excessive tire wear on rear tires. Help.

I put new tires on the rear and I see the tires are worn out about 90% even before they touch 5000 miles. Both the tires are worn towards the outer ends (75% worn in the inner ends). The rear of the car moves left and right by an inch when ever it falls in even a small pit. What is that it is making to move? Even the suspension is very hard. What all you think I need to replace? Will alignment help in any way? Help Please…

why dont you atleat go to an alignment shop that does free checks and find out if it needs one…and if the outer tread is wearing faster…that means its under inflated…so check your Tire pressure…and for the loose end how old are your struts?..and maybe start changing some bushings if you havent… :up:

Thanks BGdubs92b17, Air pressure is good. I went to firestone, they told me it doesn’t need a alignment but they need struts. As you said i may need to replace bushings also. Do any of you have an idea of how much they charge to replace struts and a trailing arm bushing if i go to a shop. Any particular shop preferred.

well now go find that out…i would say if your ok mechanically and have access to tools…DIY…good experiance…and if you change your TA bushings then your going to need an alignment…so i would recommend that you just get struts…then in the future if you want go ahead and change all the bushings at once…then get an alignment :up:

Both of these are false. Wear from under inflated tires is on both the inside and outside edges, not just one. Over inflated is right down the center. If the wear is mostly on the outside tread I would think it is more likely a toe or positive camber issue (which you shouldn’t have). Did Firestone even check the rear? Some shops are hella-lazy and only check for front end alignment not 4 wheel alignment.

And if he is saying the car is going side to side, this has little to do with the condition of the struts. Struts control up and down dampening along with the springs. A side to side problem is something like worn/broken swaybar bushings or links. Or more likely the TA bushings are shot. Any competent alignment shop should have been able to tell you this.

mvrajesh - check your TA bushings for cracks and tears. Also, if you can push down to bounce the rear end up and down you should be able to tell if the struts need replacting. IE - it should feel stiff, and not bounce much when you let go, only bounce when you are pushing down. They could be “going bad” if you do a visual inspection and find fluid leaking from them around the seals.

Worse case, take it to a local Honda or Acura dealer an pay them 1/2 hr labor to “check it out”.

What did the printout say?

I could see some cracks on trailing arm bushings and regarding the struts the car keep on bouncing even though i stop pushing it down. The print out just says struts to be replaced. Wraith - As you said they might haven’t check for the alignment. I can see the rear tire is not in line with the front tire. I will go ahead and buy some struts, coilovers and TA bushing from ebay. Any other website recommended? Thanks.

The printout I was referring to is the alignment printout that tells you what the toe/camber/caster settings are.

It sounds like they are trying to sell you something you might or might not need. Even with a broken TA bushing, your tire wear should not be that agressive. Toe is the only thing that will cause that rate of wear.

You can do another un-scientific test for the rear, if you get another person to push the back end side to side while you look at the TA bushings. Chances are you will see some give in them if they are torn like you say they are. If you want OEM TA bushings check out the big threads here that have the part #s for them. I ordered a set from www.AHMotor.com. Just make sure when you have them put in that you have the car at the ride height you want. When you lower our cars it tends to twist the TA bushing. Follow the instructions on one of the TA threads for using a straight edge to mark a line for where the bushing should be at your ride height. That way when they get pressed in you will have them in the correct orientation. :smiley:

Also, when you say “I can see the rear tire is not in line with the front tire.”… is this for both tires or just one side? Any pics??? :gotpics: If you have lowered your car and the tires are tilted in at the top then you probably have visable negative camber. Is that what you are talking about? Or are you saying that they really don’t line up? This could be evidence of some sort of collision. Is this car new to you?

Now you also say that the car continues to bounce after you stop pushing on it, which would usually be time to replace the struts. When you are done bouncing it, the car should return to level fairly quick. Is not the shop may have had one thing right, replacing the struts that is. Most shops that I have ever delt with will not even attempt to do an alignment on a car with bad parts??? So did they charge you for this? If so, will they re-do it once the parts are replaced?

EDIT - Archon is correct in what he is saying… Most good shops will provide you with a printout of the cars current specs. If they didn’t properly adjust the back it would show it on there. Also correct about the toe, which I mentioned before. The toe angle is the biggest source of wear, and camber is not much better for wear.

The suggestions I was giving you for checking your parts are for common G2 suspension issues that would give you the “swaying” and “bouncing” motions you are feeling. They may contribute to the alignment, but I never said they were the end cause of your tire wear. This is where the “experts” at the shop should tell you if there is a problem.

yeah my bad…Wraith your right…i knew that but i typed it wrong…trying to hurry up to :sleep: …i was hoping firestone checked front and rear…yeah like he said it bounces so he probably only needs struts at this time…then see how that goes with you tire wear

The rear wheel is not lined up with the front or the body, this is only on one side. Firestone people also haven’t done any alignment. They just checked it visually and told me its not an alignment problem and rotated the tires. Here are some pics. The trailing arm bushings are not so clear but i dont have a better camera. Thanks guys for your help and fast response.

Looks like heavy toe in on the left rear. As I said, even with a broken trailing arm bushing, they should still be able to do an alignment. Toe is adjusted at the compensator arm.

…visually!..no have them put it on a machine…and get a print out…but still get your struts fixed

:wtf: They must have the very rare calibrated eyeball. You can’t really tell much untill you spend the 15min and put it on the computer. And what are they talking about… everything affects the alignment. Now granted, one of the first things you do before an alignment is to visually inspect the TIRES for strange wear. Which you do have, and the wear pattern should lead them to the problem. Typically a blown shock or strut will create a wavey tread surface that looks something like this:

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They go diagonal accross the tread. Then they should back it up by visually inspecting the suspension components for the damage. And as we have stated the inside edge wear is generally a toe issue not struts. (Not that you don’t have bad struts too, I think we have already confirmed this) And if they don’t think it is an alignment issue, then what is it??? 2 defective tires side by side??? I don’t think so!

Sorry for the late response. You guys are right.In the mean time i will go to a different shop and fix the alignment first and see how it is. May be i will wait for a while and replace all the shocks and bushings as soon as i get a new job… Thanks a lot…

Sounds like wraith knows what he’s talkin’ about cause it seems to be align problem. The only thing I don’t agree with is the fact that you have to put it on the machine to know if the align is out… :stare: haven’t you heard of having :ghetto: vision? duh. That guy at firestone is :stare: clueless. find someone you can trust.

so, what was the final outcome?