Thread: D1 Left Front Tyre Abnormal Wear

Had this happen to me and it turned out that the steering tie rod was bent (the rod that connects the wheels together at the rear). It caused the front left wheel to point out. When I applied the brakes the car pulled to the left and eventually the inside left of the tyre wore.

I blame some rough work off road and now use a heavy duty tie rod

Originally Posted by one_iota

Had this happen to me and it turned out that the steering tie rod was bent (the rod that connects the wheels together at the rear). It caused the front left wheel to point out. When I applied the brakes the car pulled to the left and eventually the inside left of the tyre wore.

I blame some rough work off road and now use a heavy duty tie rod

mmm very interesting even i got somthing out of the one !!!

grazi

Originally Posted by gazk

I have a problem that has developed in the last month or so with the left front tyre on my 93 TDI wearing abnormally on the outside edge. The right side is fine. Have run Pirelli Scorpion ST's on it since new and the wear has always been more or less equal on both sides. Using bilstein gas shocks all round and there is no scalloping on tyre edges.

I rotate the tyres back to front around every 5000k. Tyre pressures are equal (about 30psi). Each time it has a wheel alignment (tried a couple of places with same result) it ends up pulling to the left and needs to be tweaked to get it to run straight. This happens with both new and worn tyres.


Suspect something has gone wrong in the left front steering or suspension. Any ideas?

Thanks Gary

Are you running an after market steering damper (Coil over type)?

It depends on who you go to for your wheel alignment also
most will set the thing at factory spec which isnt allways right in the first place
I would say 1degree of toe in total for a D1 would be about right any more and you start to wear the inner edge of the front tyres
Castor will also have a part in the pull to the left
do you have a read out of your wheel alignment ?

Checkout the bushes in the radius rods, especially the left one.

Originally Posted by one_iota

Had this happen to me and it turned out that the steering tie rod was bent (the rod that connects the wheels together at the rear). It caused the front left wheel to point out. When I applied the brakes the car pulled to the left and eventually the inside left of the tyre wore.

I blame some rough work off road and now use a heavy duty tie rod

Thanks for the information, I've checked the tie rod and it looks straight. It hasn't been off road recently and there is no obvious damage, its only done about 4000Km since last align but will be having it checked again.

Gary

Originally Posted by Ken

Are you running an after market steering damper (Coil over type)?

It depends on who you go to for your wheel alignment also
most will set the thing at factory spec which isnt allways right in the first place
I would say 1degree of toe in total for a D1 would be about right any more and you start to wear the inner edge of the front tyres
Castor will also have a part in the pull to the left
do you have a read out of your wheel alignment ?

Thanks Ken, It has done 223000Km (I've driven 200000km of that) and has the original steering damper, never had any issue with that. The inner edges of the tyres are OK although generally it has always worn the edges out first. I run the tyre pressures slightly higher than the recommended 28psi on the front. I have a readout of the alignment before last stowed away up in Sydney, from memory everything was within limits then, will check that next weekend.

Gary

Gaz,
I've seen thes D1's with shorter wheel base on the left than the right before, up to 18mm!!!
(One would think the alignment equipment would pick this up though)
This can cause crabbing down the road and wear front tyres enevenly like you describe. Run a tape measure between the axle centres on both sides and see if it is close..I bet it isn't.

We had to space them behind the trailing arm bush to rectify this.

BTW, most wheel alignment places are incorrectly toeing these IN. They should have 0 to 2 mm Toe OUT.

JC

Originally Posted by Graeme

Checkout the bushes in the radius rods, especially the left one.

Thanks Graeme, I was thinking along those lines as all the bushes are original. I might just order the parts before I start pulling it apart. (I'm in Nowra and parts are not necessarily available at short notice.)
Would the panhard rod bushes also make a difference?