Anyone experience outer tire wear on drivers side?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Eugene Hong, May 6, 2014.

  1. Eugene Hong

    Eugene Hong Member

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    I was doing some research and found several Gen2 threads regarding outer tire wear on just the passenger side but none for the Gen3. I just replaced my stock 15's to 17's at 35k miles and noticed a huge difference in the drivers side front tires compared to the rest . It looks like there is too much positive camber in the front drivers side which led to the outside of the tire wearing faster than the inside.

    Has anyone experienced this as well? I want to get an alignment done to fix it now that I have more expensive Michelin's on the new 17's and was wondering if this can be fixed? I used to own a BMW and negative camber could be achieved with the removal of a little pin on the strut mount but I don't know how much play I have with the Prius.

    Any advice would be grateful. Thank you.
     
    #1 Eugene Hong, May 6, 2014
  2. Easy Rider

    Easy Rider Active Member

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    There is an industry standard cross-rotation pattern for tires with NON-DIRECTIONAL thread.
    If yours are non-directional and the dealer is STILL just doing front to back, you should complain to them loudly and then find a different shop to deal with.

    By all means, have the alignment checked.
    If it is off so much that it can't be adjusted, a suspension part might be bent.

    AND....any time you change sizes of rims you should get the alignment checked.
    If they have a different offset than the old ones, it is pretty much guaranteed that the alignment needs to be changed.
     
    #2 Easy Rider, May 6, 2014
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  3. Eugene Hong

    Eugene Hong Member

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    Ok I need to correct myself. I do not know if the dealer was rotating front to back only and the only thing I do know is that the front drivers side tire had outer camber wear, whereas the other tires did not.
     
    #3 Eugene Hong, May 6, 2014
  4. Eugene Hong

    Eugene Hong Member

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    Ok I need to correct myself. I do not know if the dealer was rotating front to back only and the only thing I do know is that the front drivers side tire had outer camber wear, whereas the other tires did not.
     
    #4 Eugene Hong, May 6, 2014
  5. Easy Rider

    Easy Rider Active Member

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    My advice still stands.

    IF the tire with extra wear ended up on the same side in the back.......then you definitely should ASK them how they do their rotations. Assume nothing.......and believe only about half of what they tell you. :)
     
    #5 Easy Rider, May 6, 2014
  6. Eugene Hong

    Eugene Hong Member

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    I have set an appointment with an independent shop that is willing to make extra (-) camber adjustments if needed. My question to you guys is, does anyone else have positive camber wear? I don't mind negative as I am willing to sacrifice some wear for handling.
     
    #6 Eugene Hong, May 6, 2014
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