Odd tyre wear

**JamesT5** · Thursday 22nd August 2013, 22:37

Ok, so my 2 front tyres are the same age and the car has always been 4 wheel aligned everytime I've fiddled with the steering in anyway. Also, as some of you are aware the car has a nasty habit of pulling or drifting fairly quickly to the left despite the wheels being tracked and laser aligned and the wheel being dead centre on a straight road. Also the tyre pressures are even, so there's some basic facts first.

Right then, here is the issue. I can't work out why my nearside front tyre is now sitting on the tread markers yet my off side front tyres still has about 3mm left on it and I'm wondering whether the drifting to the left is linked to the problem in some way, given it is the left front tyre that is worn more.

I can also rule out brake issues or suspension wear although my front wishbone bushes are already coming away from the casing (12 months on a pair of wishbones!).

Two theories I have are a worn driveshaft or a wheel bearing which is causing resistance on the nearside and therefore that wheel is spinning slightly slower than the offside and causing excessive tyre wear. Some will recall I had a new offside drive shaft last year, the nearside is the one that was on the car when I brought it.

Anyone had this issue or got any better ideas?

Thanks in advance!

**nobananas** · Thursday 22nd August 2013, 22:46

Incorrect camber will cause uneven tyre wear and also can cause drifting/pulling to one side. The camber on the 850's is set by moving the hub carrier in relation to the front strut (slackening the 2 bolts) and the camber setting will be lost if the shock or springs replaced. Not sure if the p2's have a similar set up. Oh one other thing, you will always wear out the N/S/F tyre quicker then the O/S as you turn right more often !

**JamesT5** · Thursday 22nd August 2013, 22:52

Originally Posted by nobananas

Incorrect camber will cause uneven tyre wear and also can cause drifting/pulling to one side. The camber on the 850's is set by moving the hub carrier in relation to the front strut (slackening the 2 bolts) and the camber setting will be lost if the shock or springs replaced. Not sure if the p2's have a similar set up. Oh one other thing, you will always wear out the N/S/F tyre quicker then the O/S as you turn right more often !

Camber on the front is dead on, the 4 wheel alignment shows I have negative rear camber but the front is smack on dead centre.

Still can't work out why the car is drifting so much to the left no matter how often I have my 4 point alignment carried out. The garage can't find any reason for it either and I've never experienced this much left hand drift on any other car I've driven. Very weird and frustrating!

**nobananas** · Thursday 22nd August 2013, 23:23

Are you sure the 4 wheel alignment shows camber, most only measure front and rear track alignment.

**JamesT5** · Thursday 22nd August 2013, 23:26

Originally Posted by nobananas

Are you sure the 4 wheel alignment shows camber, most only measure front and rear track alignment.

Definitely shows camber mate.

**jdavis** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 07:45

Sounds like a dodgy caliper to me

**JUDGENINJA** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 07:59

Originally Posted by nobananas

Incorrect camber will cause uneven tyre wear and also can cause drifting/pulling to one side. The camber on the 850's is set by moving the hub carrier in relation to the front strut (slackening the 2 bolts) and the camber setting will be lost if the shock or springs replaced. Not sure if the p2's have a similar set up. Oh one other thing, you will always wear out the N/S/F tyre quicker then the O/S as you turn right more often !

Only on earlier 850's with camber adjusters... Mine doesn't have that.

**M-R-P** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 08:10

There's enough "slop" when bolting the stub axle to the shock on a P2 to be able to adjust the camber by quite a bit - that's why my wheels don't rub on full lock now

**nobananas** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 08:20

Originally Posted by JUDGENINJA

Only on earlier 850's with camber adjusters... Mine doesn't have that.

Both my T5 and the R are like that and they are both 96-97 cars. We're not talking eccentric adjusters or anything just that the two mounting bolts holding the strut to the hub are smaller than the holes so there is some movement, that's where the camber adjustment lies within that movement. Most people just bolt the strut back up oblivious to the fact that they've lost the camber setting.

**silverhorse** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 08:35

Strange............

Is the wear even all over the width of the tyre? If it was some sort of geometry issue, I would have thought that you would have a band of wear around the inner or outer edge. Is your spring OK?

