I just rotated my tires and found that the front right tire's inner edge is worn faster than the rest. This is my first rotation since my alignment, 6000 miles ago.

So, it LOOKS like a wear pattern from neg camber and non-zero toe. But I just had the alignment 6k miles ago and I didn't bump anything. The alignment results was that I had within spec near 0 camber and within spec near 0 toe.

So why else would I have this wear pattern?

I notice that in driving, most turns are right turns.

Oh yeah, and I'm still having that stupid brake imbalance problem. (Hard straight line braking causes front right ABS to activate and car starts rotating to the right)

 

I would say it could be that the tire balanace is off and that you could have a bad tie rod end which is not keeping the alignment to spec. Just guesses though.

 

the only thing i could imagine other than a bad tie rod would be that your right front is getting disproportionate braking duty because of your abs problem. Even if your tire pressures are out of whack, they shouldn't lead to that camber pattern of wear. :thinking:

BTW, i get my allignment done 2x/year h:

 

thanks for the suggestions. I'm worried that the ABS, the tire wear, and my braking problem is all related, but I'm not sure which is the cause.

I don't feel any bumping of the tire so it doesn't feel like a tire balance issue. Plus, the wear is evenly at the inner edge instead of the cupping you'd see from a misbalance.

What could be bad about the tie rid? I didn't notice any bend problems yesterday... but maybe I need a closer look. What could be wrong with the tie rod end?

Brain storming, how about bushings getting worn?

 

Bad bushings and tie-rod ends could cause this... Just jack up the front of the car and have someone wiggle the wheel side to side and up and down. Check all the joints by putting your hand on them and look for play, serious wear could cause a clunk. While you're under there chesk your ABS ring on the driveshaft, look to see if it's damaged... My shop got a Prelude 4WS with the same problem and it turned out to be the ABS ring... Might as well look @ the ABS sensor wires and connectors while your there, couldn't hurt, it might be something simple.

 

Thanks, I'll check that. This is getting frustrating.

BTW, now that you guys mention tie rod ends, I do notice that in sharper turns the front wheel seem to be fighting with each other. It feels sorta like the geometry during the turn does not keep the wheel properly "parallel on the curve path". I dunno what the right terminology is.

 

i'm betting durring an alignment, the tech will see exactly what your problem is & most likely be able to fix it on the spot for you. Then your new part & your alignment will all be fixed. Most likley it's a bad tie rod end & that can definatly cause issues when turning & be directly related to your tire wear because the tires are fighting them selves.

alignment

 

Crap. I just got the alignment rechecked and all within spec. According to them (a local WheelWorks location), I now have:

front left
toe 0.08 deg (spec: < 0.12 deg)

front right
toe 0.06 deg (spec: < 0.12 deg)

front total
toe 0.13 deg (spec: < 0.24 deg)

rear left
toe 0.15 deg (spec: < 0.16 deg)

rear right
toe 0.10 deg (spec: < 0.16 deg)

rear total
toe 0.24 deg (spec: < 0.32 deg)

Without asking, they actually INCREASED my toe a bit supposedly to "compensite for the lower geometry" (from what, I have no idea... passenger weight?) under the presumption that it will straighten out as the car "weighs down" (again I assume he means from passenger weight).

Luckily this was still within the "warranty" period of their last alignment so I paid nothing.

But I drive off and I STILL have the braking problems. However, they noted that the right front brake rotor has deep groves in it. (Yeah, because I'm having a fricken braking bias problem...) And he recommends changing it. This sucks, because I specifically bought the Brembo blanks and Axxis pads to help my braking ability, not f^&* it up. I still have 50% on the pads.

Man, I don't know what to do. I want to try Autox for the first time this summer but I gotta get my car in normal working order first.

 

Oh yeah... also while at a stand still, if I pump the brakes I notice the idles go from 800 rpm to about 1.3k rpm (like it's warming up). Is that just the ECU revving the engine so the brake master cylinder can build its pressure back up?

 

get new pad & also either get the rotor re-surfaced or replace it.

If they didn't say anything about your tie rod end's while they were doing their inspection then either they didn't notice a problem or there isn't one!

The deep grooves could be caused by a falty caliper, so check the caliper out before you put your replacment rotor & pads in!