Nissan Almera (1995 - 2000) - 1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one tyre only

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Thu 17 Apr 2008 12:02
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one tyre only - Blumf
I've got some kind of alignment/suspension problem, the front left tyre wears down on the outside, all other tyres are fine.

I had the alignment checked by several garages (including full 4 wheel checks) and everything is apparently lined up correctly. Checks on the suspension seem fine, bushes, arms and struts all look okay. The car even handles okay, although not as sharp as it once did. No pulling under braking or acceleration and it drives straight on motorway runs. It seems the only evidence for a problem is the wear on that one tyre.

{pedantic mode on. Changed the word wheel(s) for tyre(s) as it's not actually the wheels that are wearing. pedantic mode off}

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 17/04/2008 at 13:39

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Thu 17 Apr 2008 12:24
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one wheel only - bathtub tom
This is typical wear caused by road camber.

The road dips to the left (for drainage), this causes the car to pull slightly left, which is counteracted by steering a little right. The front left tyre consequently wears quicker on the outside edge (and the right on the inside edge).
The tyre then adopts the shape of a truncated cone, caused by this wear, which exacerbates the pull to the left, and accelerates the wear.

Swap over the two front wheels, as long as the tyres aren't directional. Swap back to front if they are.
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Thu 17 Apr 2008 12:30
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one wheel only - Blumf
The wear is quite extreme (tyre needs replacing after only ~10k miles, normally get 25-30k out of them) and has only manifested itself this past year (had the car about 5 years).
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Thu 17 Apr 2008 13:37
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one wheel only - Saltrampen
When you say checks on suspension, do you mean a proper suspension alignment test (cost £50 - £100+)? Sometimes this is the only way to identify problems. Visual checks may not spot an alignment problem.
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Thu 17 Apr 2008 13:59
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one wheel only - Blumf
The 4-wheel job was using some Supertracker unit (at least that's what's printed on the sheet). The tests only measured toe and camber though.
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Thu 17 Apr 2008 14:16
1998 1.6 Uneven wear on one wheel only - Red Baron
What is the distance between the top of the tyre and the outer edge of the wheel arch. Something does not have to be out by much to cause this.

Is something bent? Is the wheel bearing worn? Is the caster of the wheel okay (this is, basically the front-to-back alignment) and can be altered by clonking up a kerb.
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