Tyre Wear

[Bones]

I bought my `97 Stax 5 door about 6 months ago & though the tyres were worn they all looked fairly even at about 5mm.Since I have had it the front nearside tyre has scrubbed bald along the very outer edge,anyone any suggestions as to why?The MOT is due in Sept & before fitting a new set of Pirelli Scorpions or Dunlop Grandtreks I would like to ensure this does not happen again.At it`s 30`000 service in June the local main dealer mentioned the wear but did not think that it was a tracking problem as the car handled very well even at high speed. :!Removed!:

[Old Bexley]

Had this problem with an Austin Maestro ( ) some years back. Turned out the wheels needed balancing. Might not be the problem with your car of course - but worth getting checked professionally before you invest in any new tyres.

Rich

[Bones]

Had this problem with an Austin Maestro ( ) some years back. Turned out the wheels needed balancing. Might not be the problem with your car of course - but worth getting checked professionally before you invest in any new tyres.

Rich

Thanks for that Rich,I`ll give the local Kwik-fit a visit & see what they think.

[cfc1]

Incorrect wheel balance won't cause a tyre to wear on one edge.. although it does have an adverse affect on tyre wear.. (it causes flat spots etc)

The most likely reason (assuming the tracking/ ball joints etc are OK) is down to the power steering.. not that there is a fault, its just one of the downsides to having it.. the nearside front tyre on just about every car on the road with power steering, will wear on the outside edge, this is because we all turn right more often than we turn left (on roundabouts we turn right all the time) and the weight of the vehicle gets pushed over to the nearside causing more wear on the outer edge. To avoid this as much as possible in future, try to rotate your tyres diagonally from front to back (or even just do fron to back swaps) this will give you more even tyre wear all round, but unfortunately you could end up having to replace all 4 tyres at the same time down the line.

I would get my tyres replaced (got to keep legal) and then get the car in for it's MOT as soon as possible (remember, you can get the test done up to 28 days before the renewal date and it will be added on to the new MOT) if it passes the test, or fails on something that won't affect the tracking, then get the allignment done... of course, you could always get the allignment done before the MOT, but if the car was to fail the test on something like a worn bush or ball joint etc... once it has been replaced it will need the allignment done again.

I would also reccomend a Full Global Geometric check getting done on a 4x4, as this would also correct any castor or camber problems as well as the allignment and Toe settings.

[Bones]

Thanks for taking the time to pass on all the info.I think I`ll try MOT first & see what,if any,horrors they find & go from there.