It is common to see more tire wear on the right front. I measure the tread depth on customers cars and both right side tires usually have 1/32" less than the left. The right front wears more but both right side tires measure about the same due to front to back rotation.
Left turns are generally taken at 2-3 times greater speed than right turns.
However anybody with one bald tire needs a close inspection.
OK4450, is it possible that the unequal axle lengths are a reason you never saw uneven tire wear? I’m not being difficult, but I’m really getting intrigued by the discussion.
TSMB, I was under the impression that uneven length axles were a cause, not a solution, for torque steer. The uneven length resulting from locating the transmission on the driver’s side, the engine on the passenger side.
Texases, the link I provided says the same thing, but I could swear that somewhere in my past I learned that when FWD became common the designers learned to use unequal length axles as a solution to torque steer. I’ll submit at this point that the solution is having the PROPER balance. Too large a difference in axle length I’d submit is how the designs probably began, equal lenth axles to compensate, and perhaps an adjustment, a controlled difference in length, was found necessary to compensate for torque steer in the other direction.
I’m going to keep looking into it. Meanwhile, I welcome everyone’s input.
Not being an engineer, I couldn’t even begin to explain the technical differences between equal length or varied length halfshafts. SAAB and Subaru use halfshafts of the same lengths; vehicles such as Hondas, Mitsubishis, etc, etc. use varied length shafts and none are more prone to RF tire wear that I’m aware of.
Anytime that I’ve ever run across a tire wear problem there was generally a reason for it such as worn wheel bearings, worn or damaged suspension parts, etc.
One thing that I have noticed is that, on average, the RF suspension is more prone to problems than the LF. This is generally caused by the fact that the RF is more susceptible to road damage as the outside of the lane is often more damaged that the middle or inside of the lane. The RF is also the side more prone to curb strikes, etc.
(Regarding the latter, thankfully my daughter seems to have finally broken that nasty habit. The RF of any car she drove was attracted to a curb like iron filings to a magnet.)
I have to think there’s a lot more to the OP’s story. The OP was apparently driving around on bald tires and it required a note from the parking guy before they were even aware of this problem?
Maybe the parking guy is the one who has been whacking the corners?
What would be interesting would be to hear some automotive history behind these vehicles but I’m not holding my breath on that.
Thanx, everybody. Of course I haveno tire rotation schedule. Give me a break. I just get in and drive. I don’t recall an real curbing, nor continuously hitting potholes. I do recall tht this seems to be, and to have been, a continuing patern. Just bought a new Hyundai, and I will keep an eye on it.
DougBragg wrote:
Give me a break. I just get in and drive.
For the sake of your wallet, I hope this attitude doesn’t apply to your oil changes and other scheduled maintenance.
“Of course I have no tire rotation schedule. Give me a break. I just get in and drive.”
We will give you a break, but you should really give yourself a break!
If you want to stop wasting your money on extra repairs, buying tires more often than is necessary, or other things that result from lack of maintenance, you will begin to do more than “just get in and drive”.
This forum is composed mostly of people who are very interested in prolonging the life of their cars, so most of us just shake our heads in dismay when folks admit that they don’t really maintain their cars properly. It is your money, so you should be the one to decide how it is spent, but most of us in this forum would likely be in agreement that you will wind up spending less money in the long run if you maintain your car properly.
A nice–and low cost–way to start is by purchasing a good-quality dial-type tire pressure gauge and using it to check your tire pressure at least once a month. Besides helping your fuel economy and keeping you safer, this will also allow you to personally inspect the tread wear of your tires on a regular basis.
Nobody should ever be in a situation where he/she is driving on a bald tire until a parking attendant or other stranger points it out!
A recent Q&A column in Cycle World summarized it well - the question was related to motorcycle life. The mechanic’s answer was something like this: 'I always asks folks who bring in motorcycles with exceptionally high milage about their maintenance habits. Almost all of them would be called ‘maintenance freaks’, with obsessive habits regarding oil changes and other maintenance items. The reverse is also true, when I ask those who bring in prematurely worn out motorcycles, they say something to the effect of ‘I just ride it’.
Sound familliar?
Just thinking out loud but could the fact that some roads slope slightly to the right or are “crowned” for drainage purposes cause this to happen? One thing I’ve also noticed is the right side of the driving lane seems to get pot holes or break up quicker than the left.
‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’
For the record, I checked my front tire wear this weekend and the difference was there but miniscule. Mine are nearing the wear bars, so it was easy to check. I suspect there’s more to the torque steer issue than obvious, perhaps with torque spec, wheelbase, track, gearing, and a few other things driving the engineering decision, but at this point I support the suggestion that the OP should get thing schecked out, if for no other reason than prevention.
Texases, I like the post. It’s so true.
I might be presumptous in assuming that blowing a bald tire at freeway speeds could lead to a few tense seconds; maybe even the last seconds of a life.
A motorcycle rear tire blew out on me once at 85 MPH and my heart was wedged in my throat the entire 1/4 mile it took to get that thing stopped and for about 10 minutes afterwards.
I’d credit not dumping it more to sheer luck than riding ability.
(Not a bald tire either. It was a near new tire that had picked up one of those large 12" long nails that are used to attach rain gutters to houses.)
TSM:
Here’s what my aging memory recalls about torque steer. Corrections, errors or omissions are welcome.
Torque steer occurs because the half-shafts are of different lengths (rather than different length shafts being used to attempt to control torque steer).
It’s not so much the difference in lengths, but that the difference lengths cause the two shafts to operate at different angles. The longer shaft will have a smaller angle and less resistance - allowing more of the engine’s torque to be sent to that wheel.
Joe, the points you make are true. However there’s also a phenomenon called “precession” that occurs with rotating masses. You may recall that the gyro you played with as a kid turned 90 degrees from the point that you touched it. I seem to recall this too as being a factor in torque steer. The axle is turning the wheel, but the wheel has a force (the resistance) acting perpendicular to the spinning axis of the axle, causing precession.
I’ve been unable so far to do any real research into the depths of the problem, but I hope to soon. I need to get past a few medical issues first. In any event, I’m still of the feeling that on a FWD car it’s not abnormal for the RF tire to wear slightly faster than the rear, but having said that I also accept the responsibility for the research. I need to be able to present either the theory or some statistically significant empirical data behind my hypothesis. Or accept its inaccuracy. This is a subject we’ve not explored before, and I accept the challange.