Excessive wear front outside tires

[Blackkluger]

Ive only covered less than 7000ks and the front outside of these $500 rubber are looking very worn, i have the AWD, anyone else notice heavy wear?

I dont go fast around corners, dont brake hard, i dont get it. It looks like 15000 wear!

[Taka]

Tyre pressure?

It is hopefully unrelated to the camber of the tyre. It is unusual to be just outside, how about inside?

[fish475]

I've the KXR AWD and clocked up 17,000 ks and I don't drive the vehicle as if its a sports car.

The tyre looks as good as the day I picked it up. I do tow a bit and have been on a few mild dirt tracks on the bush.

Guess I'm lucky.

[Taka]

I just had a look at mine and it does wear more than the inside and more then the rear.

I better rotate it. May be it is time to wheel align it a little. I must complain to the Toyota next time servicing, which is next month. I am on 19000km.

EDIT: And I am on 38 psi all the time. It goes down to 35 every time I check it. So it is higher than recommended pressure anyway.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Taka

[holmesie]

I didn't notice anything abnormal when I rotated all my wheels recently - I'm concerned now that if I rotate regularly, I might not pick up excessive wear from a poor wheel-alignment <_<

Will have a close look at mine tonight and see if I have the same problem as you BK

[leighthebee]

I just had a look at mine and it does wear more than the inside and more then the rear.

I better rotate it. May be it is time to wheel align it a little. I must complain to the Toyota next time servicing, which is next month. I am on 19000km.

EDIT: And I am on 38 psi all the time. It goes down to 35 every time I check it. So it is higher than recommended pressure anyway.

Wheel alignment won't be covered under the 150 deal. Unless you complain well.

[PaulG]

I did a wheel rotation on the weekend. 15,600k's on the clock. This was my first rotation, I realise I should be doing this every 5,000k. Is a wheel rotation part of Toyota service? If tyres were rotated at 10,000 at Toyota, they didn't include the spare.

I have the front wheel drive, and noticed wear is even but substantially more wear on front tyres, which is too be expected.

[Blackkluger]

I dont drive it like a sports car, always have them on 40psi, the dealer told me to check the alignment, its only 2.5mths old, come on, i shouldnt have to align it every 2 mths??

I better complaint, im good at it...

[leighthebee]

I dont drive it like a sports car, always have them on 40psi, the dealer told me to check the alignment, its only 2.5mths old, come on, i shouldnt have to align it every 2 mths??

I better complaint, im good at it...

No, they like to check wheel alignment on the first service to make sure things are all good.

I don't think it's a high priority from the factory.

[Taka]

I just had a look at mine and it does wear more than the inside and more then the rear.

I better rotate it. May be it is time to wheel align it a little. I must complain to the Toyota next time servicing, which is next month. I am on 19000km.

EDIT: And I am on 38 psi all the time. It goes down to 35 every time I check it. So it is higher than recommended pressure anyway.

Wheel alignment won't be covered under the 150 deal. Unless you complain well.

I don't trust them doing my wheel alignment anyway. I have my guys to do them.

[leighthebee]

its only a wheel alignment Taka, its not rocket science.

[Taka]

its only a wheel alignment Taka, its not rocket science.

Dealer won't do it themselves anyway. You need an alignment machine that cost a fortune to buy.

[leighthebee]

thanks for the tip. think i was 14 when I did my first wheel alignment.

[Taka]

thanks for the tip. think i was 14 when I did my first wheel alignment.

Do you think the camber on the car is fixed? Coz I don't think a poor toe can give that even wear on the outside... but maybe coz the camber changes a lot for the inside tyre during turns. hmmm.

[holmesie]

BK, I came across this thread today on Toyotanation which might be worth watching?

Cheers

Edited September 9, 2008 by holmesie

[qkslvr]

I'd say keep it simple first. The most obvious thing to check is Toe angle. Most factory cars don't come with adjustable camber.

Also, someone already mentioned above that dealers rarely ever do the wheel alignment. Unless you're complaining of the vehicle 'pulling' to one side, it's something they'll simply just tick off as being done when infact they never even touched it.

Hell, some dodgey wheel aligners will simply just give you a turn-or-two to the opposite way of the pull to correct it. They won't bother to even hook up the wheel angle sensors - real dodgey!

Edited September 9, 2008 by qkslvr

[Blackkluger]

Hey that link, its exactly whats going wrong with my tires.

Although i caught it early, there is some damage to the wear. If they align it properly i'll be happy and if they rotate as well. Toyota said they rotate them at 10k, and i would do it myself but its so much time wasted without the right tools.

If i leave it till 10k, i reackon these tires will have had it, and i havent been driving hard at all, not like in the sv6! which can take corners with "enthusiasm". Especially with a newborn in it, im grandpa driving at the moment.

[holmesie]

Bugger mate - I'm going to be watching mine closely now :(

[DHOUS]

Is the problem related to the 19inch tyres? my KXR 17inch now over 10,000klms looks good.

[Blackkluger]

Update

Problem solved(i hope), the alignment was way out, 4.2mm out, each side, so total over 8mm! No wonder it was "feathering", as they call it

They aligned all 4 wheels for free, but would not do anything about the tyres being worn unevenly. They say it is only covered under warranty if it was detected withint the first 1000ks, come on toyota, hows any tyre going to show problems with that little ks on the clock.

Oh well, my suggestion guys is if you think it is not wearing properly, insist on an alignment for free. $88 normal price for 4 wheel, which was done in house, so i have a copy of the report.

Ill see how the tyres go now that this problem is gone, they also recommend alignment every service, wow, service is $150, add $88, thats not on...unless it was 20ks between intervals...

[Taka]

Update

Problem solved(i hope), the alignment was way out, 4.2mm out, each side, so total over 8mm! No wonder it was "feathering", as they call it

They aligned all 4 wheels for free, but would not do anything about the tyres being worn unevenly. They say it is only covered under warranty if it was detected withint the first 1000ks, come on toyota, hows any tyre going to show problems with that little ks on the clock.

Oh well, my suggestion guys is if you think it is not wearing properly, insist on an alignment for free. $88 normal price for 4 wheel, which was done in house, so i have a copy of the report.

Ill see how the tyres go now that this problem is gone, they also recommend alignment every service, wow, service is $150, add $88, thats not on...unless it was 20ks between intervals...

+8mm toe out. You must have a good turn in! I must check my alignment too! Thanks

[qkslvr]

+8mm toe out. far out dude! sux about then not replacing the tyres. Don't expect the current ones to start wearing down to an even surface again, the 'access' of the tyre is permanantly farq'd.

[rzkman]

Anyone got strongly encouraged to a do a balance and rotate on their 10K service? Put on the spot, I agreed to the $65 extra charge even though its an obvious rip. Reading this thread, it sounds like its a good thing to do in theory..not sure what a fair price is though...$65 sounds excessive, but ones's head doesn't work very well 8 in the morning....that's my excuse anyway!

[Taka]

Balance and rotate is different from alignment.

Balance is the wheel spin perfectly and weight the same in all round edges.

Rotate is to change back wheel to front.

Alignment is to change the angle of the tyre aiming... that should cost money.

No need to balance wheel unless you change tyre.

[rzkman]

Balance and rotate is different from alignment.

Balance is the wheel spin perfectly and weight the same in all round edges.

Rotate is to change back wheel to front.

Alignment is to change the angle of the tyre aiming... that should cost money.

No need to balance wheel unless you change tyre.

So will unbalanced wheels cause damage? Or were they misleading me when they said the Kluger had expensive tyres and I should have the balance and rotate?

Do the wheels come out of the factory balanced?