Tyre rubbing shock

[kevinod]

Hi guys,

a rubbing noise came into the car on Wednesday evening, took a look in the dark & rain but didn't see anything. Looked again when I got home and in the morning (still dark though) but didn't spot where it was rubbing.

Wednesday after work when it was bright, I took a underneath from the front to see if I could spot something, and saw the inside of the tyre had been completely worn away!



Swapped off the wheel and put on the spare. Found it was rubbing off the shock



Now there was no degradation in performance, and handling seemed fine. I'm guessing it must have been rubbing for some time, not hard enough to notice any affect.

Anyone have this problem before? I don't see anything obvious wrong but obviously the hub is either at the wrong angle or something is causing the hub to sit higher than it should be.

Comparing the 2 sides, with the wheel on, there's definitely more space between passenger side wheel & strut than the drivers wheel & strut. Took a few snaps...

Track rod end & around it:


Wishbone:


Driveshaft:


Inside of hub:

[Dragonheart]

Wow! Would have thought that would have had a serious impact on the driving of the car. My first thought was that the camber was way off but that would be easy to see wouldnt it? My camber is off on my rears and I havent experienced anything like that, just the usual wear on the inside of the tyres from them being used more due to the way they are falling cause of the camber.

[optical illusion]

That's crazy Kev.

Have you ever had it laser tracked, did anything jump out from the report?

[kevinod]

Handling was fine, no problems with it, but maybe it's been like that quite a while or gradually slowly changed, so I was just used to it.

Ya, have had it laser tracked after anything I've done with the car, last time was after the camber adjusting bolt was replaced on that side after it sheared. Actually now that I think of it, it was the first time I used that particular place to do alignment, maybe they made a serious balls of it and that's whats going on with it now. Looking at the tyre pic the threads around that section were fairly much worn flat too.

Handling was fine but maybe it was just running on that part of the tyre all the time. Never noticed that wheel leaning in at the top more than it should, but you're only talking a few degrees, and after you've got it on a laser alignment you're inclined to trust that.

Road conditions allowing, will see if I can get it aligned tomorrow, see how it looks now and after.

[colm_mcm]

does it need a wheel bearing?

[Muad_dib77]

does it need a wheel bearing?

exactly my thought.. I dont think you can get that much give in the hub assembly without the bearing having gone.,..I hope I'm wrong though..

[Myfeckin FTO]

Kev, looks to me like a combination of issues - the biggest of which is your camber/toe settings.
I take it from the pics that you are running with KYBs and Apex? (can affect OE tolerances).What offset are the rims you are running on?

Hard to believe that your FTO was tracking straight if there was this difference between the two front wheels.

Get a printout of your present and new alignment figures when you change those front tyres - in my experience a lot of tyre places don't have a clue (or can't be arsed unless haranged) to get the set-up within tolerances.

[kevinod]

No play from the hub, and no sound from the bearing, so it seems fine.

Yup, running kybs & apex, have camber adjusting bolt in to adjust the camber to compensate. Trying to get it aligned but back to work and crazy traffic in evenings, so won't get there until the weekend. The guy I want to use this time my 2 brothers have used and recommended him so hopefully he'll get it setup right.