weird tire wear

[pimpstang18]

my '03 gt is eating up the front tires quickly and in a way i've never seen before, maybe someone knows the cause of this?

first off yea it's eaither alignment or suspension, but first let me explain what's happening before you jump to this conclusion.... both front tires are wearing on the inside from the inner edge to about 1/2 inch in, the weird thing is it's not wearing the same the entire way around the tire, this wear is almost down to the threads halfway around the tire, but on the other half it's normal tire wear, this is happening on driver's and passenger's front tires

front suspension: tokiko struts, eibach pro sport springs, steeda caster/ camber plates, offset rack bushings, also running sumitomo htrz tires.... i noticed this after i installed my offset rack bushings, but i also had the alignment done at the same time, also i really hadn't been checking my tires so it may have been happening before

any input would be greatly appreciated, i need to figure out why it's eating my tires so quickly...i've had it aligned a couple of times, however the roads around my town are pretty crappy so it doesn't stay in alignment for long.

 

[oxfordgt]

How long has it been since you lowered your car and had an alignment done. Sounds like to much negative camber(wear on the inside of the tire) and and your bumbsteer maybe off which can cause uneven wear due to the toe changes while driving. I would suggest steeda bumbsteer and X2 ball joints to help correct the suspension geometery.

 

[oxfordgt]

Check this out and look at the bottom one. Is this what your tires are doing.
http://www.geminicarcare.com/faqs/tire_wear.html

 

[bdcardinal]

i have seen those sumitomos do that on cars in perfect alignment that arent driven hard. could be a slight tow out condition. what are the camber/toe settings currently? also, do you rotate, or do you have offfset sizes? what is your driving style?

 

[pimpstang18]

the car's been lowered for about 3 years, just started doing this recently though. i had it aligned about 5000 miles ago, maybe less. it's been eating tires like this since then, i also installed my offset rack bushing at this time could that have anything to do with it?, at first i thought it was the tires so i replaced the fronts with some other used ones i had laying around the garage, but those wore this way too.

oxford gt- yea looks like the bottom one, but not feathered, just smooth and almost down to the cords for about 180 degrees around the tire, then the other 180 degrees it's normal, i'll try to get some pics if it'll help

bdcardinal- i'm not sure what the alignment settings are currently, i did have it aligned recently and i saw the chart, they were all close enough to 0 and in the green. like i said the roads around here are pretty crappy though so it may be out again....i don't rotate because i've got 10.5 inch wheels on the back, i guess i do drive a little aggressivly though around the streets here.

 

[oxfordgt]

Thats strange I never heard or it wearing like that. Do you still have stock tie rod ends? The only thing I can think of is something is loose, but that is just a guess. Very wierd tho, let us know if you figure it out.

 

[pimpstang18]

yea, stock tie rod ends. i haven't had time to go though and make sure everything is tight again, i should do that this weekend. unless the ford tech left something loose when he did my alignment it shold be good though because i checked everything when i put my rack bushings in. would bump steer wear tires like that?

another thing that i was wondering the other day is there is a road by my house that i travel on almost every day where the side by the grass is a couple of inches lower than the rest of the road, like a rut and it's so narrow that i have to drive in it. my suspension is so stiff that i can feel it pulling at my tires pretty hard everytime i drive down it. it feels like i'm riding on the very insides of my tires when this happens, kinda where it's wearing. the only thing is i've been driving down this road for years and this hasn't happened before, it may have gotten worse recently though