Weird tire wear, losing tracking quickly

[Ex-User (107751)]

Got my 172 a few months ago, used to pull hard to the right. Got a front end alignment , didn't help, they had to cross the front tires to sort it.
A month later, the steering isn't centered again and it pulls to the right again, also the steering pulls too much on every bump . Got another alignment, and the same happened within a month.
Now I noticed very weird tire wear, only on the outside edge, and only on the right tire(image flipped).
Only camber and castor would explain this, right? Which means faulty control arm on a stock car?
Tire was always inflated 33-40 psi btw.

 

[172_Tom]

That wear would most likely be caused by too much toe in. Something's not right if you've had the tracking done and kept them correctly inflated, something could be damaged in the front suspension.
Have you had the wheel off and had a poke around? Have you hit any big pot holes or bumped it up any kerbs?

Edit: "tire" is the American spelling by the way

 

[Ex-User (107751)]

I never hit kerbs... But not sure about previous owners as the rims look terrible !
From my understanding , wear only on one side could only be caused by camber or castor, do you think toe can cause it too?

 

[JamesBryan]

It does look like toe in as Tom said, but if it's just happening on one side then i'm not sure.

It would be happening on both sides if it was just the toe though. Something else looks wrong.

 

[172_Tom]

You'd need a lot of positive camber to get that kind of wear. The car should have a bit of negative camber (top of the wheel/tyre leaning in) as standard. Caster angle on its own wouldn't cause that kind of wear but if there's something damaged/wrong in the suspension area then the caster angle could be out as well.

If it was just toe you'd expect wear both sides as JB said. What's the other side like?

I would recommend you take the wheels off and check everything is secure and nothing looks damaged. Also have a look under the car - compare wishbones to make sure they're the same and check the subframe and suspension mounting areas for signs of damage. If you can't see anything wrong then take it to a garage that knows what they're doing.

Hope you're not still driving around on that tyre by the way - it's a blow-out waiting to happen!

 

[Ex-User (107751)]

Wouldn't toe create equal wear ?
Also can something cause the toe to change on one side? Bad tie rods etc

 

[172_Tom]

Wouldn't toe create equal wear ?
Also can something cause the toe to change on one side? Bad tie rods etc

Yes that's what we're saying - with too much toe in you'd expect both tyres to wear more on the outside, so suspect there's something else wrong.

If a tie rod was bent it would effectively become shorter and give you toe out, wearing the inside edge of the tyre more. You'd also hope that someone adjusting the tracking would notice a bent tie rod and advise you to replace it...

When your tracking is adjusted the steering wheel is fixed in the straight ahead position. The tie rods are then adjusted so the wheels are pointing straight (or with slight toe in/out depending on the car setup). After having this done if your car doesn't drive straight on a flat road then it strongly suggests something else is wrong.

 

[White16valver]

Can you get to a garage that does computer alignment?

If you can upload a printout of your alignment readings, perhaps one of them is obviously not quite right

 

[Ex-User (107751)]

I talked to the only expert in my country and he tells me all the Rs clios pull to the right with any tire brand except good year and Yokohama
I'm sure it's not true but it's weird because he is the only trustworthy pro around and he says that's he's expirience.

 

[JamesBryan]

I talked to the only expert in my country and he tells me all the Rs clios pull to the right with any tire brand except good year and Yokohama
I'm sure it's not true but it's weird because he is the only trustworthy pro around and he says that's he's expirience.

I'd take it somewhere else, because that is a load of rubbish lol

 

[Ex-User (107751)]

I wish I had better options ,
something I thought about though - only toe in would explain the excessive outer edge wear. But I definitely have at least 1mm toe out - the steering pulls much worse on bumps than it did when I had 1mm toe out. it has bad straight line stability so hard to believe it's toe in.