Excessive wear front outside tires

[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.

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?

They are factory balanced. You can feel an unbalanced wheel, esp in the front, coz your steering wheel will shake, due to the uneven rotation while driving.

Misalignment will give you funny feeling when turning, so one way turns better than other. Or uneven wear on tyres. If the centre of steering is not align, your car will steer to one way.

[Blackkluger]

It would only be unbalanced if a weight has fallen off, this is unlikely but can happen immediately after getting new tires, if they dont attached the lead correct.

The alignment has been done, but now slightly pulls to the left, i think this would be the wear on the tyre causing this, as the toyota test result from the alignment shows its correctly aligned now, cant wait till they rotate the tire at 10k

[qkslvr]

It would only be unbalanced if a weight has fallen off, this is unlikely but can happen immediately after getting new tires, if they dont attached the lead correct.

The alignment has been done, but now slightly pulls to the left, i think this would be the wear on the tyre causing this, as the toyota test result from the alignment shows its correctly aligned now, cant wait till they rotate the tire at 10k

Cars on aussie roads will always pull to the left. I've been told that is a design thing but i have my doubts. However, the pull is at least party due to the roads cambering slight toward the curb for drainage.

[Iwantone]

Hubby just told me my front tyres are wearing unevenly, feathering on the outside grrrr. I thought "those guys on the forum will help" and i found this thread.

He said he will rotate my tyres this weekend but might make him wait until I contact the dealer and speak to them about it. My car has only done 7000km so not happy Jan.

For the record, my car has always pulled slightly to the left. Hope an alignment doesnt make it worse.

Wish me luck.

[Blackkluger]

Wonderful, i go around a roundable, BANG! a glass bottle was hidden from view and has sliced through the tread, i this its deep, luckily hasnt punchured it, but maybe i should change the spare now, incase it pops, went deeper than the tread depth! And i had to do surgery to pull all the glass out.

PS: dont do the rotation until you align, it would then ruin your rears as well!

[Iwantone]

PS: dont do the rotation until you align, it would then ruin your rears as well!

Yeah, wont touch them till I speak to Toyota. The wear is only minor and a little worse on the RHS than the LHS.

Hubby said if the dealer wont come to the party he has his regular place who he knows do a great job. Has taken all his cars there including those that are not "standard". If Toyota wont do it for free I am not going there (sshhhhh dont tell them or I might risk my dealer warranty).

Bugger about your tyre.

[Taka]

Got it align today at Toyota coz I cannot be bothered to go to my usual place.

Cannot convince them to bear the cost of alignment... it is pretty hard when the car is one year old and 20000km on the clock. I did try though.

They rotate and balance the wheel for me included in the $150 service.

I also ask them to adjust the auto setting of the head lamp and when I get something I will post it in the old thread that someone created.

[Blackkluger]

Came to a resolution today, they replaced the worst tire of the front 2 with a brand new one, thats the front left which was feathering badly on the outside. Happy here as this costs $470!

Just had the 10k service today, all ok, im keeping a very keen eye on things upfront, also fuel economy has dropped recently to 10.8L using 95 shell, although it was mostly highway and with NO AIRCON(just myself)

I think this would continue to drop if i travelled further, as im going to adelaide next weekend, this will be the first "outing" in it. WE shall see how it goes at 110km/hr on long distance. It'll be interesting to see.

[Blackkluger]

I cannot believe my luck. Got myself a punchure today, luckily it wasnt the spare i was using. I decided since i had one spare and the new one they gave me, i'll leave the new one and keep the damaged one as a spare, well, the rim and tyre they replaced for me is NOT THE SAME< mines a grey coloured for the KXS and the GRANDE RIM is what i was given and its actually whiter!

Back to toyota again tomorrow....to fix.

[Kruzenvax]

I understand probably 33% of what you guys are talking about... but I'm worried and because I can't check tyres reliably myself will have my tyres inspected by somebody "independent" - like Bob Jane or Tyre Power... what should I ask for - e.g. just check, rotate, align, balance?

[Blackkluger]

All you need to do is turn the wheel full in one direction, check the wear on the front wheels, if it seems like mine to wear more on the outside edge, then you probably need to get it aligned and rotated, rotated so that the wear can be minimised on the rear wheels.

If it seems evenly wearing, i guess its ok to do nothing, but i gather the fronts wear quicker than the back as its doing 2 jobs. SO if you want the whole 4 tires to wear out together, then rotate.

[Kruzenvax]

Thanks

[goddard]

I have been told by the tyre shop that Klugers wear their tyres fast.

[SamF]

I have been told by the tyre shop that Klugers wear their tyres fast.

Hi I have just rotated my own tyres after Toyota did not do it at 10,000K and based on the amount of wear I have calculated that they will last for 60,000K. For a heavy vehicle which has towed a caravan for 8,000 of its current 14,000K this is not bad. This of cause does not allow for uneven where but currently they are pretty even although slighlty more worn on the outside of the tyres which suggests to me that the specified tyre preasures are under inflated. I have have bumped mine up to 38psi when not towing and 44psi when towing.

[holmesie]

I just did my second rotation, a little late at 12,000k but I did ask my dealer NOT to do it at the 10K service.

