Chewing up right front tire

95five-oh

New Member
Jun 25, 2006
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Mount Airy, MD
My passenger side front tire is wearing very uneven; the inner edge balding much quicker than the rest of the tire. What would cause this? The steering feels aligned, however I do get a shimmy between 50-55mph (probably due to the uneven wear). I visually inspected my front end components, nothing seems damaged or loose. The tire is properly inflated to 35psi. The car has 178k and stock suspension with no CC plates. Stock size 17x9 rims and 245's. Thanks for any advice.
 
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Getting an alignment is a good idea. Stock springs on mustangs in the front are known for breaking the last coil inside the A-Arm. Theres a rubber sleeve over the last coil Moisture sits in there and rots it. I had no idea mine was broken until i was rebuilding the A-Arms. My car had 115k on it.
 
It's been about 4 years since the last time the front end was aligned, however 2 of those years it was rarely driven. The suspension is bone stock, although I replaced the struts with Monroe OEM replacements about 5000 miles ago. The alignment feels fine, on a flat road surface it doesn't drift if I let go of the wheel.
 
Uneven tire wear is a classic sign of a bad alignment. If you have the wrong camber or caster setting on the wheel, you will get too much wear on the outer or inner edge of the tire. Basically, the inner edge wearing means the top of the tire is tilted inwards more than the bottom, putting more pressure on the inner edge of the tire. Changing the struts usually changes the camber setting, since the bolt holes in the strut tend to be a bit bigger than they need to be.

Basically, an alignment involves three things: toe-in, caster & camber. Toe-in would affect your tracking the most; it changes how far your wheels are pointed left & right. If your toe-in settings are off, your steering wheel will not be straight when the car tracks straight. Camber adjusts the angle between the top and bottom of the wheel. Caster adjusts the angle of the wheel when it turns right or left.