ed too. would doing this check get in the way of the tie rods or something?

 

ok guys, thats what i will do, as for castor, toe, camber all that, the car is completely stock, im leaning more tward tie rod end/ bearing than any bushings, but i could check, which bushings should i check?

whats the clicking sound like though? in my past cars wheel bearings have had a wah wah wah wah sound to them, my cv boots pop/click when i turn the wheel hard enough, but i cant put my finger on this noise, do tie rod ends ever pop or make any noise?


EDIT: also how safe is this to drive on a daily basis, it feels fine, is this just something that will burn through tires or is there a high chance of something worse happening while im driving?


Modified by rolledthatho at 5:48 AM 4/22/2008

 

Looks like toe issues to me, check all the ball joints as said before, dont forget to look at the inner tie rod joint

I would not take the chance of driving it.. if not for your sake then for others

 

its the only car i have, its been doing this for a long time, just now got to where it was wearing the tires, what could happen the wheel fall off or something?

im trying to figure out a fix, looking for ball joint write ups with pics and stuff, but money is my main problem

 

it wont fall off, but if you are wearing out tires and driving the **** out of it, then you might blow one out sooner or later, which is scary as hell no mater how experienced a driver you are.

The big problem with beaters (experience ) is that the suspension bushings are all probably shot, as well as all the joints, upper and lower ball, and tie rod ends, and wheel bearings. Then there are the weld marks from prior impacts where some jackass welded the front end back on crooked, so try as you might, no amount of adjustable suspension components will fix the devastation. you may only have a few of these problems, but you are looking at serious time and coin to do it all yourself, or bigtime money to have it done. You said that you just got an alignment, but my guess is that suspension components were so worn out that they give you a peice of paper saying your car is aligned, when they just printed out a document to make it lok that way. given the severe tire wear you are experiencing, your toe is WAY out, and probably due to a front impact that never got properly corrected.

with that said, subaru has a $100/month lease deal going on for the '08 models. on the other hand, you could deliver pizzas using the bus system..

 

Its gotta do with the camber. goto your local tire shop and get an alignment because your toe is gonna be out like crazy too.

 

over inflation????? too drunk to see correct but it looks like a combo of over inflation and camber,.......

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91DBSexyTime &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">over inflation????? too drunk to see correct but it looks like a combo of over inflation and camber,.......</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not drunk lol but i am thinking the same due to the wear in the middle of the tire is there more wear in the center of the tire than any where else?

 

thanks to everyone who has tried to help as for getting it an alignment, thats not my problem and im not getting one until my problem is fixed, this is only happening to ONE tire, something is wrong, whether it be bushing, uca,lbj, tie rods whatever...

on a lighter note, i have a good hookup on used tires so i dont let it get too bad, got a new (to me) tire today the tire shop looked around and said everything "looks" fine, shook the tire 12-6 and 9-3 no real play...im stumped

 

You need to go get an alignment, your toe setting on that side is out of adjustment, and I would probably just get a new tie rod end on that side. And for the people telling you that it is the camber doing it is wrong. Camber does NOT wear tires, it is the toe settings. With factory suspension on there, there isnt even camber/caster adjustments that can be made. I am a suspension/alignment specialist for Honda, and see that problem a lot. Most kids will come in thinking it is the camber since they have their cars lowered, but your on the right track, get that tie rod end replaced, and go in, and get a front end alignment, and you should be fine.


Modified by ed8_dx at 5:35 PM 4/23/2008

 

hmm, shop check the tie rod end and its good.

also your saying one wheel is out of line (you know more about it than me, obviously) but all my years in cars ive never seen this. last but not least, explain to me the pop/click when im braking or reversing? its something more than an alignment and or a tie rod end, because one tire that happens to be wearing down is also the one im hearing pop. there is no TRE play, no ball joint play. im taking your word for the tow, but something still isnt right

 

probably just a bad tire, my g/f's 4dr had one tire that ended up looking like urs. the tread started to seperate from the side wall as well, put a new set on the front and with 3 months on them no problem so far. i would just keep an eye on ur "new" tire, if it starts doing the same thing then u do have a problem. im with u on the not wasting money on a alignment
btw, what brand of tire was that, looks alot like the cheap "visa" brand that did this on her car. would be funny if it was the same brand.

 

its definately a bad tire now but it was probably fine before

I would say its all about the alignment if everythingelse cheaks out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ep4life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its what we like to call camber if the car is lowered thats why if not some bushings maybe worn</TD></TR></TABLE>

no.. its NOT CAMBER. TOE!!!!! idiots............................................ .. im sick of hearing this camber bullshit. camber is not a major tire wearing angle. its toe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by torontoefsedan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

no.. its NOT CAMBER. TOE!!!!! idiots............................................ .. im sick of hearing this camber bullshit. camber is not a major tire wearing angle. its toe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

CORRECT!

Camber is NOT bad

TOE CAUSES WEAR!

 

so one tire can wear and the other not with a bad alignment???? how often does that happen, usually when i have a bad alignment both tires wear the same however it may be

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ep4life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its what we like to call camber if the car is lowered thats why if not some bushings maybe worn</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DCFerris &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its gotta do with the camber. goto your local tire shop and get an alignment because your toe is gonna be out like crazy too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Please keep your misinformation to yourselves.

 

can anyone answer that last question?

wear on one side?

 

i don't believe alignment can cause wear on one side.
whether your tires are like this / \ or this \ / or this / |
it doesn't matter because the front wheels have to be at the same angle, or opposite bad angles, to go straight down the road

 

upper ball joint. thats what is clicking, that what is throwing just one tire out of alignment. i had the EXACT problem. i had to buy the whole arm, my price was like 160. super easy to replace. and since its a static part, you dont HAVE to do an alignment, but its always recommeded. good luck.

FYI, there are alot of just, off the wall answers on this. craziness...

 

u should check the alignments...