OBESE Driver - Cause Driver Side TIRE WEAR?

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OK, guys. Here's the deal. My friend has a new Camry similar to my 2013 Camry. HE is obsese (just a fact which he told me to ask about) and has experienced more inner tire wear on his driver's front side especially and also the drivers rear as well since he rotates only front to back. COULD this REALLY be partly due to his weight!? I checked with a frame shop since he is disabled and not a car guy. The frame shop says the Camry has a 150 pounds factory allignment spec driver design factored into the design and that most shops do not even have a person in the drivers seat applying ANY weight at all during alignment.

So in summary they say he may be getting a car that is within spec on the rack with no weight in the drivers seat but when he, being 300lbs gets in..... that it CAN cause a change in the car's "set" and cause more driver front inner wear, especially since the gas tank runs 70% volume on the driver's side of the car ALSO. Especially since he drives it alone every day as he is single and he travels highway miles and curves in the hilly region of our state.

My mind is blown! Your thoughts?

MODS , if this is more about repair being alignment stuff, please do move it to the maintenance section.
 
Originally Posted By: jacky
i gave a guy a ride who was over 300 lbs and it bent the seat rails on my beretta


ROFL


OP, I weigh 320lbs and drive a corolla and no irregular tire wear..i keep all tires at about 32 (2psi above factory spec). On newer cars I doubt it should have any issues, but why doesnt he rotate fl with fr and back left with br? I would rotate based on wear also.
 
Toyota complimentary service and their manual says only front to back is free and necessary. I disagree with them and this has been argued in other threads alot. I'm just amazed how sure the frame shop guy is that a full gas tank and a 300 pounds solo driver will cause this wear on a car aligned in specs when empty. LOL
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Toyota complimentary service and their manual says only front to back is free and necessary.


Is it really a significant amount of additional work to do a different rotation pattern if the customer asks for it?
 
Originally Posted By: berniedd
Ask the alignment to be checked with him in the driver's seat and with half a tankful of gas. That should settle the issue.


A. he cant do it due to his bad hips
B. The "liability" fairy says nobody beyond the yellow line in the shop for safety.
 
A cross rotation (diagonally - front to rear) is the best overall solution for extended tire life.
 
Cement 80 pound bags are about $3 each I believe, go get a few of them and put them in the floorboard behind the drivers seat for the alignment.
 
^Or put the cement bags on the passenger side to equalize the weight.

How many miles on the car? I would be more inclined to think that the extra weight wore some parts of the suspension earlier, I'm thinking control arm bushings, and that in turn is the cause of the inner tire wear.
 
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Originally Posted By: jacky
i gave a guy a ride who was over 300 lbs and it bent the seat rails on my beretta


Lmao! I got cozy with a rather large gal in the passenger seat of a Beretta once and it held up just fine.
 
The camry doesn't have "150 lbs" factored into the alignment specs. The gas tank runs across evenly on both sides under the rear seat area. The repair manual from Toyota shows to set the alignment without anyone sitting in the car. This "frameshop " is full of idiots.
 
Originally Posted By: 147_Grain
A cross rotation (diagonally - front to rear) is the best overall solution for extended tire life.

Agreed.

I always cross rotate the same way regardless front or rear wheel drive. Unless stagger tires as on S2000, then side to side rotation.
 
Compressing the LF suspension would surely throw the camber and toe off, just as lowering the car would also. Unless Camrys have magical LCAs that change length with suspension travel.
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
OK, guys. Here's the deal. My friend has a new Camry similar to my 2013 Camry. HE is obsese (just a fact which he told me to ask about) and has experienced more inner tire wear on his driver's front side especially and also the drivers rear as well since he rotates only front to back. COULD this REALLY be partly due to his weight!? I checked with a frame shop since he is disabled and not a car guy. The frame shop says the Camry has a 150 pounds factory allignment spec driver design factored into the design and that most shops do not even have a person in the drivers seat applying ANY weight at all during alignment.

So in summary they say he may be getting a car that is within spec on the rack with no weight in the drivers seat but when he, being 300lbs gets in..... that it CAN cause a change in the car's "set" and cause more driver front inner wear, especially since the gas tank runs 70% volume on the driver's side of the car ALSO. Especially since he drives it alone every day as he is single and he travels highway miles and curves in the hilly region of our state.

My mind is blown! Your thoughts?

MODS , if this is more about repair being alignment stuff, please do move it to the maintenance section.



Here's the principle: When a vehicle suspension moves up and down, it either has to move in and out (relative to the vehicle frame rails) or it has to change camber angle - or both.

If a vehicle is set up to change camber angle, then what the alignment shop said would be true: there would be a difference in angle from an empty vehicle to one with a large amount of weight on one side.

There is an easy way to test this: Measure the camber without the driver in, then measure it WITH the driver in. If you need help measuring the camber angle, google it. Too much detail to put in a single post.
 
Wow, it seems that by the laws of physics and suspension design, that this is truly possible situation to have happen.

Would having the tires a few ponds low add to the problem or would the more flexible side wall help compensate for the "load camber" on the drivers front tire?
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump

Would having the tires a few pounds low add to the problem or would the more flexible side wall help compensate for the "load camber" on the drivers front tire?


Not a good idea. Running tires at lower pressure at highway speeds causes high tire temps that can cause premature failure, sometimes with catastrophic results.

I stand by the idea of checking and correcting tire alignment with the driver's seat area weighted with Nick's cement bags.

And Bigt61's suggestion of adding a few pounds of air pressure the to LF tire is worth a try. Still, cross rotation of tires at regular intervals is a must.
 
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Originally Posted By: berniedd
Originally Posted By: SumpChump

Would having the tires a few ponds low add to the problem or would the more flexible side wall help compensate for the "load camber" on the drivers front tire?


Not a good idea. Running tires at lower pressure at highway speeds causes high tire temps that can cause premature failure, sometimes with catastrophic results.


Oh yes, totaly agreed. I was just thinking about this load camber being other exacerbated or lessened by the fact that his tires were 2pounds low when I measured them. Not that it had caused any of the 'low pressure' type inner and outer wear. Just perhaps that it added to the problem of the weight induced Driver Front wear.
 
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