Asymmetrical tyre wear

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Sun 4 Mar 2001 12:08
Asymmetrical tyre wear - Roger Jones
Many thanks to Alvin and John for the responses to my dormant Capri tyres question below. I now have another. The handbook for my M-B 320 Coupé says that more shoulder than crown wear is characteristic of front tyres and the opposite is to be expected with rear tyres. The wear on my front tyres is asymmetrical, with more wear on the outside than the inside. Should I worry about that?
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Sun 4 Mar 2001 16:51
Re: Asymmetrical tyre wear - Alvin Booth
Hi Roger,
What you describe would appear to be a classic case of front wheel alignment being incorrect. I would certainly take it in for the toe in to be checked.
John Slaughter has some information regarding this if you click on older messages and look for "squealing wheel" I think it was dated 28.2.01.
He reccomends ATS tracking equipment.
I would endorse this as they have the equpment known as mastertracker (or something similar). The other advantage of this particular piece of equipment in addition to what John says is that they lock the steering wheel in the correct spoke position before adjustment which prevents you from having an out of alignment steering wheel.
However note that not all ATS have this tracker. I know this because there is an ATS in my town who do not have it. I have to travel to Ashbourne ATS who do have this particular tracker.

regards,


Alvin Booth
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Sun 4 Mar 2001 20:22
Re: Asymmetrical tyre wear - John Slaughter
Mercedes seem to be stating that the wear is expected to be even, ie both shoulders worn. Assymetrical wear is where one shoulder is worn more than the other, which is typical of misalignment (alhtough if the car has pronounced negative camber as do some rear suspensions, this is a characteristic, not a fault).

So if you have assymetric wear, it's an alignment problem. If it's even, but the centre is worn more than the shoulders, both sides, it unlikely to be a fault - could be inflation pressure a bit high though.

Regards

John
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