The wifes car is having allignment problems and the inner edge on both front tires is wearing badly. You can visibly see that the tires are leaning in at the top thus causing this problem.

I have been told that replacing the a/arms will fix this problem in addition to setting the toe in to "0".

Is there anything else I should check prior to replacing the a/arms?

I have found a/arms complete with new ball joints too. Thing is, I dont want to just throw money at the car with out knowing what is really the problem.


Thanks for your help.
afonda

 

afonda, you can check to see if the A-arms are good by simply lifting the corner in question off of the ground and then using a 2x4 or some other prying device, try to push the bottom edge of the tire towards the center of the car (DO NOT!!!!! USE YOUR HANDS!!!!!!!-unless of course you don't mind having your hand crushed by a falling car). As one person attempts to move the tire, a second person can be watching the ball joints and bushings. If you see movement at either place, then you have confirmed a bad joint/bushing. You should also look at the upper bushing of the front struts. There can be wear there too and cause the tire to lean some too. This same check will check that joint too.

Hope this helps.

 

Just to double check... What jack point should I use for this test?

 

thanks.

 

Had my 2002 3.0 alignment set to straight ahead and the inner edge wear virtually disappeared

 

I have checked the a/arms by prying up on the tire and everything appears to be very tight with no movement.

However.... doing the test for the tie rods... (3 and 9 position with the hands) there was substantial movement. I would say at least 1/4 inch play maybe more. So, I'm thinking the tie rods need to be replaced. How hard is this job?


Whatever it is though... something is causing the front tires to lean in at the top (or out at the bottom) and make the inner edge of the tire wear faster. I have to figure this out so that I can stop the premature tire wear.

Thanks for your help.

 

Afronda, doing the tie rod ends isn't hard. the big thing you need to do before tearing things apart too far is doing an initial measurement of the tie rods. You want to pic 2 points and measure the distance between them (say the center of the tie rod end to a mark you place on the connecting rod, any points work as long as they are not on the same component). Write this measurement down. Repeat for the other side. Now, you can tear the tie rod ends out of the car and put the new ones in. When installing the new ones, you can adjust them to your measured values and then tighten them down. This will restore your steering atleast to a close enough condition that driving to the alignment shop won't be a big fight. IT will also save on your tires.

It is possible that with that much play in your tie rod ends, that is what is causing your tires to wear on the inside edge. Also, you mention that you pryed up on the tire when doing the initial check. You don't want to necessarily pry up on the tire as much as you want to try and push the bottom of the tire towards the center of the car (ie, pushing the bottom in to make the tire sit straight up and down). That is when you check for movement.

 

you more than likely have a bent strut and or mushroomed upper strut mounts from curbs/potholes. Bent struts you really have a hard time seeing by eye until you remove the knuckle. Their bend is normally right where the strut bolts into the knuckle. The mushroomed upper mounts you can see if the bolts the bolt to the body are spread out. I useally have to flip a new mount upside down over the still bolted up one to see unless really bad. But as a side not unless youre up around -2* camber, your not gonna have inside tire wear or need to replace anything. Its more too much toe out when driving and you have to check this when doing an lignment and pushing out on the front tires like Mercedes wants their alignments done. This shows suspension deflection and lets you set the toe up correctly to comphensate for it, and what the car sees as its being driven, not sitting stationary on an alignment rack