Abnormal tyre wear - alignment checked - No ideas....

[funkydoodycool]

(not my K12)

Both my front tyres are wearing on the inside corner, quite significantly as if that's the only part of the rubber touching the ground.

I've had the alignment checked, and not only was it spot on, the guys at the garage could find nothing loose, missing, or otherwise wrong under the car.

All I can think of is the tyres do lose a little air from the bead rim (probably lose 5psi in a week under normal driving) but I pump them up every week. Besides, surely this wouldn't cause wear on only one shoulder of the tyres?

Any ideas?

 

[Paul Smith]

Are there lots of turning or round abouts where you live? As this is a very common fault in Milton Keynes due to the number of roundabouts

 

[funkydoodycool]

I live in Herts (Hemel) so yes lots of roundabouts. But this car was previously owned in Ruislip, and the wear existed before we bought it - so far the new tyres are ok, but starting to show evidence of this wear pattern.

It's a Brabus edition, so low to the ground and stiff - might that have an effect?

 

[whipit]

You had alignment checked, I assume you mean they just checked tracking?

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

 

[Skinner_87]

What sort of tyre pressure you do run funky? As Whipit is saying do you run alot of camber?

 

[mckenziecz]

i know when i had my escort the wishbones were knackered and after 2 weeks with "new" tires i was running on wires

 

[funkydoodycool]

You had alignment checked, I assume you mean they just checked tracking?

They called it a "laser alignment" check, and it included figures for toe in.

What sort of tyre pressure you do run funky? As Whipit is saying do you run alot of camber?

Stock pressure for unloaded car is 32psi all round, I tend to run 32, or 34 if I'm doing a long motorway run. Camber... I've not got into that, I can only assume it's standard.

 

[pollyp]

do u often do high load launches ie. rapid launch when exiting T junction or joining busy round bouts during rush hours? or WOT launches joining motorway?
when i fitted an lsd with new tyres the wear rate was even left/right.
but after i forgot to change my lsd oil and lost abit of lsd effect effectively becoming open diff, the front left begin to wear abit faster especially if its cold n slippery

 

[Skinner_87]

Stock pressure for unloaded car is 32psi all round, I tend to run 32, or 34 if I'm doing a long motorway run. Camber... I've not got into that, I can only assume it's standard.[/QUOTE]

If your running a low profile tyre say 50 or less maybe the pressure is a bit high? I run 45mm side walls but only around 28 - 30... as an idea?

Or if the camber is set high for better handling (Aussie V8 style) you will see high rates of inner tyre wear, might need setting a bit less aggressivley

 

[superls]

A laser alignment check is only as good as the monkey thats doing it imo, id take it somewhere else to get it checked, not many things can cause the inside of the tyre to wars out, excessive camber or incorrect tracking, or both

 

[hoopdub]

does sound like a camber and not track issue, or possible worn ball joints, steering arms

 

[markbognor]

A quick google has shown that this seems to be fairly common on Smarts (Is it, I just guessed that's what it was).

http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?showtopic=23476

Seems if its not tracking then it's likely to be the ball joints.