uneven tire wear

'04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
list.

Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
thinking it's not a toe problem.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:53:23 -0400, George >
wrote:

>'04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
>than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
>'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
>more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
>list.
>
>Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
>miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
>don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
>thinking it's not a toe problem.
>
>Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks

Did you have the alignment checked? And the noise is probably either
the r/s hub bearing, or a scalloped tire. Have you checked the
balance, too?

On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 07:20:08 -0700, Bill Vanek >
wrote:

>On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:53:23 -0400, George >
>wrote:
>
>>'04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
>>than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
>>'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
>>more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
>>list.
>>
>>Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
>>miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
>>don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
>>thinking it's not a toe problem.
>>
>>Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks
>
>Did you have the alignment checked? And the noise is probably either
>the r/s hub bearing, or a scalloped tire. Have you checked the
>balance, too?

I just replaced the right hub. No change on the road noise. (: Tires
_look_ OK, to me. Alignment is next, if I can't find something over the
weekend. But, again, can toe cause wear like this, if it's not pulling?
I know there's camber ... but, on a Cavalier? It seems pretentious.

Definitely a toe issue. Front toe does not affect 'pull', but does affect tire wear if not in spec.

On Fri, 4 Jul 2014 08:26:21 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>Definitely a toe issue. Front toe does not affect 'pull', but does affect tire wear if not in spec.

Again, the wear is just on one side. That's why I thought, if it was
toe, it would be pulling.

On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 10:34:17 -0400, George >
wrote:

>On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 07:20:08 -0700, Bill Vanek >
>wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:53:23 -0400, George >
>>wrote:
>>
>>>'04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
>>>than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
>>>'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
>>>more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
>>>list.
>>>
>>>Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
>>>miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
>>>don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
>>>thinking it's not a toe problem.
>>>
>>>Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>
>>Did you have the alignment checked? And the noise is probably either
>>the r/s hub bearing, or a scalloped tire. Have you checked the
>>balance, too?
>
>I just replaced the right hub. No change on the road noise. (: Tires
>_look_ OK, to me. Alignment is next, if I can't find something over the
>weekend. But, again, can toe cause wear like this, if it's not pulling?
>I know there's camber ... but, on a Cavalier? It seems pretentious.

Regardless of the exact cause, it should show up when the alignment is
checked, at least if they know what they're doing. But I also
mentioned scalloped tires. Balance and/or crappy tires contribute to
this problem, along with some other things, and that sort of tire wear
can cause the noise you're hearing. The noise could also be from a
rear tire or bearing, but that would be unrelated to your main
question.

I'd start with the alignment. You replaced the struts and control
arms, and that can throw off every aspect of the alignment to some
degree.

George wrote:
> '04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
> than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
> 'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
> more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
> list.
>
> Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
> miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
> don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
> thinking it's not a toe problem.
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>

Do you mean the tires have worn like that in the 30k miles SINCE you
replaced those components? You'd need a really odd camber vs. caster
offset to have that wear on only one side and not have the vehicle
pulling. This is typically seen on a car with a bent frame/unibody that
had a very "talented" alignment tech compensating at some point. Do the
top mounts for the struts look modified?

If it was aligned, when the parts were replaced, and it doesn't pull,
it's probably the best they could do and you should be happy the tires
lasted this long. Rotate the next set more often.

GW

George wrote: "
On Fri, 4 Jul 2014 08:26:21 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>Definitely a toe issue. Front toe does not affect 'pull', but does affect tire wear if not in spec.

Again, the wear is just on one side. That's why I thought, if it was
toe, it would be pulling. "

Do some research on alignment. The only directional parameters are Caster, camber, SAI(kingpin), and rear toe.

Front toe is a tire wear determinant only, even if toe is out of spec on only one side. Period.

On 7/4/2014 3:53 AM, George wrote:
> '04 Cavalier. LF tire is wearing on the inside edge. RF is not. Other
> than that, both have good tread. Car does not pull. There is some
> 'road noise' (tires or FWB, IMO) on the highway, which is noticeably
> more pronounced on left turn effort. The car does not have a noticeable
> list.
>
> Both struts and control arms have been replaced within the last 30K
> miles. This (left) bearing/hub assembly was replaced ~30K miles ago. I
> don't feel any play in it. Since the problem is only on one side, I'm
> thinking it's not a toe problem.
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>

My guess is that the camber is off. It's not usually adjustable on this
car but you can check the front bolt on the A arm to see if it is. If
there's an orientation mark on it, you might be able to adjust it to add
more positive camber. You should take it to a shop and have them do it.
It should only take a short while to adjust it or they may have to add a
bolt that allows them to fix the problem for cheap. If that ain't the
problem, it could get expensive.

dsi1: "My guess is that the camber is off. "

Read the original post. He states car does not pull. Camber can indeed be a tire wear culprit, but it does not apply in this case.