Factory Front Suspension Settings

[ShelbyCobra826]

I took my car to the stealership on Friday to get the 15K mile oil change, and the service manager told me that my front tires needed replacement. I laughed and told him the technician got it wrong; it is my rear tires that need replacement.

 

Well, he took me to the service area, and while the rears are down to the wear marks in the two center grooves, the inside of the two front tires (toe area?) was worn completely down (into the secondary rubber on the driver's side) even though the tread still has a minimum 5- or 6/32" left on both. I asked what caused this because I knew the argument I was about to get into...

 

He said that it was obviously the allignment settings and they could fix it with a 3-angle job for $80. I asked how long it had been like this, and he indidated that it probably had been like this from the factory. When I asked if it could be fixed under warranty since he just admitted it was a condition when new, he said, basically, "Sorry son, but you should have had it checked before your car hit 12 months or 12K miles".

 

Any of you guys have this issue? I hadn't had the allignment messed with as I was going to wait until I dropped it down with some Eibach springs this spring, but now I hesitate to put on new tires without having this fixed first.

 

Thanks for the comments.

[texaggie]

I took my car to the stealership on Friday to get the 15K mile oil change, and the service manager told me that my front tires needed replacement. I laughed and told him the technician got it wrong; it is my rear tires that need replacement.

 

Well, he took me to the service area, and while the rears are down to the wear marks in the two center grooves, the inside of the two front tires (toe area?) was worn completely down (into the secondary rubber on the driver's side) even though the tread still has a minimum 5- or 6/32" left on both. I asked what caused this because I knew the argument I was about to get into...

 

He said that it was obviously the allignment settings and they could fix it with a 3-angle job for $80. I asked how long it had been like this, and he indidated that it probably had been like this from the factory. When I asked if it could be fixed under warranty since he just admitted it was a condition when new, he said, basically, "Sorry son, but you should have had it checked before your car hit 12 months or 12K miles".

 

Any of you guys have this issue? I hadn't had the allignment messed with as I was going to wait until I dropped it down with some Eibach springs this spring, but now I hesitate to put on new tires without having this fixed first.

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

 

Actually had the exact same thing happen to me. I could not believe it when they called me up to tell me about the tires. Had about 18k on them. Called up a buddy of mine and asked him what he thought. (He is a manager of a local Firestone here in SE Texas, and knows his cars.) He told me that if the camber was set out then it would do that, and that it could easily be fixed. He also said though, that it was probably set that way originally to help with cornering and handling. Creates less roll, but uneven wear. He also said that getting about 18k on those tire was probably about normal. I had the FRPP handling kit added to mine very early on. Love it. Also, if you are planning to add the Eibachs, might as well do it all at once, but if money is tight I would not worry about just getting new tires and having the alignment done. (I wouldn't go with the factories though.)

[FastPhil]

I had the exact same issue on a new Merc. Marauder, at almost exactly the same mileage. They tried to claim that I had hit a pot hole and put both the the front tires out of alignment at exactly the same setting.

I had to take it to the zone rep (suggest you do the same) as I learned from the forum that 90% of all Marauders had the same issue. In the end they took care of half of the work (I bought two tires for the rear, they bought two front tires and I had to pay for the alignment) as I needed some rear tires anyway. Still this should have been covered, I think the key item that helped me was that the alignment on the car before they did any work was out of spec, and the zone rep knew that the car had shipped that way from the factory... good luck, think Ford should own up to this, they have obligation to ship with a correct alignment, expecially when the tires in question are not inexpensive.

 

The other thing is that if you got 18k and wore the inside edges, think of how many miles you would get with proper wear....

 

Good luck and keep us posted, I only have 7k on my Shelby, and not seen this issue yet...

 

Philip

[Slabo]

I took my car to the stealership on Friday to get the 15K mile oil change, and the service manager told me that my front tires needed replacement. I laughed and told him the technician got it wrong; it is my rear tires that need replacement.

 

Well, he took me to the service area, and while the rears are down to the wear marks in the two center grooves, the inside of the two front tires (toe area?) was worn completely down (into the secondary rubber on the driver's side) even though the tread still has a minimum 5- or 6/32" left on both. I asked what caused this because I knew the argument I was about to get into...

