First time using this forum so, bear with me. I have a '99 Accord sedan with a manual trans. I've owned it for 4 years but, it's been in the family since it was bought in 2000; 311k on the odometer currently. I obtained the car at 260k. So, it wears out the inners of the front tires like nobody's business. I'd say a brand new pair lasts me about 6-8 months on average; sometimes less. All suspension components are stock; struts are a little saggy though. But apparently, even before I owned it (and when the car was new), the car has always done this. Had Honda look at it multiple times and say "everything is fine". To give a little more detail, I do drive mountain roads everyday (and the car has spent most of its life on these roads) to and from work. These roads are pretty twisty. And naturally, I've learned to drive them very well; sharp turns that are posted for a 20MPH speed limit I usually take at 50ish. I spend about 45mins to an hour in the real twisty stuff before I get to straight/flat highways. Now, that being said, only half of my commute consists of these twisty/steep roads. And even when I lived down in the valley where it's flat/straight, the inner fronts always wore way fast. My questions: How much of my "aggressive" style of driving is contributing to my tire wear and how much is something just being off? Could I simply adjust my toe a little to compensate for the excessive wear? I've read alot of conflicting info on here about camber vs toe causing inner tire wear... It didn't really bug me a whole lot before (considering that tires for this car don't cost much) but, I had my first tire blow out while going down the road about a month ago. Wires were poking through pretty bad. I don't know very much about independent suspension and I'm still learning... I do know 4x4's and straight axles very well though. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

for the sake of clarity you have double-wishbone layout, not struts. shocks and springs are in a "coilover" arrangement. most will know what you're talking about, but it still helps to use the right language.

it depends on the tire. something cheap and/or with "comfortable ride" as it's main selling point is likely to have a soft, floppy sidewall so spirited driving will cause it to "roll" over, wearing the inner and outer edges of the tread more than the center. in that case though it would be both inner and out not just inner edge wear. what tires are on it? (brand, model, size)

essentially... you mentioned taking it to Honda (I read dealership), but have you taken it to an alignment shop to have it checked? toe out will wear the inner edge pretty quickly. camber can too, but it's usually more of a tapering across the whole tread area.

i would have a computerized alignment done (expect and request a printout) to get a good baseline. ride on that for a while and see if things improve. if not, adjust toe "one wrench flat" or 60deg at a time on both sides until you're happy with the wear.

 

No kidding! I have heard the term double wishbone before but, have never really known what it means. Looks like I'll have to do some reading on that. Thanks! I honestly have yet to buy a "sport" style tire for the car. Typically, I just buy a set that's cheap but, not too cheap. The ones currently on it are Starfire. I've never had any wear on the outer edges. Ever. And the wear is always smooth on the insides. Yes, it's been to the Honda dealership once for an alignment and then another time for a slave cylinder change but, ask them to check alignment while they had it. It's also been to another shop in the last two years that did a computer alignment and I don't recall what I did with the printout but, they said everything looked OK. 60 degrees, I'll remember that! Thanks a lot for the input!!

 

One thing to consider too is with the kind of mileage the car has, the front suspension components (bushings, tie rods, etc) are pretty worn with age and mileage. While on an alignment rack they can dial it in to spec, but while driving and under load, there is flexing and other extra movement in the suspension. I've started to notice that with my car as well.....I'll align the front every 6 months, yet I still get inner tire wear. I'm lowered, so I expect some, but its significantly increased in recent years, despite me actually raising the car closer to stock suspension height. Right now, I kind of just deal with it and buy used tires I don't care if I tear through them. I plan on doing an engine swap at the beginning of the year, at which time I plan on replacing ALL of the front bushing, ball joints, tie rods, etc....hopefully refresh everything and tighten it all up and eliminate the problem.

There could be other possible causes too, bent suspension components from potholes, curbs, etc....its really just something to expect with a high mileage car when stuff really begins to wear.