**silverhorse** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 08:37

Originally Posted by jdavis

Sounds like a dodgy caliper to me

Possibility, but you would know as the brakes and wheel would be very very hot and you would feel it straight away. Had it on my Shogun and you could get a sun tan off the heat!

**JamesT5** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 09:07

Originally Posted by silverhorse

Strange............

Is the wear even all over the width of the tyre? If it was some sort of geometry issue, I would have thought that you would have a band of wear around the inner or outer edge. Is your spring OK?

Yeah, the wear is pretty even.

**JamesT5** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 09:09

Originally Posted by silverhorse

Possibility, but you would know as the brakes and wheel would be very very hot and you would feel it straight away. Had it on my Shogun and you could get a sun tan off the heat!

The calipers are nearly new, the oldest one is only a year old and to be honest having had a stuck caliper before I know how that feels so I can rule it out. Also, when I had the wheels off last week I could tell the brakes look ok and not overheated.

**claymore** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 09:19

do you have a lot of roundabouts in your area? When I owned a tyre company, it was very common for cars from Telford to have the nearside front wear early and take out the outside edge of the tyre.

**JamesT5** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 09:38

Originally Posted by claymore

do you have a lot of roundabouts in your area? When I owned a tyre company, it was very common for cars from Telford to have the nearside front wear early and take out the outside edge of the tyre.

There are some roundabouts here but not that many, I'd say there is 1 I use every day to and from work and another the other side of town I use sometimes.

**nobananas** · Friday 23rd August 2013, 22:40

The N/S/F tyre on my 850 always wears out faster then the other side, usually it's on the wear bars when the other side got a good 3mm on it.

**S1mon** · Sunday 1st September 2013, 21:30

I haven't visited here for sometime, but just popped on for a quick mooch!

I have a similar issue here but minus the tyre wear! My '04 S60 D5 has always pulled to the left, mainly at motorway speeds. The 4 wheel alignment is always kept on top of but about 3 weeks ago my fiancé clouted a curb while turning round. I went to get the alignment checked (Hunter machine) and they found that the NSF ball joint was COMPLETELY goosed! I was pleased they'd picked up on this as I thought that may cure the pulling to the left.

I got it changed for a genuine Volvo part by RT and returned to DTS for alignment. To my surprise, this had no noticeable effect at all! Car still pulled quite significantly left. So much so, that on a trip to Norfolk from Portsmouth, the constant having to correct my course became quite fatiguing!

Yesterday, I took the car back to DTS to get them to double check the alignment. They found the OSR to have LOADS of toe in! How could that be so when the 1st print out clearly shows it to be in spec after adjustment???

Anyway, the car feels a lot better now, but it still doesn't feel right to me. Is there anything else I could check, or is it just a characteristic of these P2 cars that they pull left??

**S1mon** · Sunday 1st September 2013, 21:35

Here are my printouts:

The day after the ball joint was replaced-

Then 2.5 weeks and 800 odd miles later I get it rechecked, look what's happened to the OSR toe!-

Any ideas?

Edit- Probably worth noting that all tyre pressures are bang on and tyres are Hankook K110 V12 Evos all round. Rears are pretty new, fronts are about 50% worn. Is it feesable that that fronts are out of shape from running with a buggered ball joint?

**partsforvolvos.com** · Monday 2nd September 2013, 10:09

the measurements can be different if you take the kit off then put it straight back on- we are talking 60th of 1' .......

i would say by the problem you describe the second one is correct because if it is out by this much on the rear, it could effectively push the car to the side at the front.

even if you had lowered the car and could not get it within tolerance, making sure it is as close as it can be and even both sides stops it pulling.

the major factor nobody mentioned above, is that p2's are VERY prone to following the camber of the road and it gets worse the larger your tyres are. since even road has a camber (normally to the kerb side)
is the 'pulling' you are describing really the car 'drifting' over with the camber.
once you get up to 17's and 18's particularly you then bring in their tendency to also start tramlining like anything.

**S1mon** · Monday 2nd September 2013, 10:35

Ok, mine is on standard suspension with standard 17" wheels. Tyres are 225/45 17.

As I said, after the latest alignment, it's certainly a lot better. What your essentially saying then is as I originally suspected, it's a natural characteristic if these cars to be over sensitive to road camber and I should stop chasing a phantom problem??