Front end alignment question

[sifan]

After 53k miles I notice my original factory front tires have uneven wear more on inside. The outside wear of the front tires migt still give several thousands miles of service, but the inside wear is very close to the bar. The rear tires will probably go for another 50k miles. I have never rotated the tires or done any alignment since I bought the Echo new. I just bought two factory tires from Tirerackk. I plan to move the two rear tires to the front, and put the two new tires on the rear.

My questions are:

1) Do I need front end alignment? If so, will it correct the inside wear of front tires?

2) I have heard that there is very little adjustment that can be done on Echo's front end. Will the aftermarket alignment kits available from Tirerack be worthy to solve my alignment problem on my factory tires/rims?

Thanks,

Simon

 

[CBDFrontier06]

Definitely sounds as if it's out of camber...if you're experiencing noticable wear, it should be on the outside, but that only occurs if you habitually corner at high speeds. Since (I think) that car has 4-wheel independent suspension, spend a few extra $ and get a 4-wheel alignment done.

I'd also suggest rotating your tires every 6000 miles so that if they're wearing unevenly on one axle, too much damage isn't done before they're moved to the non-offending axle.

 

[sifan]

I just talked to a tire installer recommended by Tirerack on the phone. He said Echo has all three adjustable angles on the front end. He also recommended 4-wheel alignment. I will bring the car to his shop this Friday for tire mounting and 4-wheel alignment.

I forgot to ask him if the rear tires need to be balanced prior being put on the front. The lady who picked up the phone said it was not needed since my car is front wheel drive. What do you think? Should I save the money by skipping the tire balancing?

 

[CBDFrontier06]

I don't usually have a balance done until a problem surfaces. If you feel no shaking or vibrating and your steering wheel is pretty much still at highway speeds, you'd be wasting your time on a balance. I made this mistake with my Eclipse...I didn't have any balance issues, but got a balance done anyway....I had a vibration in the steering wheel from there on out.

 

[benjamming]

I would blindly trust a Tirerack recommended installer. They aren't always what they are cracked up to be.
Also, I believe you should put the new tires on the rear with a FWD vehicle.
I agree with CBD, rotate the tires. One reason is so that you can always replace the tires in sets of 4. Another reason is so that you can catch uneven wear before it ruins your tires completely. Do you have a tread depth gauge of some sort?
Does the shop have the Hunter GSP9700 balancing machine? It won't matter if their folks don't know much about proper balancing, but if they do, it can help them do an even better job.

 

[sifan]

I will skip the tire balance on the current rear tires when they are move to the front since I have no balance issues with my current front tires.

I intend to put the new tires to the rear. Funny thing was that the lady actually recomasmended putting the new tires to the front. I guess she probably just workied at the front desk answering phones.

No, I do not have any tread depth gauge. I just feel the tread by hand to see how much depth is left relative to the bar. I am not sure if I should rotate the tires even after the alignment since the new tires (and better tires) should be at the rear, and the rear tires will always remain to be better tires. I guess I will always buy two new tires at a time and continue the current practice. The factory Bridgestone Pontenza E92 tires have really good tread wear. If I had rotated the tires from the start, I would easily get 80k+ miles out of the original set of factory tires. Many tire reviews from Tirerack also confirm it.

 

[surfstar]

Quote:

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I guess I will always buy two new tires at a time and continue the current practice. The factory Bridgestone Pontenza E92 tires have really good tread wear. If I had rotated the tires from the start, I would easily get 80k+ miles out of the original set of factory tires. Many tire reviews from Tirerack also confirm it.

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Stop that bad habit now! You can start rotating them and even out your wear. Tires should be replaced in fours - all at the end of their life, if rotated properly. You could go longer on the first rotation, say 10k miles, then go every 5-6k (or OCI) after that to keep them close to even.

 

[Harvey]

why would you want to put the old tires on the front and the new ones on the rear???

 

[Drew99GT]

Yea! You'll be piissed when it snows hard that the new tires aren't on the drive wheels.

 

[Drew99GT]

Plus, you get more wear on the front tires in a fwd vehicle anyway. Putting the new ones out back will simply accelerate the wear even more on the old tires and you'll be stuck in a habitual cycle of 2 good tires and 2 bald tires.

 

[sifan]

I think I had seen this arguement already on where to put the good tires, the front or rear.

http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/s...true#Post578176

 

[sifan]

Tirerack recommends putting the better tires at the rear. I had seen a video clip taken by a police highway patrol at the Tirerack web site that showed a car swung out of control and flipped to the roadside in front of the moving patrol car to prove the point. It was very scary to watch. Winter is approaching, so, I do not want to take any chances. I might do the roation next Spring.

 

[CBDFrontier06]

Maybe they recommend that for a RWD car, anticipating a lot of wheelspin and the wear that goes along with it. The rear tires on a FWD car receive nearly no wear. New tires should be put on the front of a FWD car and rotated when they begin to wear.

My friend with a Mercedes C230 never rotated his tires and his fronts ended up bald, rears looked brand new (I'm sure traction control and low HP aided this). In some cases with lead-foot disease, you'll see more wear on the rear of a RWD vehicle but not always. I rotate every 6000 miles to avoid uneven wear between pairs.

 

[wilbilt]

Yes, you really need the better tires on the front of a FWD vehicle. The majority of the weight is concentrated there, as well as acceleration, braking and turning forces.

If you lose traction on the front wheels, you essentially lose control.

 

[swalve]

The tires with the better traction should always be on the rear. The rear has less weight pushing down on it, and to keep it sticking to the road in a turn you need the better tires there.

 

[sifan]

The Tirerack recommended tire installer turned out to be a great place. They worked on the car on time. The shop owner actually test drove my car after the alignment, and asked his mechanic to correct the steering wheel angle afterwards. I will definitely bring my car to this place for future repair.

The Tirerack advises to have the good tires mounted on the rear. They even printed the message on the receipt. At the end I still had the new tires mounted in the front, so, they will be wear out sooner.

I bought two extra used rims for the new tires. I took the factory donut spare out of my turnk and replaced it with one of the old front tire/rim even though I never encountered a flat tire since I own my Echo for three years. Now the car seems\ed to be dragging its rear with the full size spare in the trunk as I drove to work this morning the first time. I am not so sure about it now. Maybe I should put the donut spare back to save fuel, and carry the full size spare later during snowy winter days for traction.

 

[Kestas]

Quote:

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...If you lose traction on the front wheels, you essentially lose control.

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Actually, if you lose traction on the rear wheels, you spin out of control. If you lose traction on the front wheels, all you do is skid.

Like Swalve and sifan said, the better tires go on the rear.

 

[Tosh]

Quote:

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The Tirerack advises to have the good tires mounted on the rear. They even printed the message on the receipt. At the end I still had the new tires mounted in the front, so, they will be wear out sooner.

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Did they ask you to sign or initial a statement that you understood Tirerack's advice about mounting the new tires on the rear? Did the installer suggest putting them on the front or rear?

 

[sifan]

They just handed me the receipt stapled with the tire warranty booklet when they took it off the tires. They suggested me to mount the new tires in the front since my car is FWD, but would honor my wish. I decided to follow their suggestion at the end.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'm with swalve and Kestas. You want the front locking up ..not the rear.

However, I've never had any like wear on a FWD car between front a back. Fronts 35k ..rears 80k. Same with brakes ..but the spread is usually 25k-120k. So, you can put "new" tires on the front and still not have anywhere near "almost bald" tires on the rear. Tire performance isn't compromised until you're down below a certain tread depth.

It's not like it's only 20k seperating the two in wear.