Corolla Tyre Wear Advice Needed If Possible

[albi969]

Hello All,

Been quite a while since my last post , but am now needing some advice as to the cause of some front tyre wear problems I am having with my 1998 Corolla Lift-back with 45000 miles on the clock. To illustrate the problems I’ve included a picture

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b297/alb...=DSC02285-1.jpg

The tyres are Kormarans and were on the car when I bought it 4 yrs ago.

Symptoms include what I can best describe as a kind of stretching noise coming from under the front of the car when reverse turning on full lock ( more noticeable on the drivers side of the car when steering wheel hard over to left at slow speeds ) .The same noise can be heard when driving in a straight line in and out of my garage. There is also a kind of slight metallic knocking noise as though something is catching somewhere on the drivers front wheel. Have had the car jacked up at the front and when I spin the wheels by hand the knocking noise cannot be heard at all, also cannot be heard with the wheel removed. There doesn’t appear to be any vibration through steering whilst driving or any other noticeable effects on the steering present. The car has just gone through it’s M.O.T test without any problems being reported by the testers. Almost forgot to mention the car does seem to want to drift to the left a little if I take my hand off the steering wheel.

I am thinking the camber may need adjusting . Any body got any other ideas.?

All help gratefully appreciated

Albi

[Bos]

From the picture it appears that your tyre is 'scrubbing', is it on the outside edge or the outside edge of the tyre ?

Normally it is a sign that the tracking is out. You can get a scretching sound when of full lock if the tracking is out. It would be worth getting that checked first and corrected if necessary.

[Parts-King]

I think the tracking maybe out, but the tyre is a budget type and often wear quite poorly. I think the noise maybe a CV joint failure. Either way, you should have it looked at. Kingo

[albi969]

I think the tracking maybe out, but the tyre is a budget type and often wear quite poorly. I think the noise maybe a CV joint failure. Either way, you should have it looked at. Kingo

From the picture it appears that your tyre is 'scrubbing', is it on the outside edge or the outside edge of the tyre ?

Normally it is a sign that the tracking is out. You can get a scretching sound when of full lock if the tracking is out. It would be worth getting that checked first and corrected if necessary.

Thanks for the advice gents,

The wear is on the outside edge of the tyre as the photo was taken with my mobile with the wheel still on the car.

Do you think a fast fit outfit such as National Tyres or similar could sort this if its not simply tracking ( alignment ? ) related.?

Would love to take it to Pentagon as thats where it's had all previous work carried out ( and its close to where i work ), but drama with cam belt change last year and earlier servicing niggles, is making me wary of using again- although they did sort it eventually. I am thinking of replacing all 4 tyres at same time as having this remedied ( still has michelins on rear but showing signs of age with lots of tiny cracks in sidewalls- am thinking these may have been oem issue on these cars) It's a pity Lindops don't operate in my area after reading the customer satisfaction pdf

Please excuse the layout of the post as cannot get hang of this quoting malarky !!!!!!!

Regards

Albi

[Parts-King]

Get a set of decent tyres on it, and have the wheel alignment checked, plus possible problem with the CV joint, you should be fine after that. Thanks for the kind comments. Kingo

[albi969]

Hello All

Thought i 'd give you an update on my tyre wear woes with my Corolla.

Had the car into a local garage ( highly recommended and a mem of good garage scheme) to look at theoretical c.v. joint problem.

This was the second time ( first mentioned it to the garage that m.o.t.'d her they found no problem, and passed with no problems). 2nd garage found nothing as well, and charged me a nominal £10 for checking :D .

Anyways , took it to Charlie Browns in Rotherham. I was concerned not only with the wear ( slight feathering on the outside , but still plenty of tread) but also the cracking that was appearing in the sidewalls on the rears ( michelins ) . looking at the date codes they must have been the originals !.

I had a finite amount of money in the pocket and couldn't go beyond it, so got 4 Pirelli 3000's fitted and laser tracked for £200 all in . I did try and push for 4 michelins, but they couldn't quite stretch to it. I had done a bit of homework before hand on the michelins for cost worked out at £196 but this didn't inc tracking.

At all times i was allowed to see what was going off with the car , even had a look under her on the 4 poster lift, looks like she might need a an exhaust as well quite soon !. The tracking was quite a way out ,gent said around 8 mm.

Upshot is up to now ( limited to 4 mile drive home) metallic knocking noise gone and the stretching noise on turning has gone away . Thanks again to Bos & Kingo .

Regards

Albi