uneven tyre wear

[paul1966]

Just noticed both front tyres are heavily worn on the inside edge on both sides, googling suggests it could be worn suspension or tracking, the tracking was done by halfords when i had the tyres fitted 10 months ago. I have checked for worn ball joints, bushes and broken springs and all look ok, infact one complete lower control arm was replaced last year, the tracking was done after this. Would a four wheel alignment place be able to tell if the camber is out, its a C-Max so camber is not adjustable but if it is out it points towards the suspension.

[kenholland]

your tracking is out,next visit tyre fitters they will sort it.

[GingerCat]

Yep, get it checked, I had similar but on the outside. Was tracking. Doesn't take much of a pot hole to put it out. 

[Rob85]

I would be checking the track rod ends for any play. That's a lot of wear for just the tracking being slightly out. With only replacing one control arm you can upset the balance of things. Its always recommended that you replace both. I'll guess the one with the most wear was the side that wasn't replaced. Another culprit could be wheel bearings

[Lord O War]

Oh don't get me started on this! A good few years back I had a Mondeo ST tdci I used for work. I bought a new set of tyres for it and had the tracking checked. All the "experts" on the Mondeo forums said go to someone with a Hunter blah blah whaterver it was. So off I went to a place near my inlaws for the service , air con recharge and tracking check (it had an extended warrenty so needed a garage service). 4 weeks later both rear tyres fubar like above! grr Got 2 more new tyres and went to a closer place in Bolton with the Acme 2001 widowmaker supreme to be told that the rear alignment was OK and they  had the printout to show, I stayed and watched them do it. 5-6 weeks later rear tyres fubar again *** an entire set of tyres in less than 3 months. Went to my usual tyre man up the road this time and as soom as he had it up in the air he said the back wheels were out. He hooked it up and sure enough it was miles out, he adjused it and after that no trouble. Moral of the story is all the gear no ******* idea. That was a £400 lesson!

[paul1966]

30 minutes ago, Rob85 said:

I would be checking the track rod ends for any play. That's a lot of wear for just the tracking being slightly out. With only replacing one control arm you can upset the balance of things. Its always recommended that you replace both. I'll guess the one with the most wear was the side that wasn't replaced. Another culprit could be wheel bearings

Yes you are correct that the worst side is the one that was not replaced, but the bush looks ok and no play in ball joint from what i can see. i see what you mean about a lot of wear but would have thought that a ball joint or similar would have to have a lot of play in it to produce that much wear?

[Rob85]

15 minutes ago, paul1966 said:

Yes you are correct that the worst side is the one that was not replaced, but the bush looks ok and no play in ball joint from what i can see. i see what you mean about a lot of wear but would have thought that a ball joint or similar would have to have a lot of play in it to produce that much wear?

You would be surprised how little wear it takes. Remember the cars weight is on top of it and not just what you can feel with the mark 1 hand. I had to replace a CV joint on my nissan qashqai, the noise from it was horrendous and when I was checking it there was probably less that 10thou of lateral play that I could move with my hands but with the weight of the car on it I suspect it was much more play 

[Davyo]

Dont waste money in tracking! You need a 4 wheel alignment by someone that knows what they are doing.I had my MX5 done at AK automotive (they race prep MX5 and Ginetta race team cars) and they did 51 adjustments.I had just fitted Tein Coilovers, new rubber and light road alloys.Put 200 miles on as advised by them then took it in for a fast road set up.After 10k there was not one sign of uneven where and the car just felt glued to the road.Best £100 spent, not everyone with the Hunter system knows what to do with it.A proper 4 wheel alignment should be up on the ramps a good hour or more.When a guy comes up to you after putting the car on the ramps & asks ' how do you want it set up? they know what they are doing.

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Davyo

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Paul, you buy tyres and have your tracking done at HalFRAUDS?

[paul1966]

49 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Paul, you buy tyres and have your tracking done at HalFRAUDS?

for tyres they are reasonably priced, for anything else i would not trust them, thats why i think it could be the tracking thats the problem.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

I would go with a tracking set up problem, but I would not use halfords.

[washerboy]

I was in a simalar situation, tyres warn to quickly. Local tyre place charged me £36 for tracking but then knocked me vat of the two tyres I had replaced. 

[Lord Geordie]

Toe out by the look of it, could be tracking? But could also be worn bushes or a bearing! Even when bushes LOOK good they can still be shot enough to cause the wishbone to move under torque. 

[gustaff]

i wouldnt let hafords set tracking on a supermarket trolley 

[paul1966]

I think i might double check the bushes again, and then start with the cheapest option and get the tracking done. worst case i change the other lower control arm which is about £60.

[stu64]

13 hours ago, gustaff said:

i wouldnt let hafords set tracking on a supermarket trolley 

+1

[bostonmick]

I think you had the answer to your problem in your original post. Halfords had their 12 year old tyre expert work on your car. It's been many decades since halfords were any good with anything automotive. 

[Westward]

20 hours ago, paul1966 said:

I think i might double check the bushes again

Good idea. The bushes, generally the outer ones, on the front control arms are well known at MOT stations as a weak point on the Focus and all the other vehicles using the Focus underpinnings. That means the C-Max, Kuga, pre 2013 Mazda 3, Volvo V40 and possibly others. Our 3rd world roads seem to batter them into submission rather sooner than with most other cars. I don't know if the later generation Focus still has the same design or same bush specs; I would hope not.

[ph5172]

As daft as it sounds do you go over a lot of those speed humps that appear useless as you can just drive straight over them? 
 

they used to cause havoc with our fleet cars by causing the same issue. They bc are just big enough to catch the insides if you driver straight over. 

[Saltings]

one of the biggest killer of tracking is mounting a kerb while a foot still on the brake slowing down  / potholes      

slow down foot off break mount kerb slowly     re apply brake

depending on   rear or front wheel drive       tracking will be toe in or out      may be set up wrong  as the teck didn't check spec for your vehicle 

its like everything else the right bloke for the job      take it elsewhere 

under inflated tyres can cause similar problems  but not the same as OP

Edited February 27, 2020 by Saltings

[sishyplops]

Looking at your pics of your front tyres I assume that the car has a thrust line that has not been compensated for.

the garage may have set the front toe correctly but if they have not checked and compensated for a thrust line you will have probs , 

think of it as following an old mini down the road when they crab as the subframes weren’t always straight , if you c max rear axle is not straight you will have a thrust line , let’s say it’s 3 degrees to the right, the rear is not adjustable on a c max I don’t think so the front wheels need to be set pointing in the same direction as the rear axle so also need to be set 3 degrees to the right , the tracking (toe) can be set before the direction to compensate is done , it’s easy peasy on a set of lasers 

Edited March 3, 2020 by sishyplops

[paul1966]

its going in to have the wheels aligned tomorrow, its a place that does 4 wheel tracking so hopefully they will sort it.

[paul1966]

tracking done today and here are the results, steering wheel is central which is good,  after halfords did it last  time it was off centre slightly which was annoying.

[Pistol p]

Doesn't help that they are " landsail" tyres. Utter ****. 

[cardigun]

  "TRACKING" IS NOT ENOUGH !

YOU NEED "4 WHEEL ALIGNMENT" !  As Paul 1966 said.

Edited March 7, 2020 by cardigun
Needed reference.