 

He said that it was obviously the allignment settings and they could fix it with a 3-angle job for $80. I asked how long it had been like this, and he indidated that it probably had been like this from the factory. When I asked if it could be fixed under warranty since he just admitted it was a condition when new, he said, basically, "Sorry son, but you should have had it checked before your car hit 12 months or 12K miles".

 

Any of you guys have this issue? I hadn't had the allignment messed with as I was going to wait until I dropped it down with some Eibach springs this spring, but now I hesitate to put on new tires without having this fixed first.

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

 

It is possible that the toe is off and that would wear the front tires quickly probably faster than 15K miles. The caster and camber are fixed on the front suspension and not adjustable without camber bolts or plates.

[Imatk]

I had my alignment checked just to be safe when I changed out my wheels to the Alcoas, and yes the alignment was off by quite a bit.

 

It was surprising since the car was basically new with about 200 miles on it so it must have come that way from the factory.

[ShelbyCobra826]

Thanks, guys. I think that the moral of this story is to take the car to the dealership before 12M / 12K and have them check the alignment regardless of how the tires appear to be wearing. This way there is no question as to whether or not something should be covered. I should have known better than to not have done this...

[Shipwright]

Actually had the exact same thing happen to me. I could not believe it when they called me up to tell me about the tires. Had about 18k on them. Called up a buddy of mine and asked him what he thought. (He is a manager of a local Firestone here in SE Texas, and knows his cars.) He told me that if the camber was set out then it would do that, and that it could easily be fixed. He also said though, that it was probably set that way originally to help with cornering and handling. Creates less roll, but uneven wear. He also said that getting about 18k on those tire was probably about normal. I had the FRPP handling kit added to mine very early on. Love it. Also, if you are planning to add the Eibachs, might as well do it all at once, but if money is tight I would not worry about just getting new tires and having the alignment done. (I wouldn't go with the factories though.)

 

 

Me three. Only on the front drivers side, I didn't notice it because the wear was on the inner edge of the tire (almost down to the cord). I wasn't too upset as the rears where almost ready to be replaced (they had about six months of life left) so I took the opportunity to upgrade to Michellin Pilot Sports.

[Leonard 95]

We see this all the time at work, ROTATE your tires side to side every oil change, it will help slow down the wear. I am sure the toe or camber could be almost out of spec which would cause the inside wear also. If your using the stock goodyears, they can be rotated side to side up front and in the rear. Do this with your alignment in spec and you shouldn't have anymore problems.

[FastPhil]

It is possible that the toe is off and that would wear the front tires quickly probably faster than 15K miles. The caster and camber are fixed on the front suspension and not adjustable without camber bolts or plates.

 

 

Improper Toe will absolutely cause this issue, and yes since it is wearing a very narrow band at the inside of the tire, it can wear that area out very quickly.

 

Phil

[ZXMustang]

Me three. Only on the front drivers side, I didn't notice it because the wear was on the inner edge of the tire (almost down to the cord). I wasn't too upset as the rears where almost ready to be replaced (they had about six months of life left) so I took the opportunity to upgrade to Michellin Pilot Sports.

 

Me four.

[ShelbyCobra826]

We see this all the time at work, ROTATE your tires side to side every oil change, it will help slow down the wear. I am sure the toe or camber could be almost out of spec which would cause the inside wear also. If your using the stock goodyears, they can be rotated side to side up front and in the rear. Do this with your alignment in spec and you shouldn't have anymore problems.

 

Actually, I did rotate the tires when I changed the oil, and rather than wait 7500 miles per Ford's recommendation, I did this at 5, 10, and 15K miles.

 

Since the post, I put a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires in 255 all the way around to serve as my "winter" tires and made arrangements to pick up a set of 2011 GT500 wheels/tires in May to use as my "summer" set. As soon as the DWSs went on, I took it to the dealership for an alignmet, and they told me that it was in spec (and charged me $80 to confirm, of course).

 

I'll keep a closer eye on these, and in any event, I'm looking at putting the Eibach springs on, and I'll have to deal with it then.

[chuckstang]

my front tires still look brand new, probably more than 75% tread left and they have 15k miles on them with lots of hard driving

 

mine is lowered as well, but I have always had the steeda cc plates so maybe that is why

 

 

just a thought