Out of interest, I measured the total tread depth on each tyre. The two tyres that had travelled 5-6,000km had 7.5-8mm of tread, the others with 12,000k on them had 6.5-7mm of tread (I had never measured a brand new tyre). I seem to be getting even wear on the fronts which is good!

FWIW I run 34psi/235kpa

Sam, what did you base your 60,000k prediction on? If I get 60K out of mine I'll be very happy!

Cheers

Edited October 26, 2008 by holmesie

[PC XT]

Checked ours very briefly on the weekend 16000k on the clock will have to start saving now not good on the front at all

[SamF]

I just did my second rotation, a little late at 12,000k but I did ask my dealer NOT to do it at the 10K service.

Out of interest, I measured the total tread depth on each tyre. The two tyres that had travelled 5-6,000km had 7.5-8mm of tread, the others with 12,000k on them had 6.5-7mm of tread (I had never measured a brand new tyre). I seem to be getting even wear on the fronts which is good!

FWIW I run 34psi/235kpa

Sam, what did you base your 60,000k prediction on? If I get 60K out of mine I'll be very happy!

Cheers

Hi Holmesie

I measured the tread depth with a vernier caliper of the unused spare and then measured the tread depth of the tyres on the car and the difference gave me a wear amount for the amount of Ks I had done. Then assuming you rotate all 5 tyres, I calculated the theoretical Kilometres I could do based on the current wear rate.

Edited November 4, 2008 by SamF

[holmesie]

Good to know, thanks Sam

[Kruzenvax]

Did alignment/rotation etc today (10K). Guys in the shop confirmed what was discussed here - fron wheels needed alignment.

[PC XT]

Did alignment/rotation etc today (10K). Guys in the shop confirmed what was discussed here - front wheels needed alignment.

Mines going in on Friday to be 4x4 aligned, serviced, dash rattle removed and foot brake tightened well soon see what the out come is besides $220.00 required for the service and alignment job

[Mikeyboy]

My KX-R FWD front tyres look good, which is surprising as I get massive wheelspin if I put my foot down anywhere below 70km/h (50km/h with the snow button on).

I did however have the wheel allignment done 3 times until I was satisfied at the 1000km service. The steering wheel was about 3 degrees off centre when I got the car.

The Grande AWD has only done 2000km and has no wear at all. It also never spins and has nowhere near the acceleration of the KX-R.

[PC XT]

My KX-R FWD front tyres look good, which is surprising as I get massive wheel spin if I put my foot down anywhere below 70km/h (50km/h with the snow button on).

I did however have the wheel alignment done 3 times until I was satisfied at the 1000km service. The steering wheel was about 3 degrees off centre when I got the car.

The Grande AWD has only done 2000km and has no wear at all. It also never spins and has nowhere near the acceleration of the KX-R.

Toyota SAID My wear was not excessive compared to the old Kluger :o They don't care as they don't have to pay for front tyres at 25000k if I reach that far at 16 k now

I still have to go back this week as they did not rotate my tyres front to back and they can do the wheel alignment again and give me new and old figres....you cant trust any one today to do reliable work.

[mayhewga]

It's interesting how many on this forum find that Toyota aren't doing the tyre rotations and balance, which are part of the "special" $150 service deal we get.

At each of the three services I've had so far they havent done the rotation (and that's at two different dealers). The common excuse is that the tyres don't need it to which I answer, "if thats the case how come I can tell they havent been done"!

I have done a lot of gravel road driving and being a FWD only car, the drive tyres show more wear than the rears in the very centre of the pattern. So last service at 30k, I waited whilst they did the rotation.

Having said that, I am quite happy that with almost 40,000km on the clock, there seems to be plenty of meat left and I am hoping that I will get close to 60,000km.

I run at 40psi, which both dealership service depts recommend, as do Lexus for their 350s.

[fish475]

Got my AWD New Gen Kluger booked in for it's 20K service.

I don't want them to touch the tyres and definitely don't touch the wheel alignment.

All the tyres look like the day I picked it up in late Nove 07.

For me, it's don't fix what an't broken even if I'm on a fully maintained Novated.

Guess I'm lucky with the wheel aligments.

JUST FIX THAT BL##DY USELESS AND DANGEROUS FOOT BRAKE HOLDING POWER MR TOYOTA.

I launch a boat on steep ramps and the foot brake won't even hold the vehicle on it's own in my driveway with a far less angle.

This will adjustment number 3 todate.

[PC XT]

Got my AWD New Gen Kluger booked in for it's 20K service.

I don't want them to touch the tyres and definitely don't touch the wheel alignment.

All the tyres look like the day I picked it up in late Nove 07.

For me, it's don't fix what an't broken even if I'm on a fully maintained Novated.

Guess I'm lucky with the wheel aligments.

JUST FIX THAT BL##DY USELESS AND DANGEROUS FOOT BRAKE HOLDING POWER MR TOYOTA.

I launch a boat on steep ramps and the foot brake won't even hold the vehicle on it's own in my driveway with a far less angle.

This will adjustment number 3 todate.

One thing they did fix was the foot brake! I dont like rotating tyres either but I have to get them to do as the tyres are too expensive to churn out this early in there life especially when there heaps of meat left in the middle and other edge.