Tyer Scrubbing Issues

[Macabyte]

First up i have a 100 Series 4.2 Turbo Diesel Wagon year 2000 - my question is that i brought the cruiser with 170,000 on the clock and have now done 265,000. I have replaced all the tyers at around 220,000 with maxis. I have noticed that the front left outer tyer scrubs out. I have been rotating the tyers to compensate the wear, i also noticed that the previous tyers wore on the outer edge. A wheel alignment from Tyerpower did not raise any issues as i mentioned my concern. My Auto pro dealer does not know of any issues either. The tyers will need replacing soon. Doh! Does anyone here know of wear issues with the cruisers - this is only on the left front outer tyer, all other tyers are wearing great.
Thanks in advance for your help

 

[frank rabbets]

Hi
That tyre is the most stressed of the four as it is steering the car in a straight line and fighting the road camber. So it is turned slightly in. If your steering wheel is centred correctly you will find it slightly turned clockwise. If you drive on the other side of the road you will find the steering wheel has moved to the other side. You can combat by higher tyre inflation [on all 4 for safety]. Also check the tracking is correct and on the outer limit of toeing out.
I've had this problem on my 80 but have rotated the tyres. The rear offside is the least stressed position.
Frank

 

[Macabyte]

Giday Frank - sounds like your on the money. When driving in a straight line on the highway and i let go of the steering wheel it veers to left. It seems to be fighting slightly to stay straight on the road. Thanks for the advice.

 

[frank rabbets]

That is completely normal and caused by the camber of the road. Some cars pull more than others. To double check drive on the wrong side of the road and it will [should] pull the other way.

Frank

 

[Gary Stockton]

Coincidentally there is a thread in the South African LC club forum where this same issue is being discussed. Apparently it can be fixed with a fancy bearing from Mr T - might be worth checking?

 

[Gary Stockton]

An offset bearing to correct camber, apparently.

HTH

cheers

 

[Andrew Prince]

Is that not for SFA, Gary?

I'm not so sure that there is much of a problem here from the description? Ok the left front is wearing faster than the others - it's been established that on a truck with perfect alignment, that's normal in RHD countries. These are tyres that have done at least 45k miles - a tyre wearing out in <20k would indicate abnormal wear.
Has the OP checked the alignment? Does the truck have a lot of weight over the front (winch & winchbar)? I would rules those out as causes of the problem (if there is a problem!) before changing bearings.

Cheers,

 

[frank rabbets]

In my experience the castor and camber angles can be out a long way before affecting tyre wear. The biggest killer is the tracking. Tracking on the outer limit of toeing out is best as this tends to reduce the said scrubbing. I used to get 60,000 miles out of a set of LTX's. I don't know if tyres are made as well as they were 10 years ago. The price stays the same but quality drops? Or is that my bad attitude? Certainly tread depth has reduced. LTX's were 10mm then they went to 9mm! So much dishonesty and sharp practise these days. I doubt whether anyone measures their new tyre tread depths but then they are told at the earliest opportunity that their tyres are worn out.

Frank